The FinTech Innovation Award
India rebuilt its payment rails in public, and the rest of financial services has been catching up ever since. This category recognises the products and infrastructure moving money, credit and financial access forward — from UPI-native experiences to underwriting models and embedded finance.
- Independent jury
- 250
- Innovations evaluated
- 4,500+
- FinTech winners, 16th edition
- 2
- Running since
- 2010
Academics, scientists, officials, investors
Across seventeen editions
Startup and Enterprise tracks
India’s longest-running innovation award
Three categories touch financial services. This is the one about the product.
Most nominations that fail here fail because they were in the wrong category. Read across before you write anything.
Innovation in FinTech
Payment, lending, wealth and financial-infrastructure products that stand on their own — judged on scale, reliability and regulatory soundness.
This category
Innovation in Banking
Innovation built inside a bank’s own operations and products — core banking, lending desks, branch and digital channels.
Innovation in InsuranceTech
Claims, underwriting, policy administration and risk technology built for insurers.
Who should enter
- Payment products, rails and orchestration layers handling real transaction volume
- Lending and underwriting innovation, including alternative data and cash-flow-based credit
- Wealth, broking and personal finance products that changed customer behaviour
- Financial infrastructure: KYC, reconciliation, fraud, compliance and risk tooling
- Embedded finance built into a non-financial product
You do not need to be a licensed financial entity yourself. Infrastructure, tooling and embedded-finance plays that enable others qualify equally.
If the innovation sits inside banking operations or a banking product, Banking is the better fit. If it is claims, underwriting or policy administration, look at InsuranceTech instead.
What the jury looks for
- Problem definition & market opportunityWhether the innovation solves a real problem, backed by evidence and a measurable impact on its target audience.
- InnovativenessNovelty and uniqueness — new technology, functionality or business model — measured against what already exists, including IP.
- Market potential & impactSize and growth of the addressable market, competitive landscape, and scalability across geographies.
- Social impact & sustainabilityContribution to society and the environment, including social responsibility and the UN Sustainable Development Goals.
These are the same four criteria — problem definition, innovativeness, market impact and social/sustainability impact — used to assess every category. In this category the jury also weighs transaction volume and uptime, regulatory soundness under India’s payments and lending rules, and whether the customer outcome — cost, access, speed or safety — is measurable. Read the full evaluation criteria.
Who reads your nomination
Nominations are assessed by an independent jury, not by the organisers. Jurors are matched to the categories where their expertise lies. These are among those who evaluate FinTech entries.
Prof. JanakiramDirector, Institute for Development and Research in Banking Technology (IDRBT), established by RBI
Joseph JoshyCTO, International Financial Services Centres Authority (IFSCA)
Dr. Nirupama KulkarniResearch Director, CAFRAL (promoted by the Reserve Bank of India)
Prof. M JayadevResearch Director, CAFRAL (promoted by the Reserve Bank of India)
Tarun KhannaPartner, CX Partners
Prof. Mridul Kumar SaggarFormer Executive Director, Reserve Bank of India
Anil JoshiManaging Partner, Unicorn India VenturesSeven of roughly 250. The full panel spans the IITs, IIMs, IIITs, the Indian School of Business, the Department of Science & Technology, MeitY, CERT-In, the RBI-backed IDRBT and CAFRAL, and firms including Unicorn India Ventures and CX Partners. See the full jury panel.
Previous winners — FinTech, Banking & InsuranceTech
The three financial-services categories have run under evolving names across the awards’ history. Below are the published winners and finalists from the 7th to the 16th edition, with ceremony photographs where the awards archive holds them.
Innovation in FinTech
Innovation in Banking
Innovation in InsuranceTech
Nine ceremony photographs from the 7th to the 16th edition are catalogued in the awards archive for these three categories. The full roll of winners and finalists follows.
Innovation in FinTech
Innovation in Banking
Innovation in InsuranceTech
The 8th and 9th editions did not run a dedicated financial-services category; financial innovations competed within the general technology categories in those years. See the winners archive for the complete edition-by-edition record.
What happens after you submit
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Stage one · nowNomination registration
Register your company and category through the nomination process, then complete the detailed nomination form and processing fee.
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Stage twoJury presentation
Present the innovation to the jury and take questions. Jurors score each entry against the four evaluation criteria and rank it within its category.
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Stage threeStar Certification
Nominees are also assessed for AGBA Innovation Star Certification, an independent maturity rating alongside the category judging.
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Stage fourFinalists announced
Once every category has been evaluated, finalists are announced on the website ahead of the ceremony.
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Stage fiveAward ceremony
Winners are honoured on 18 February 2027 at Hotel Ashoka, Chanakyapuri, New Delhi.
Before you write your nomination
Can a bank enter FinTech, or should it enter Banking?
Enter Banking if the innovation sits inside banking operations or a banking product. Enter FinTech if you have built payment, lending or financial infrastructure that stands on its own.
How do I choose between FinTech, Banking and InsuranceTech?
Ask where the product lives:
- FinTech — a payment, lending, wealth or infrastructure product that stands on its own, inside or outside a regulated entity.
- Banking — the innovation sits inside a bank’s own operations, core systems or channels.
- InsuranceTech — the innovation is claims, underwriting, policy administration or risk technology built for insurers.
Enter once — splitting a single innovation across categories weakens both entries.
Do we have to disclose transaction volumes?
You need to give the jury enough to judge scale. If figures are commercially sensitive, check the nomination guidelines for how to submit them.
How do I submit a nomination?
Nominations are submitted through the nomination process, which sets out the stages, the supporting material required and the current edition’s dates.
Put your ledger in front of the panel
Nominations for the FinTech Innovation Award are read by an independent jury of academics, scientists and practitioners. Bring the transaction volumes you can defend.