No matter whether you are a technocrat or a bureaucrat, professionals of all hues often find inspiration in lessons of various kinds, be they from history, politics or poetry. As they say, life's battles do not always go to the strongest man but the man who ultimately wins is the man who thinks he can! The case of fintech entrepreneur Jignesh Shah is no different.
Mr. Jignesh Shah, often acknowledged as the 'Innovator of Modern Financial Markets,' is known to lead from the front. He is known for his passion and the man has overcome many a hardship to achieve this glorious path in his life as well as battling the tough terrains that came on the way. Over the years, he has never taken an easier path and has always worked hard for his way forward. With such a strong history to back him up, one cannot doubt the missionary zeal that Mr. Jignesh Shah has. After setting up 10 exchanges across six continents in a span of ten years, the engineer-turned-financial market wizard now sees 100-times bigger business potential in a 'startup ecosystem' which he feels can create up to 10 crore jobs over the next decade. After a payment default of Rs 5,600 crore in 2013 at his smallest venture National Spot Exchange Ltd (NSEL), which had a daily trading volume of Rs 200 crore as compared to more than Rs 1.20 lakh crore a day at his biggest exchange MCX, Shah was forced out of all Sebi-regulated businesses under regulatory orders amid a multi-agency probe. However, most of the cases like forced merger of NSEL with 63 moons, or applying MPID to NSEL case, have been quashed by the courts. The merger has been set aside by the Supreme Court and the Bombay high court in a recent judgment declared that attachment of assets of 63 moons technologies is completely illegal and should not be done as it was never a Financial establishment but was just a platform provided to buyers and sellers for transaction of commodities. In this light, Shah says he is confident now that the time has come to start his second innings as court orders are absolving him of all the charges one after another as no agency could prove even a single paisa of wrongdoing on his part, nor on part of his companies. Shah's story is really inspiring. Although it was established way back that no money trail has been traced to NSEL, FTIL or Jignesh Shah but still he was targeted again and again because of the vested interests that wanted to finish his FTIL group completely because its innovative products posed a severe threat to their monopolistic regime. However, his journey has once again proved that patience and grit are previous values whose rewards have no measure.
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After setting up 10 exchanges across six continents in a span of 10 years, engineer-turned-financial market wizard Jignesh Shah now sees 100-times bigger business potential in a 'startup ecosystem' and which he feels can create up to 10 crore jobs over the next decade.
While one of his flagship exchanges, MCX (Multi-Commodity Exchange of India), had become the world’s second-largest commodity bourse under his leadership and all other group exchanges were also doing well before his exit, Shah said he does not want to bask in his past glory and the time is no longer right for a business model focused on exchanges. “I am rather thinking about ecosystems as they make much more sense in today’s digitally-connected borderless world and I see myself creating and innovating products and businesses for the masses as a coach and as a mentor,” he said. In her Budget speech in July, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman had said it was time to take capital markets closer to the masses and meet various social welfare objectives related to inclusive growth and financial inclusion. She proposed to initiate steps towards creating an electronic fund-raising platform, a social stock exchange for listing social enterprises and voluntary organizations working on social welfare objectives so that they can raise capital as equity, debt or as units like a mutual fund. Asked whether he can set up such an exchange, Shah said the Modi government has created an enabling environment for new ventures, which was not the case during the earlier regimes, and still he went on to successfully set up 10 exchanges including in places like Singapore. Asked about water conservation, which is another focus area of the government, and whether he can look at some financial marketplace products in this area, Shah said something similar was done during his first innings for carbon credits and it was followed up with an electricity exchange that no one had thought could be viable at that time. Talk about state-of-the-art tech innovations in financial markets and you cannot miss 63 moons technologies. Aligning with its vision to produce indigenous fintech products, the former FTIL has played a pivotal role in shaping what the modern Indian financial sector looks like today, all thanks to its founder and mentor Mr. Jignesh Shah. This is evident from the plethora of products the company has rolled out in no time, thereby filling in the gaps that have proved to be detrimental for the market growth.
Adding to the already existing ODIN platform, ODIN Bot (Build operate transfer) has been introduced to completely disrupt the way people transact in the future. Equipped with an automated chat bot, the product responds to chat-based queries of clients, thus making the interface even more user-friendly. In short, the feature eliminates users’ dependency on customer care executives, thereby saving time and cost. With an unmatched success of company’s flagship product ODIN—a platform used by brokers to connect both stock exchanges and investors—Jignesh Shah through 63 moons has revolutionised the way the brokerage services are offered and investments are done in the country. As an initial product from 63 moons’ kitty, ODIN has been able to corner more than 80% of the exchange solutions space and is growing. The cloud-based application uses artificial intelligence, natural language processing and machine learning to provides information such as market news and portfolio holdings, market price ledger balance, information on last transactions and transaction on multiple systems to set up alerts and to name a few. The platform is consistent with no down time. ODIN Bot, through its new features, has the potential to create a massive social impact, resulting in financial inclusion. This is in line with 63 moons’ vision to empower the Indian financial markets and the country as a whole. Lists abound of the greatest entrepreneurs of modern world. The names may vary here and there but a handful make it to most of such lists. However, fintech innovator Jignesh Shah, currently chairman emeritus, 63 moons technologies limited, makes the cut, through his sustained innovation and has also successfully transformed the face of the Indian financial markets helping the country realise its ‘Make in India’ in the 1990s.
Jignesh Shah went on to set up 10 world-class greenfield exchanges under his flagship company Financial Technologies India Limited (FTIL), in various asset classes, in about 10 years across India and abroad. Shah also successfully established electronic silk and spice routes right from Africa, to the Middle-East and South-East Asia. However, these efforts were undermined at the behest of certain vested interests who launched a premeditated massive assault on the company and its founder. This assault came out in the form of a Rs 5,600 crore payment default crisis at one of company’s subsidiaries—the National Spot Exchange Limited (NSEL). Fearing FTIL's rapid growth, the negative forces worked around the corner to bring Jignesh Shah’s empire down. However, the world slowly took note of the eight-year-long assault in the form of the two court orders of August 2019, when the Bombay High Court quashed attaching assets of Jignesh Shah’s flagship company 63 moons technologies limited in the National Spot Exchange Limited (NSEL) case as it ruled that NSEL was not a financial establishment. Another order of April 2019 by the Supreme Court also set aside a Bombay High Court judgment approving the forced merger of crisis-hit NSEL with parent company, 63 moons, in 'alleged' public interest under Section 396 of the Companies Act saying there was no public interest in passing the said order. The SC ruling came as a major boost for corporate India. In his second innings, Jignesh Shah is now raring to act as a mentor and catalyst for millions of young entrepreneurs of India helping them generate 10 crore jobs in the next decade. Also Read: Jignesh Shah, the fin-tech innovator, is undone by injustice and raring to go Lists abound of the greatest entrepreneurs of modern world. The names may vary here and there but a handful make it to most of such lists. However, fintech innovator Jignesh Shah, currently chairman emeritus, 63 moons technologies limited, makes the cut, through his sustained innovation and has also successfully transformed the face of the Indian financial markets helping the country realise its ‘Make in India’ in the 1990s.
Jignesh Shah went on to set up 10 world-class exchanges under his flagship company FTIL (now known as 63 moons technologies limited), in various asset classes, in just a decade across geographies. Shah also successfully established electronic silk and spice routes right from Africa, to the Middle-East and South-East Asia. However, these efforts were undermined at the behest of certain vested interests who launched a premeditated massive assault on the company and its founder. This assault came out in the form of a Rs 5,600 crore payment default crisis at one of company’s subsidiaries—the National Spot Exchange Limited (NSEL). Fearing FTIL's rapid growth, the negative forces worked around the corner to bring Jignesh Shah’s empire down. However, the world slowly took note of the six-year-long assault in the form of the two recent court orders. In August 2019, the Bombay High Court quashed attaching assets of Jignesh Shah’s flagship company 63 moons technologies in the National Spot Exchange Limited (NSEL) case as it ruled that NSEL was not a financial establishment. In April 2019, the Supreme Court also set aside a Bombay High Court judgment approving the forced merger of crisis-hit NSEL with parent company, 63 moons, in 'alleged' public interest under Section 396 of the Companies Act saying there was no public interest in passing the said order. The SC ruling came as a major boost for corporate India. In his second innings, Jignesh Shah is now raring to act as a mentor and catalyst for millions of young entrepreneurs of India helping them generate 10 crore jobs in the next decade. Also Read: Jignesh Shah: A symbol of unbridled will & perseverance Jignesh Shah, whose company – 63 moons technologies limited – has made a mark in the exchange markets and proved itself a world leader, is undoubtedly a symbol of undaunting faith and will power. Needless to say, under his leadership, 63 moons has been able to comfortably write its success story despite severe competition from some well-established market players and even a targeted assault by vested interests.
Not to mention, in a short span of time, Jignesh Shah's flagship company, 63 moons has been named as one of the most powerful and influential companies in biz-tech innovations. A global leader in providing next generation technology innovations, platform and solutions for digital markets and marketplaces, the entry of 63 moons into the exchange space brought competition that benefited the stakeholders enormously. Significantly, Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ‘Start-up India’ initiative has given Jignesh Shah a clear objective of creating more job opportunities in the emerging Indian economy and with a vision to create more wealth in the hands of stakeholders. Jignesh Shah’s vision has created 10 lakh jobs through his exchange ventures in just during a period of ten years. But now as entrepreneurship is flourishing in India after the comeback of Modi government, Shah is quite hopeful about creating a lot of job prospects in the next 10 years through the start-up ecosystem. Jignesh Shah strongly believes that Start-up ecosystem will not be just restricted to exchange and marketplace, rather, it will be majority of IP-based field in the verticals of agriculture, genetics, robotics. It is quite known in financial market circle that Mr. Jignesh Shah had developed his idea and realised his vision of a well-developed infrastructure of financial ecosystem, that too, within a decade. Also Read: 63 moons innovations help efficient price discovery MCX, a commodity exchange offering a platform for a variety of commodities for trading, has emerged as the world’s third biggest exchange in terms of contracts traded, and holds leadership position in trading of contracts in gold, silver and energy globally.
In 2012, MCX accounted for 8 of the top 20 metals commodity contracts traded in the world. A nationwide study by Tata Institute of Social Sciences showed the role of MCX in creation of jobs and incomes (A Million Jobs and a Million More Opportunities – a joint study of MCX and TISS) It provided reach and access to price information on commodities across the nation through partnership with India Post under the initiative of ‘Gramin Suvidha Kendra’. Read More About 63 moons technologies The public listing of MCX was the first-ever exchange listing in India, which became one of the most successful issues in the Asia Pacific in midsized corporates in 2012. It is the first exchange in the private sector with majority ownership of the public sector financial institutions. The development theme adopted for the new stock exchange was “Growth and Inclusion” and a market manifesto that clearly spelt out the development objectives and business outcomes As a next step, the FTIL group launched the currency derivatives trading that made MCX-SX reach the top of the league tables in trading of USD-INR contract developed special programme for promotion of rural entrepreneurs and rural start-ups. There has been an extensive focus on market education and skill development even before the launch of Skill India, and special thrust and focus on the development of market segments in the realm of corporate debt, SME capital markets and retail debt markets. Also Read: Start-ups are necessary for bringing the change in the way we do business Prime Minister Narendra Modi said,”India is a youthful nation. Today’s youngsters are becoming job creators”. He expressed confidence that the coming decade will be of Indian entrepreneurs and said that the goal of a $5 trillion economy was a step to realise larger dreams. PM Modi further said that the real capability of entrepreneurs will come to the fore when the government stands beside the industry as a partner. India has distinguished itself in the global start-up eco-system, he added. These developments have lifted the spirits of seasoned entrepreneurs and innovators like fintech czar Jignesh Shah, who dreamt and worked on the Make in India model in the mid-1990s. Jignesh Shah’s entrepreneurial journey has exhibited and inspired millions of young entrepreneurs of India provoking them to work for India’s growth through start up models.
Jignesh Shah, Chairman Emeritus of 63 moons technologies limited, strongly believes that start-up ecosystem will not be just restricted to exchange and marketplace, rather, it will be majority of IP-based field in the verticals of agriculture, genetics, robotics, et al. It is quite known in financial market circle that Mr. Jignesh Shah had developed his idea and realised his vision of a well-developed infrastructure of financial ecosystem, that too, within a decade. In a short duration, 63 moons technologies limited has made a mark and has been named as one of the most powerful and influential companies in biz-tech innovations. A global leader in providing next generation technology innovations, platform and solutions for digital markets and marketplaces, the entry of 63 moons technologies into the exchange space brought competition that benefited its stakeholders enormously. Also Read: Start-ups are necessary for bringing the change in the way we do business Prime Minister Narendra Modi asserts that India has distinguished itself in the global start-up eco-system, he further added, “Start-ups are no longer only in big cities. Smaller towns and villages are emerging as vibrant start-up centres.”
Praising the efforts made by the young generation of India, PM Modi said, “Youngsters are talking about the idea of a Smart Anna Bhandar, which will help farmers.” “Our start-ups are growth engines. Today’s big companies were start-ups at some point. I urge the people of India to keep innovating. If we do not innovate, we will stagnate,” he said. PM Modi said, “We in the Government understand that youngsters may face shortage of funds for their start-ups. That is why a ‘fund of funds’ has been started by the Government to facilitate more youngsters to innovate and ideate.” He also said that the Government e-Marketplace (GeM) platform has been linked to start-up India. Keeping PM Modi’s vision and initiatives in mind, fintech innovator Jighesh Shah said he fully supports PM Modi in these ventures and looks forward to playing a major mentorship role in the start-up ecosystem. It is well known that Jignesh Shah’s contributions have had an immense impact on the growth and development of the financial sector. Jignesh Shah’s purpose of business and his pursuit of public good were beyond description. Jignesh Shah is a farsighted businessman who believes in public-private partnerships says that all the benefits of his ventures flowed to the people across India. His flagship company, 63 moons technologies limited (formerly known as ‘Financial Technologies India Limited) has been named as one of the most powerful and influential companies in biz-tech innovations. The stellar contribution of a young group of entrepreneurs led by Jignesh Shah to the Indian Financial Markets ecosystem and the efforts he made to put India on the world map of the global exchange industry have been rightfully recognised. Also Read: PM’s Start-up India initiative enthuses innovators like Jignesh Shah Hon’ble Prime Minister Mr. Narendra Modi’s initiative to help young entrepreneurs in the country has the spirit of India. Indians have given up greener pastures to come back to India and look at local challenges, the PM said. It will create more opportunities for start-up owners and an investment clearance cell will be set up for entrepreneurs, he added. These individuals will be offered assistance in funding as well and a portal will be set up for this purpose, he said. The PM also added that to boost the entrepreneurial spirit of the youths, an investment clearance cell would be set up to support the start-up owners or entrepreneurs in funding.
These announcements by the PM have boosted the spirits of leading innovators like fintech czar Jignesh Shah who has hugely applauded the PM’s far-sighted vision on entrepreneurs. Jignesh Shah has himself empowered the Indian Financial market infrastructure and his 63 moons technologies limited (formerly known as FTIL aka Financial Technologies (India) Limited) has put India on the global map by way of building world-class exchanges across continents right from South-East Asia, to Middle-East, to Africa. His strategies and initiatives brought in immense development in the FinTech industry and generated several new openings for India’s growth. Appreciating the initiative of Mr. Modi, Jignesh Shah now sees 100-times bigger business potential in start-up industry and he believes that it can create 10 crore jobs over the decade. Jignesh Shah’s contributions have had an immense impact on the growth and development of the financial sector. In his new innings, Jignesh Shah believes that start-up ecosystems will not be just restricted to exchange and marketplace, rather, it will be majority of IP-based fields in the verticals of agriculture, genetics, robotics. It is quite known in the financial market circle that Mr. Jignesh Shah had developed his idea and realized his vision of a well-developed infrastructure of the financial ecosystem, that too, within a decade. Also Read : The story of innovation in the fin-tech space |
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