The Fintech Centre of Excellence (CoE) at NSRCEL, a prominent startup incubator at the Indian Institute of Management Bangalore (IIMB), has partnered with HDFC Bank’s corporate social responsibility arm, HDFC Bank Parivartan. Backed by the Government of Karnataka, this initiative aims to support early- and growth-stage fintech startups that are driving financial inclusion across India.
Following a rigorous joint evaluation process, 10 high-potential startups were selected from a pool of 17 finalists who showcased their innovations during a recent Demo Day. The chosen ventures specialize in sectors such as lending, payments, insurance, wealthtech, regtech, and embedded finance.
The cohort of grant recipients includes:
- Entitled
- Late
- Finsall
- He read it
- Lark Finserv
- INKA
- ValuEnable
- GreenFi
- Xaults
- Saventh
Moving Beyond Pilots to Market Scale
The collaboration combines equity-free grant support with strategic ecosystem access. This framework helps founders strengthen their business fundamentals, improve market readiness, and reach underserved customer segments.
“Fintech can significantly improve financial access and resilience in India when innovation delivers measurable outcomes,” said Anand Sri Ganesh.
“Through this partnership with HDFC Bank, NSRCEL’s Fintech Centre of Excellence is deploying CSR capital to help emerging fintech startups move from pilot projects to market adoption. We want founders to build compliant, scalable and market-ready solutions that address critical gaps in India’s financial ecosystem,” he added.
Beyond grant funding, participating startups will receive tailored support based on their growth requirements. Founders will gain access to domain experts, industry leaders, regulators, successful entrepreneurs and potential investors. NSRCEL said it will align each intervention with measurable business goals and track progress through regular reviews.
The Fintech Centre of Excellence plans to expand its activities beyond the current cohort. The centre is strengthening its focus on areas such as MSME financing, central bank digital currencies (CBDCs), embedded finance, wealthtech and artificial intelligence-driven financial services.
NSRCEL also continues to engage the broader fintech ecosystem through initiatives such as the Fintech Clinic. The platform brings together startups, regulators, BFSI organisations and technology providers to address emerging opportunities and challenges in financial innovation.
Through the programme, NSRCEL and HDFC Bank Parivartan aim to support high-potential fintech ventures, strengthen India’s innovation pipeline and accelerate the growth of startups working to advance financial inclusion.
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