Skip to main content

Gujarat's high profile GIFT city 'fails to attract' funds, India's FinTech investment dips

By Rajiv Shah 
While the Narendra Modi government may have gone out of the way to promote the Gujarat International Finance Tec-City (GIFT City), sought to be developed as India’s formidable financial technology hub off the state capital Gandhinagar, just 20 km from Ahmedabad, a recent report, prepared by Tracxn Technologies suggests that neither of the two cities figure in the list of top FinTech funding receiving centres.
Results of city-wise trends on funding raised in first quarter of 2024, released by Tracxn, claiming to be a leading market intelligence platform, showo that Bengaluru topped with $247 million and 44% of all funding received, followed by Mumbai ($194 million or 35%), Hyderabad ($75.0 million or 13%), Gurgaon ($19.7 million or 3%), and Surat – the only Gujarat city to figure in Tracxn’s list of cities -- ($5.0 million or 1%).
Offering a comparison of the first quarter of 2024 with the quarterly performance of since Q2 of 2022, the report also indicates that the FinTech startup ecosystem has failed to catch up with the high investment trend witnessed in 2022. Thus, the Q1 2024 result worked out by Tracxn shows that the FinTech sector received a total investment of $550.8 million as against a whopping $1.3 billion in Q1 of 2023.
The trend suggests a sharp downfall over the period for which data has been released: Thus, the Q4 of 2023 received $346.7 million as against $537.4 million in Q4 of 2022; Q3 of 2023 received $476.6 million as against $973.4 million in Q3 of 2022; and Q2 of 2023 received $138.5 million as against $1.6 billion in Q2 of 2022.
Yet, ironically, the report seeks to heap praise the Indian economy, which it says “showed a strong performance in the previous quarter with a growth of 8.4%.” Agreeing that the “this number is expected to decline to 5.9% in Q1 2024 as per government sources”, it insists, “The Government of India has always been focused on promoting the tech ecosystem in the country.”
The declining trend in the funding of the FinTech startup ecosystem has come despite “the announcement of the Startup India Initiative in 2016”, which came up with “multiple schemes and initiatives have been introduced to boost the growth of India’s startup ecosystem”, to quote from the report. Thus, “Around $12 billion was allocated in the Interim Budget for 2024 for providing interest-free loans for 50 years to promote R&D in the private sector in the country.”
The report quotes the IMF to say that India is “expected to become the third-largest economy in the world by 2027 with a GDP of over $5 trillion”, and “with a large consumer base comprising the world’s largest young population and rising urban incomes, India is set to see good growth in the coming years.” 
It adds, “FinTech has consistently been one of the top funded sectors in the country. Increasing smartphone penetration, the push towards a cashless economy, and other favourable regulatory policies have helped the sector receive consistent investor interest.”
Making a comparison of funding in Q1 of 2024 and Q4 of 2023 instead of Q1 of 2023, the report says, “Banking Tech, the third-highest funded sector, received funding of $85.8 million in Q1 2024, which is a growth of 187% compared to the $29.9 million in funding witnessed in Q4 2023, benefiting substantially from record-breaking UPI transactions and digital banking’s widespread adoption due to rising internet and mobile device penetration in cities and rural areas.”
However, this comparison, which many would consider incomparable (as the compared periods do not match), also shows that, to quote from the report, “Q1 2024 witnessed a significant 75% drop in seed-stage funding, which was at $9.9 million compared to $39.2 million in the previous quarter. Early-stage funding saw a 35% drop from $227 million raised in Q4 2023 to $147 million in Q1 2024. Only late-stage funding rounds witnessed a phenomenal rise of 392% to $394 million, compared to $80.1 million in Q4 2023.”

Comments

Dr (Col) Amitav Banerjee said…
All that glitters is not gold. Regrettably, glitter is valued more by most people today!
May 04, 2024
Post a Comment

TRENDING

NYT: RSS 'infiltrates' institutions, 'drives' religious divide under Modi's leadership

By Jag Jivan   A comprehensive New York Times investigation published on December 26, 2025, chronicles the rise of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) — characterized as a far-right Hindu nationalist organization — from a shadowy group founded in 1925 to the world's largest right-wing force, marking its centenary in 2025 with unprecedented influence and mainstream acceptance. Prime Minister Narendra Modi , who joined the RSS as a young boy and later became a full-time campaigner before being deputized to its political wing in the 1980s, delivered his strongest public tribute to the group in his August 2025 Independence Day address. Speaking from the Red Fort , he called the RSS a "giant river" with dozens of streams touching every aspect of Indian life, praising its "service, dedication, organization, and unmatched discipline." The report describes how the RSS has deeply infiltrated India's institutions — government, courts, police, media, and academia — ...
Post a Comment
»

Dalit woman student’s death sparks allegations of institutional neglect in Himachal college

By A Representative   A Dalit rights organisation has alleged severe caste- and gender-based institutional violence leading to the death of a 19-year-old Dalit woman student at Government Degree College, Dharamshala, Himachal Pradesh, and has demanded arrests, resignations, and an independent inquiry into the case.
Post a Comment
»

Domestic vote-bank politics 'behind official solidarity' with Bangladeshi Hindus

By Sandeep Pandey, Faisal Khan  The Indian government has registered a protest with Bangladesh over the mob lynching of two Hindus—Deepu Chandra Das in Mymensingh and Amrit Mandal in Rajbari. In its communication, the government cited a report by the Association of Hindus, Buddhists and Christian Unity Council, which claims that more than 2,900 incidents of killings, arson, and land encroachments targeting minorities have taken place since the interim government assumed power in Bangladesh. 
Post a Comment
»

From colonial mercantilism to Hindutva: New book on the making of power in Gujarat

By Rajiv Shah  Professor Ghanshyam Shah ’s latest book, “ Caste-Class Hegemony and State Power: A Study of Gujarat Politics ”, published by Routledge , is penned by one of Gujarat ’s most respected chroniclers, drawing on decades of fieldwork in the state. It seeks to dissect how caste and class factors overlap to perpetuate the hegemony of upper strata in an ostensibly democratic polity. The book probes the dominance of two main political parties in Gujarat—the Indian National Congress and the BJP—arguing that both have sustained capitalist growth while reinforcing Brahmanic hierarchies.
Post a Comment
»

Gig workers’ strike halts platforms, union submits demands to Labour Ministry

By A Representative   India’s gig economy witnessed an partial disruption on December 31, 2025, as a large number of delivery workers, app-based service providers, and freelancers across the country participated in a nationwide strike called by the Gig & Platform Service Workers Union (GIPSWU). The strike, which followed days of coordinated protests, shut down major platforms including Zomato , Swiggy , Blinkit , Zepto , Flipkart , and BigBasket in several areas.
Post a Comment
»

Epic war against caste system is constitutional responsibility of elected government

Edited by well-known Gujarat Dalit rights leader Martin Macwan, the book, “Bhed-Bharat: An Account of Injustice and Atrocities on Dalits and Adivasis (2014-18)” (available in English and Gujarati*) is a selection of news articles on Dalits and Adivasis (2014-2018) published by Dalit Shakti Prakashan, Ahmedabad. Preface to the book, in which Macwan seeks to answer key questions on why the book is needed today: *** The thought of compiling a book on atrocities on Dalits and thus present an overall Indian picture had occurred to me a long time ago. Absence of such a comprehensive picture is a major reason for a weak social and political consciousness among Dalits as well as non-Dalits. But gradually the idea took a different form. I found that lay readers don’t understand numbers and don’t like to read well-researched articles. The best way to reach out to them was storytelling. As I started writing in Gujarati and sharing the idea of the book with my friends, it occurred to me that while...
Post a Comment
»

Celebrating 125 yr old legacy of healthcare work of missionaries

Vilas Shende, director, Mure Memorial Hospital By Moin Qazi* Central India has been one of the most fertile belts for several unique experiments undertaken by missionaries in the field of education and healthcare. The result is a network of several well-known schools, colleges and hospitals that have woven themselves into the social landscape of the region. They have also become a byword for quality and affordable services delivered to all sections of the society. These institutions are characterised by committed and compassionate staff driven by the selfless pursuit of improving the well-being of society. This is the reason why the region has nursed and nurtured so many eminent people who occupy high positions in varied fields across the country as well as beyond. One of the fruits of this legacy is a more than century old iconic hospital that nestles in the heart of Nagpur city. Named as Mure Memorial Hospital after a British warrior who lost his life in a war while defending his cou...
Post a Comment
»

2025 was not just a bad year—it was a moral failure, it normalised crisis

By Atanu Roy*  The clock has struck midnight. 2025 has passed, and 2026 has arrived. Firecrackers were already bursting in celebration. If this is merely a ritual, like Deepavali, there is little to comment on. Otherwise, I find 2025 to have been a dismal year, weighed down by relentless odds—perhaps the worst year I have personally witnessed.
Post a Comment
»

Urgent need to study cause of large number of natural deaths in Gulf countries

By Venkatesh Nayak* According to data tabled in Parliament in April 2018, there are 87.76 lakh (8.77 million) Indians in six Gulf countries, namely Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE). While replying to an Unstarred Question (#6091) raised in the Lok Sabha, the Union Minister of State for External Affairs said, during the first half of this financial year alone (between April-September 2018), blue-collared Indian workers in these countries had remitted USD 33.47 Billion back home. Not much is known about the human cost of such earnings which swell up the country’s forex reserves quietly. My recent RTI intervention and research of proceedings in Parliament has revealed that between 2012 and mid-2018 more than 24,570 Indian Workers died in these Gulf countries. This works out to an average of more than 10 deaths per day. For every US$ 1 Billion they remitted to India during the same period there were at least 117 deaths of Indian Workers in Gulf ...
Post a Comment
»