CoinSwitch Completes Maiden ESOP Buyback Within 20 Months Of India Launch

CoinSwitch, India's largest Crypto unicorn, completed its first-ever ESOP buyback worth $2.5 million (INR 19 crore approx.) within 20 months of operating in India. The company is growing at a rapid clip as India explores and adopts digital assets and is committed to sharing the benefits and creating wealth for its employees.

In less than two years, CoinSwitch has grown from 20 to 500 employees as it expands its wealth-tech offering and builds one of India's first Web3 teams.

In September 2021, CoinSwitch raised $260 million in Series C funding from Coinbase Ventures and Andreessen Horowitz (a16z) to become India's most valued Crypto Unicorn at a valuation of $1.9 billion. Other investors include Tiger Global, Sequoia Capital, Ribbit Capital, Paradigm. CoinSwitch is a16z's first investment in an Indian startup and Tiger Global's first investment in an Indian crypto company. 

"The Equity Buyback program is a small effort to acknowledge our employees' contribution to the phenomenal growth of CoinSwitch. Over 15 million users trust CoinSwitch in their investment journey, making us the largest Crypto app. We meet and exceed our targets in India because of the amazing team and shall continue to launch similar liquidity events as part of our commitment to creating wealth for all," said Ashish Singhal, Co-founder and CEO, CoinSwitch.

The company is on a mission to simplify Crypto and provide a safe and trusted platform for users to make informed decisions — to 'make money equal for all'. Between January 2021 and January 2022, the registered user base grew from a little more than 1 million to 15 million, making CoinSwitch the largest Crypto app in India.

The company now plans to provide on its platform other asset classes and financial products to be the wealth-tech destination for every Indian.

About CoinSwitch

Founded in 2017 by Ashish Singhal, Govind Soni, and Vimal Sagar as a global aggregator of crypto exchanges, CoinSwitch is India's largest and most valued crypto unicorn with 15 million registered users. Today, users can choose from over 90 cryptos, including Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Solana. The company started its India operations in June 2020 to make Crypto trading easy and simple for users. Backed by reputed investors including Andreessen Horowitz (a16z), Tiger Global, Sequoia Capital, Ribbit Capital, Paradigm, and Coinbase Ventures, CoinSwitch is creating an ecosystem that simplifies trading in Crypto for its users. For more information, visit: www.coinswitch.co

Accenture Q2 Result Read-Through: Solid Revenue Performance; Raises FY22 Guidance Further

* Strong revenue growth momentum continues in consulting and outsourcing businesses: Accenture's (ACN) revenues rose 24.5% YoY to USD15.05bn (28% in local currency or LC) in Q2, well ahead of its guided range of USD14.3bn-USD14.75bn. ACN continues to see strong, broad-based demand across industries, services and geographic markets and continues to gain market share, resulting in a robust overall operating performance and strong order booking. It posted strong double-digit growth in Cloud, Industry X, Security and Interactive. All three service lines, Strategy & Consulting, Technology, and Operations, reported robust double-digit growth. Consulting revenue grew by 29% YoY to USD8.3bn as clients accelerated their digital transformation agenda, including moving to the cloud, embedding security across the enterprise and adopting new technologies. Outsourcing revenue grew at a healthy rate of 19% YoY to USD6.7bn. New bookings were at a record high of USD19.6bn (22% YoY, book-to-bill 1.3x). Consulting bookings stood at USD10.9bn (55.7% YoY, book-to-bill 1.3x) and outsourcing bookings came in at USD8.7bn (8.5% YoY, book-to-bill 1.3x). The operating margin was flat YoY at 13.7%. Quarterly annualized voluntary attrition inched up to 18% from 17% QoQ. The company added 24,179 net employees (3.6% QoQ).

* Broad-based growth across verticals: Growth was driven by Products (34% in LC), CMT (32% in LC), Financial Services (25% in LC), Resources (25% in LC), and Health & Public Services (21% in LC). The company continues to see secular demand across its verticals and expects to sustain broad-based growth momentum in the coming quarters.

*  FY22 revenue growth guidance raised to 24-26%: ACN upgraded its FY22 revenue growth guidance to 24-26% in LC from 19-22% guided earlier on the back of a superior revenue performance in Q2 and secular demand trends. The guidance assumes a negative 3% foreign exchange impact on USD revenues and the impact of discontinued operations in Russia (~2,300 employees), but it does not include assumptions for a significant escalation of the conflict and its economic disruptions. The operating margin is expected to expand by 10bps to 15.2% (earlier expected 10-30bps expansion). ACN expects OCF and FCF to be in the range of USD8.7-9.2bn and USD8-8.5bn, respectively (earlier USD8.4-8.9bn and USD7.7-8.2bn). ACN expects Q3FY22 revenues to be in the range of USD15.7-16.15bn, up 22-26% YoY in LC.

* Earnings call takeaways: Q2 revenues came in USD300mn higher than the upper end of the guided range on the back of secular demand and over-delivery across geographies, verticals and services. Management indicated that the increasing need for speed, compressed transformation initiatives and acceleration in the cloud journey is driving better-than-expected demand. ACN continues to gain market share and is currently growing at 3x market growth. ACN spent ~USD1.8bn on 28 acquisitions in H1 and retained its plan to invest ~USD4bn on M&A in FY22. FY22 revenue guidance continues to assume ~5% contribution from M&A. ACN signed deals worth over USD100mn with 36 clients in Q2. While the business environment remained competitive, pricing improved across businesses in Q2. The company is increasing pricing and changing the mix of people to reduce the impact of compensation increases on margin; however, the impact of pricing improvements is lagging the impact of compensation increases.

* Read-through for Indian IT peers: ACN's another strong revenue beat and upward revision in revenue growth guidance for FY22 (~USD2bn increase) indicate a robust demand environment. Broad-based healthy demand, strong revenue growth (20% YoY in H1) and healthy order booking in outsourcing (12.5% YoY in H1 on the back of 21% in FY21) augur well for Indian IT peers. ACN is facing some margin pressure due to wage inflation and elevated attrition amid tight labor markets; however, a conducive environment for price increases will support the margins. The Nifty IT index was up 2.9%/down 2.7%/up 36.1% in the last 1M/3M/12M vs. 0.1%/1.8%/18.7% growth in the Nifty. We believe that a strong demand environment, sustained acceleration in revenue growth, margin support from weaker rupee and robust order booking will support higher valuations. Our pecking order is INFO, WPRO, TECHM, HCLT and TCS among Tier-1 names, and PSYS, MPHL, ROUTE, BSOFT, ECLX and FSOL in mid-caps.

AffordPlan Forges Pan India Partnership With Milann Fertility & Birthing Hospitals

* The partnership will help realise their collective vision of providing access to affordable fertility treatments in India

AffordPlan, a healthcare finance company, announced a partnership with Milann Fertility & Birthing Hospitals, to extend affordable and accessible fertility treatments to couples on their journey to parenthood. With this partnership, AffordPlan’s Swasth card holders can avail fertility services at any Milann centres across India and enjoy cost savings on treatments.

Aditya Sharma, CEO of AffordPlan on the partnership said, “AffordPlan’s mission is to make healthcare finance easy and affordable and with this partnership, we broaden our impact area to fertility needs of the country. Research indicates that 10-15 percent of married couples in India face infertility. Our hope is to be able to provide individuals access to state-of-the-art equipment, experts, and highly individualised treatment plans of Milann Fertility & Birthing Hospitals so that if there is a chance of having a baby, one is assured of the medical advice necessary to get there.”

Mr. Shailesh Guntu, CEO – Milann Fertility & Birthing Hospitals & Director-Healthcare Services – HCGEL on their tie-up with AffordPlan comments, “Since its inception, Milann’s endeavour has been to redefine high-tech fertility care in India by offering individuals access to advanced medical diagnosis and treatment options available in the field of Assisted Reproduction Technology (ART) at an affordable cost. Our partnership with Affordplan simply enhances our mission and we will continually strive to make fertility treatments essential and affordable”.

Affordplan is on a mission to enable healthcare affordability for millions of people through innovative financial solutions. They aim to bring accessible, affordable, and high-quality healthcare to the world and believe that planning for medical expenses is no longer limited to taking an insurance cover or a medical loan; it's a systematic pursuit.

About Affordplan

Launched in 2016, Affordplan is a first-of-its-kind fintech platform, which is at the intersection of finance, healthcare, and technology. They’ve partnered with hundreds of hospitals across 15 cities, having touched more than 5,00,000 patient lives through their product. Swasth – their current innovation is a healthcare savings card launched in collaboration with YES BANK, that can be used across OPD, IPD, lab, and pharmacy services. Affordplan Swasth offers a full stack of financial services for healthcare including an OPD wallet, IPD savings, medical loans, and insurance.

About Milann

Milann is one of the leading fertility & birthing chains in India with its presence at 5 locations in Bangalore and 3 in the north India (Delhi, Chandigarh & Gurugram). Having a legacy of over 30 years, we at Milann have helped over 1,00,000 couples experience the joy of parenthood and the number just keeps increasing. We have been providing the best medical treatment for patients giving access to advanced medical diagnosis and treatment options available in the field of Assisted Reproductive Technology (ART) through state of the art NABL accredited facility lab with hi-tech amenities and well trained doctors and embryologists which give patients a significantly higher chance for pregnancy and delivery.

Godrej Locks & Architectural Fittings And Systems Announces The Winners Of The First Ever GeeVees Awards

* The inaugural award show saw over 350 participations in total

* The ceremony had over 34 winners across 10  categories

* The award itself was designed by renowned sculptor and artist, Arzan Khambatta

Godrej Locks & Architectural Fittings and Systems (GLAFS), the business unit of Godrej & Boyce, the flagship company of the Godrej Group, hosted the very first edition of The GeeVees. These awards was conceptualized to celebrate the most innovative and conscious ideas in architecture and interior design community. Held virtually on 19th March, 2022, the inaugural edition of the awards witnessed over 350 attendees. The GeeVees was curated by the Festival of Architecture and Interior Design (FOAID) showcasing the theme -Conscious Design.

The GeeVees Awards brought together architects, interior designers, builders, and other associated professionals to connect, learn, and set the bar for the future of the industry. The environmental impact of our consumption has become more apparent, and it is hence critical to employ long-term, sustainable, and circular design techniques. The theme this year on ‘Conscious Design’ was chosen keeping this philosophy in mind. In keeping with the theme of conscious design, efforts were made to incorporate various elements through the awards which were reflected in the trophies made by Mr. Arzan Khambatta, an acclaimed sculptor designer. He designed the award in a way that would be remembered and would stand out in a crowd. The award is composed of resin, brass components and is mounted on a wooden base which overall emphasises sustainable elements.

The GeeVees Awards consisted of a panel of reputed jury members intending to honour exceptional designers and projects like Bill Bensley - Bill Bensley - Bangkok – Thailand, Yatin Patel – Founder & Principal – DSP Design, Hiren Patel – Architect & Interior Designer, Supraja Rao – Architect, Interior Designer, Art Curator and a Gallerist, Melissa Smith- Architect and Urban Planner- BandukSmith Studio, Rahul Shankhwalker - Studio HBA, New Delhi – India, Rajiv Shroff - Principal Associate - Talati & Partners LLP, Ms. Santha Gaur - Co - Founder Planet 3 Studios Architecture Pvt. Ltd, Chandrashekhar Wyawahare- Director, Co – Founder- Futuring Design, Sonali Bhagwati- President- DPA, Sanjay Gulati- Principal & Managing Director - Gensler, Sourabh Gupta- Managing Director- Archohm Consults Pvt Ltd, Indrajit Kembhavi- Managing Partner- Kembhavi  Architecture Foundation, Nita Kembhavi- Partner- Kembhavi  Architecture Foundation.

Mr. Shyam Motwani, EVP & Business Head at Godrej Locks & Architectural Fittings and Systems, added that, “Our country is endowed with a vast and largely untapped reservoir of rich artisanal and modern skill sets; all that is required is for them to channel their creativity towards the needs of their audience. We acknowledge all the members of the design community for their exemplary contribution and bringing about a profound transformation in the designing space. The purpose of the awards was to honour the efforts of the young talent who through their dedication have not only progressed the quality of sustainable architecture but also enriched the lives of the society.

Architects and interior designers play a very important role in building a planet that is sustainable and safer for our future generations. With GeeVees, we want to build a nexus of thought leaders who are passionate about our planet and will rally to inspire like-minded professionals towards building designs that leave a positive impact on our society.

Our hope and vision for the GeeVees is that it becomes one of the most coveted platforms in India for architects and interior designs, one that gives these individuals an opportunity to showcase their passion for innovation, design and sustainability – because that kind of passion is also what we at Godrej & Boyce stand for."

The esteemed jury of The GeeVees, also shared a joint statement on the same- “The GeeVees Awards provided a platform for young designers to shine, as well as an opportunity for us to share our expertise with them. I would like to express my gratitude to GLAFS for providing support to the ever resilient designing community. Every participant exemplifies a commitment towards bringing a revolutionary concept, and I look forward to seeing the impact of their diverse perspectives and outlook to make a positive impact on the community. The projects submitted were pioneering examples of how designers have begun to bring forward creative and unique approaches that will inspire the industry – and the world at large – to aim toward conscious designs and solutions while also advocating to think more consciously.”

Gold Winners:

1.      Safest Residential:

Abhishek Talawat, Luxury Space Design for Nikitha's Residence

2.      Safest Commercial:

Dharmendra Jain, D’Stroke Interiors for Sandhi Lekhara Karyalay (C.A Office)

3.      Hospitality

Rohit Bhatkar, Tangents Design Cell for Triose

4.      Healthcare:

Rahul Kadri, IMK Architects for Auric Hall

5.      Educational:

Suparna Ghosh, Forum Architecture for Adharshila School Extension Project

6.      Commercial Space Small:

Puran Kumar, Studio PKA for THE SHELL

7.      Commercial Space large:

Anishka Maiti, Folds Design Studio for RUPA RENNAISSANCE, IT PARK

8.      Multi-Unit:

Dexter Fernandes, UNEVEN for 33 LE

9.      Kitchen:

Rachana Goyam, Midas Luxury Interiors

10.  Private Residence:

Puran Kumar, Studio PKA for The Canvas

Below are the People’s Choice Winners who were selected by an online poll.

1.      Hospitality:

Shriya Parasrampuria, Blurring Boundaries for An Oasis in Mumbai!

2.      Healthcare:

Nikhita Singh, Scapesmiths for Lavanya Laser & Plastic surgery Clinic

3.      Educational:

Chetan GB, Shuonya Nava Designs for K R E I S G U R U K U L

4.      Commercial Space Small:

Prashant Paradava / Shweeta Rathod, PDC ARCHITECTS for Orbit Vapi sales office

5.      Commercial Space large:

Shourya Patel, UNEVEN for V3

6.      Multi Unit:

Dexter Fernandes, UNEVEN for 33 LE

7.      Kitchen:

Asad Khan, ID+AS (integrated Design + Architecture Studio ) for  The Cube House

8.      Private Residence:

Srikrishnan Pandurangan, PG Associates for Treehouse A treaty between man and nature

Owing to the pandemic, the GeeVees was hosted virtually while ensuring that the ceremony was an engaging and gratifying experience. The event was hosted by actor Shruti Seth and had a soulful music performance by the band Satyug. The prestigious occasion was celebrated with great zeal and ignited the joy and honour of the designing community.

All the submitted entries were well executed, reflecting this year’s agenda around Conscious Design. The award has been conceived as an extension of the Godrej Value Co-Creators Club that was launched by the brand, earlier this year. Currently, there are over 1000 architects who are part of this incentive program.

About Godrej Locks & Architectural Fittings and Systems:  

Godrej Locks is a 123-year-old leading manufacturer of innovative locking devices. Since its inception in 1897 by Ardeshir Godrej, the name ‘Godrej’ has become synonymous with trust, protection and integrity. From the first Anchor branded lock in 1897 to the first ever spring less lock in 1907, to the iconic 'Nav-Tal' in 1954, and to the postmodern biometric locks, Godrej has set every benchmark in the locks industry. Over the years, Godrej Locks and Architectural Hardware & Fittings have changed in form, function and scope of application. But one thing still remains the same – the solid stamp of trust and reliability. Godrej Locks adhere to global quality norms and hold ISO 9001, ISO 14001 and OHSAS 18001 certifications. 

Beyond Locking solutions, the brand also caters to Architectural Fittings, creating innovative, premium, comprehensive hardware solutions. The range which consists of door, furniture and glass fittings has been designed to fit perfectly into today’s hi-tech residential and commercial establishments. Most products caters to needs for safety, privacy, fire & smoke checks and energy saving with ease. These devices meet international quality standards like UL Rating, EN Rating, CE Certification and fire-rated.

The Kitchen Fittings by Godrej Locks & Architectural Fittings and Systems includes SKIDO, i.e. Smart Kitchen Drawers & Organisers - an innovative range of smart kitchen storage solutions, designed in India to meet the unique requirements of the Indian Kitchen. The Godrej Cartini range of knives- showcase cutting-edge design, a fine quality blade and the highest level of durability. These premium kitchen and hobby equipment range are also made in India, to suit home and professional needs.

The brand has come a long way in delivering world-class smart locking solutions. For more information, log on to https://www.godrej.com/godrej-locking-solutions-and-systems 

Godrej Locks is a business unit of?Godrej & Boyce Mfg. Co. Ltd.

HCL Foundation Organised Two-week Vaccination Drive Across Bengaluru

HCL Foundation (HCLF), the CSR (corporate social responsibility) arm of HCL Technologies, under its flagship urban community development program HCL Uday and in partnership with Society for Community Health Awareness Research and Action (SOCHARA) and Swathi Mahila Sangha NGO organized two week-long vaccination camps in Maya Bazaar and Anandapuram, in Bangalore’s urban district. To commemorate National Vaccination Day and strengthen our fight against COVID-19.

Drone Technology Start-Up AUS Signs INR 3.75 Crore Lease Financing Deal With Grip

* Grip and AUS have entered a first-of-its-kind deal that allows retail investors to invest in India’s growing drone market

* Enabled through Lease Financing options on Grip’s Alternative Investment platform

* Under this deal, Grip will enable AUS to build new revenue streams by leveraging lease financing and facilitating more than 50 drones.

Grip, an alternative investment platform, has announced that it has become India’s first company to provide lease financing opportunities in drones, to retail investors. Grip and Aarav Unmanned Systems (AUS) entered into a first-of-its-kind unique lease financial deal worth INR 3.75 crore that paves the way for retail investors to invest in the growing drone ecosystem in India. Further, Grip also unlocks a new revenue stream for promising businesses in India’s drone segment by leveraging lease financing options. 

AUS is the first Indian company to develop professional drone solutions for enterprises and get a small category (> 2kg weight) drone certification from the DGCA, India. The company was established in 2013 and has so far, mapped more than 5 million acres, 15000 villages and 35 cities. It has further covered more than 250 mines and 350 stockyards for mining, metal, and power companies like Tata Steel, Hindalco, and Coal India, etc. Under this deal, Grip will enable AUS to build new revenue streams by leveraging lease financing for more than 50 drones.

Commenting on the announcement, Nikhil Aggarwal, CEO & Founder, Grip, said, “India's commercial drone market has grown leaps and bounds in the past few years witnessing growing adoption across several verticals such as mining, filming & photography, and agriculture in the country. We’re super excited to facilitate a first-of-its-kind lease financing deal to help scale India’s drone segment. AUS is a leading company in drone manufacturing and provides services like surveying, mining, mapping, etc. We are committed to establishing Grip as a platform that provides alternative sources of capital for high-growth companies like AUS.”

AUS offers end-to-end integrated solutions for drone applications, providing the drone, an operator and a cloud platform for data analysis. The company is profitable and has seen tremendous growth in revenue - 250% annually for the past 3 years.  It is currently the leading player with the highest market share in the commercial drone market in India. It is one of the three companies whose product has been shortlisted to map India’s 6 lakh villages by the Government of India.

Commenting on the partnership with Grip, Vipul Singh, CEO & Co-founder, AUS, said, “Drones are fast becoming a vehicle of development and financial inclusion in India. Our drones are making an impact on some of the largest mining & metal brands and large-scale infrastructure players in India, including Tata Steel, Hindalco, NTPC, Coal India, and others. We are also a key player for the SVAMITVA scheme of the Ministry of Panchayati Raj, for the digitization of land records in rural India. The drone sector is growing in leaps and bounds, and we are happy to partner with Grip to provide this investment opportunity to retail investors.”

The development comes on the heels of the honorable Finance Minister emphasizing the positive role being played by the drones in the Digital India vision and further announced the launch of the Drone Shakti program to promote the development, usage, and impact of drone technology on primarily Rural India.

India’s drone segment is projected to grow at a CAGR of 12.4% by 2025 and reach a value of $5Bn. Mapping & surveying holds the majority of revenue share due to the high accuracy and quality provided by such drones with relatively less manpower and low cost. Additionally, government initiatives such as the Make in India, which promotes the domestic manufacturing of drones, are fuelling the growth of the commercial drone market in India.

About AUS:

AUS has been leading the drone technology evolution in India for commercial application since its inception at IIT Kanpur in the year 2013. AUS was the first start-up to build and deploy PPK GPS-based Survey grade fully autonomous drones in India. AUS is also the first company to get a small category drone certified by DGCA. Apart from pushing the technology benchmarks and boundaries for enterprise-grade drones, AUS has intensively worked upon data collection, processing, and analytics techniques to increase the meaningful impact and value addition of the data collected by the survey-grade drones. AUS is backed by some of the well-known early-stage deep tech investors like the Auxano Capital, KARSEMVEN fund, StartupXseed Ventures, 3one4 Capital, GrowX ventures, 500 Durians, and Ashok Atluri (MD of Zen Technologies), etc.

About Grip Invest:

Grip is building a new category of investment options for the new-age Indians. Millennials don’t communicate, shop, pay, entertain or work as the previous generation - then why should they invest the same way?

Started in June 2020, Grip has seen a 35% month-on-month growth to become one of India’s fastest-growing destinations for nonmarket-linked investments. Today, Grip offers a unique investment option of leasing assets to some of India’s most disruptive businesses like Udaan, Stanza Living, Furlenco, Bounce, Blue Tokai, Everest Fleet, IPLElectric, FabAlley, and LetsTransport.

Grip was founded by Nikhil Aggarwal, Vivek Gulati, and Aashish Jindal. Prior to Grip, Nikhil co-founded and served as COO of Chalo, India’s leading mobility startup for city buses. He started his career at HSBC and then worked for 6 years with the Investment Banking team at Morgan Stanley, India. Nikhil also currently serves as a Consultant to the Transport Practice at the World Bank. Vivek was previously part of the business development team at Chalo and led business development for the expansion team for OYO Hotel’s domestic and international operations. Aashish Jindal previously worked in product and project management roles with ICICI Bank, Pepperfry, and Chalo.  

TCS Bags Contract From Singapore Exchange To Run Trading At NSE IFSC

* Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), which controls over 40 per cent of the capital markets infrastructure solutions, has won a contract from Singapore Stock Exchange to run trading and settlement platforms for the upcoming SGX Nifty Exchange at International Financial Services Centre in Gandhinagar.

Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), which controls over 40 per cent of the capital markets infrastructure solutions, has won a contract from Singapore Stock Exchange to run trading and settlement platforms for the upcoming SGX Nifty Exchange at International Financial Services Centre in Gandhinagar.

NSE IFSC-SGX Phase 1 will be operationalised in April 2022. The full program on which TCS is engaged, will go live about 3-4 months from then i.e beginning of the second half of the calendar year.

Nifty derivatives contracts on the SGX are among the most traded, as they are used by global investors to hedge their exposure to India. SGX Nifty is a joint venture of NSE and Singapore exchange.

The contract from SGX is for five years, and is a "significantly large order in terms of contractual value", R Vivekanand, global head of BFSI platforms & products at TCS said on Wednesday without quantifying the contractual value.

TCS will provide the foundational platform for Gift Data Connect Programme, he said, adding the platform will be run on its BaNCS Securities Trading solution, on which over 40 per cent of domestic trades are executed now.

The order also involves providing maintenance services, covering the front office, risk management, back-office clearing and settlement modules, he noted.

SGX has formed a special purpose vehicle -- SGX India Connect IFSC or SGX ICI --to run NSE IFSC, which will go a long way in getting liquidity into the market, Vivekanand said, adding the bourse will act as an executing-cum-clearing broker with trading and clearing membership of NSE IFSC.

While SGX Connect will be managed through a special purpose vehicle, traders will continue to do the same way of trading as they used to do when the SGX platform was based in Singapore, and the only difference will be that trades will originate and terminate on TCS solutions and then go to the exchange solution at Gift City now, Vivekanand explained.

He said the platform can handle 2 lakh trades daily from 12 very large institutional brokers of SGX. But this does not mean it cannot handle more volume, as TCS software on which NSE runs, handles millions of trade volume, he added.

Vivekanand said for TCS, BFSI is the largest business and revenue vertical, contributing over 40 per cent of the topline. In FY21 the BFSI vertical chipped in with $8.864 billion annual revenue. Within BFSI, insurance leads with around 40 per cent of income and margin shares, followed by capital markets and banking with 30 per cent each, he said, adding in Q3 of FY22, the vertical topline clipped 18 per cent.

As much as 40 per cent of the volume of the domestic market in terms of order management and trading solutions/settlement are done on the TCS platform, while globally its software runs as many as 32 exchanges, including London metal exchange, Europe Clear, TMX Canada, most of the MENA markets and South African bourses, Singaporean and Manila bourses, among others, making TCS the world's largest independent market infrastructure solutions provider.

TCS has been testing and training the SGX members from early this month in Singapore and will begin mock trading on the NSE ISFC post-regulatory approvals in place, which is expected in the middle of this year.

The project is important given the fact the Prime Minister's Office is monitoring the launch process of the exchange, as its success is critical to meet the government objective of creating a larger pool of liquidity in the onshore market. Better liquidity in the NSE IFSC means Nifty contracts getting traded onshore and the revenue remaining within the country.

Some of its notable global clients include LCH London, TMX Canada, Nasdaq Dubai, Euroclear, New Zealand exchange, Strate South Africa, Philippines Depository and Kuwait Clearing Company.