Blockchain Ecosystem Planned By Indian State Of Andhra Pradesh

Announcements, Blockchain | January 23, 2018 By:

The government of the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh has partnered with local firm Covalent Fund to start a blockchain ecosystem as part of the state’s FinTech Valley in Vizag initiative.

Launched in 2016, the FinTech Valley in Vizag is a self-sustainable global FinTech ecosystem that focuses on converging finance and technology to create large avenues of growth through industry-enablers, world-class infrastructure, entrepreneurship, and innovation. FinTech Valley has become a playground for startups and innovators looking to disrupt traditional business processes.

The state’s partnership with Covalent Fund will focus on creation of manpower, access to capital, and creation of an India-focused blockchain stack at FinTech Valley in Vizag. The parties will soon launch a blockchain university, with a $10 million initial investment.

Andhra Pradesh IT Minister Nara Lokesh said the state hopes to integrate blockchain platforms into official businesses by next year. The goal is to develop transparent governance through blockchain.

“Learning from the success of the India stack, which is a unique digital infrastructure with open APIs, we believe that an India blockchain stack will revolutionize the way the economy would function in the near future,” said Lokesh. “Our collaboration with Covalent Fund is focused on the creation of a world-class sustainable blockchain ecosystem in the state that will make in ways for innovative startups to work with a start-up state like ours.”

Andhra Pradesh is one of the 29 states of India, situated on the southeastern coast of the country. The state is the seventh largest in India, with a population of around 50 million.

The partnership with Covalent Fund marks the latest move in the state government’s aim to emerge as the country’s FinTech capital. Last year, the state announced a partnership with blockchain startup ChromaWay to come up with a blockchain solution for land registration problems. The state also partnered with Swiss cybersecurity company WISeKey to secure citizen data with blockchain technology.