In a daring leap into the future of finance, banking giant JPMorgan has announced an alliance with six prominent Indian banks to employ a cutting-edge blockchain platform that will facilitate swift interbank US dollar transfers.
This bold initiative is slated to put India’s emerging global financial hub on the fast track to success.
JPMorgan breaking barriers with blockchain
At the heart of this initiative, Kaustubh Kulkarni, JPMorgan’s Senior Country Officer for India and Vice Chairman for Asia Pacific, revealed plans for a pilot project in a recent interview.
The intent is to gain a deep understanding of the bank’s experiences with the new system. JPMorgan will be standing shoulder-to-shoulder with India’s leading private financial institutions – HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank, Axis Bank, Yes Bank, and IndusInd Bank – and with its own banking unit at GIFT City for this groundbreaking endeavor.
The application of blockchain technology promises to expedite transactions, making them instantaneous. In contrast to the current settlement system, which can take several hours to finalize and does not operate on weekends or public holidays, this novel, real-time blockchain-backed system will be available round the clock.
Kulkarni emphasized the benefits of harnessing blockchain technology for this purpose. “By leveraging blockchain technology to facilitate transactions on a 24×7 basis, the processing is instantaneous and enables GIFT City banks to support their own time zone and operating hours,” he said.
This ambitious move by JPMorgan gives a significant boost to New Delhi’s endeavor to establish Gujarat International Finance Tec-City, popularly known as GIFT City, as a rival to the trading centers in Singapore and Dubai.
It closely follows the Reserve Bank of India’s initiation of a domestic non-deliverable forward market settled in US dollars at GIFT City.
With the backing of JPMorgan’s blockchain platform, Onyx, the pilot project is poised to launch after getting the green light from the International Financial Services Center Authority.
Formed in 2020, Onyx is the innovative cornerstone of JPMorgan’s strategy for wholesale payment transactions using blockchain technology.
