International Financial Services Centres Authority (IFSCA) is a unified regulatory authority vested with the powers of all four financial sector regulators in India namely, the RBI, SEBI, IRDAI and PFRDA for the purpose of enabling regulatory framework towards the development of International Financial Services Centres (IFSCs) in India. The aim of IFSCA is to provide an efficient and facilitative regulatory system comparable with the best in the world that is complemented with complete ease of doing business to develop IFSCs as a preferred global hub for international financial services.

Globally, FinTech hubs have been successful when FinTechs are able to collaborate with Financial Institutions (Banks, Insurance Companies, Stock Exchanges, Funds, etc.) and Regulators. Government and government agencies around the world have supported various types of initiatives to enable and augment such collaboration and have fostered ecosystems for the FinTechs.

Use cases:

The following use cases have to be built on Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT):

Traceability of carbon credits: Develop a DLT-based platform that can trace the lifecycle of carbon credits, from their creation to their retirement, in order to ensure their legitimacy and track their impact on emissions reduction.
Sustainable supply chain financing: Create a DLT-based solution that can enable more sustainable supply chain financing by verifying the sustainability credentials of suppliers and tracking the impact of financing on sustainability metrics.
Green bonds issuance and management: Create a DLT-based solution that can streamline the issuance and management of green bonds, ensuring that funds are used for environmentally beneficial projects and enabling investors to track the impact of their investments.

Eligibility Criteria for IFSCA:

The following entities shall be eligible for participating in the Hackathon:

The entities having a MVP or near completion MVP are eligible to apply for the Hackathon. The use cases have been outlined above around which the application can be made. Paper ideas with no solid plan will not be accepted.
Where the Applicant is from India:
a) An entity registered with Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) as a start-up entity relating to FinTech; or
b) An entity incorporated as a company under the Companies Act 2013, or as a Limited liability Partnership (LLP) under the Limited liability Partnership Act, 2008 or a ‘Branch’ of an Indian company or LLP in IFSC; or
c) An entity working directly or indirectly in the ecosystem regulated by a domestic financial sector regulator.
d) An entity in process of registering in India in any of the above three mentioned categories.
Where the Applicant is from Outside India - An entity incorporated or in the process of incorporation from FATF compliant countries/jurisdictions.

The rewards:

Rewards/ Prizes/ Recognitions- Benefits of being a part of hackathon:

Winners/ Finalists get an entry to the IFSCA Innovation/Regulatory Sandbox subject to IFSCA’s approval process.
Winners/ Finalists may apply for Green FinTech Grant under the IFSCA FinTech Incentive Scheme, 2022, amounting upto INR 75,00,000 (approx. USD 90K) per FinTech.
Winners will have the opportunity to enter the Polygon Closed Development Circle and may also have the chance to receive investment opportunities and mentorship from Polygon.
Polygon Labs may connect Winners/ Finalists to the VC network by Polygon Labs to raise and/or network with.