Posted by “Dream big, work hard, stay humble.” – Brad Meltzer.
This quote aptly defines the journey of Jignesh Shah, a man who started his career as an ordinary Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) employee. He is the Co-Founder, Chairman, and Managing Director of a booming venture, 63 Moons Technologies Limited, earlier known as Financial Technologies India Limited (FTIL). He studied engineering at Mumbai University and joined the BSE in 1990, where he polished his knowledge in stocks and finance and achieved loads of recognition and exposure in money matters.
However, he is a dreamer with a vision to establish a people-centric new-generation market. Hence, he quit his job and became a full-time entrepreneur with FTIL alongside his partner and his friend from BSE, Dewang Narella, which fulfilled his wish. He conceded his entire life savings to build up FTIL, currently one of the leading financial software technology providers in India. FTIL grabbed its place in the financial market within a blink and transformed the picture of India’s FinTech industry forever. It played a substantial hand in the growth of GDP and also generated qualified jobs for young India.
Belonging to an average and middle-class family in a Mumbai suburb could never restrict his high ambitions and aspirations. After the massive success of FTIL, Jignesh Shah set another foot forward in 2003, launching Multi-Commodity Exchange (MCX) and founding National Spot Exchange Limited (NSEL) within the next five years. Shah has extended many exchanges in India and in foreign lands like Bahrain, Singapore, Dubai, and a few other countries, which created lucrative opportunities and contributed to the nation’s progress. MCX is India’s commodity exchange giant, a 70% shareholder of the goods traded in the country.
Shah also helped to set up the Dubai Gold & Commodity Exchange as a Vice Chairman. ODIN is one of the most phenomenal accomplishments of Jignesh Shah, which proved instrumental in seizing the second colossal market share in the trading terminal segment as a cost-effective brokerage technology solution. Shah’s company is the only Indian firm that ingrained electronic silk and spice routes across the Middle East, Africa, and South-East Asia. He opened modern IP-centric financial markets, which played a vital role in changing the face of exchange trading in the country and across emerging economies.
Shah’s relentless hard work, growth-oriented mindset, and consistent efforts behind making financial solutions innovative were recognized, with many accolades and awards. The most prestigious was the ‘Indian Express Innovation Award’ presented by the then President, Late Dr. A. P. J. Abdul Kalam. He even hit the lists of the ‘Top 30 Global Innovators in E-Finance’ by Institutional Investor in 2008 and ‘Top 20 Indians’ by CLSA. Besides his professional achievements, Jignesh Shah was also honoured with the ‘Global Social Entrepreneur’ award by Rotary International for his philanthropic activities towards the welfare of society. His collaborative initiative with India Post called ‘Gramin Suvidha Kendra’ reached Maharashtra, Gujarat, Karnataka, and Uttar Pradesh now and uplifted the lives of over thousands of farmers across countless villages.