India to test Shipfinex’s maritime asset tokenization platform

Shipfinex, the maritime asset tokenisation and capital-markets platform, announce that the International Financial Services Centres Authority (IFSCA), the unified regulator of India’s international financial services center at GIFT City, has granted Shipfinex a Limited Use Authorization as a FinTech Sandbox Entity in the IFSCA FinTech Innovation Sandbox (Certificate No. FNT20261108, dated July 21, 2026, valid until July 20, 2027).

The Limited Use Authorization follows the In-Principle Approval of June 18, 2026, and opens a twelve-month monitored program to test Shipfinex’s maritime asset tokenization platform, the digital representation of ownership and participation interests in maritime assets through ship-owning special-purpose vehicle (SPV) structures, in a sandbox environment, in isolation from the live market.

As per the announcement, the mandate will test the full tokenization lifecycle in a simulated environment, end-to-end platform. The mandate will involve the completion from vessel onboarding to exit, onboarding of financial institutions and maritime partners, global KYC and AML screening against vessel and counterparty data, banking and settlement integration with delivery-versus-payment logic, and a live demonstration of the complete transaction flow to the Authority – with view-only ledger access provided to IFSCA throughout and progress reported monthly.

The Limited Use Authorization lands at the center of a determined national maritime agenda. The Maritime Amrit Kaal Vision 2047 targets India’s place among the world’s top five shipbuilding nations, backed by a planned ₹80 lakh crore of investment, and the Union Budget 2025 established a ₹25,000 crore Maritime Development Fund alongside infrastructure status for large vessels. GIFT IFSC is where this agenda meets international capital: since IFSCA notified ship leasing as a financial product in 2022, the center has grown to some 27 registered ship-leasing entities and 30 vessels, and in July 2026 the Government exempted IFSC units from coastal-shipping licensing requirements for chartering foreign vessels in international trade.

Shipfinex’s sandbox program adds the next layer to this ecosystem: a regulator-observed pathway from ship leasing and financing toward transparent, capital-markets access to maritime assets. Alongside Shipfinex FZCO’s In-Principle Approval from Dubai’s Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority (VARA) for VA Broker-Dealer services (Ref: IPA/26/01/002), the platform now develops under monitoring in two leading international financial centers.

Capt. Vikas Pandey, Founder and Chief Executive Officer, Shipfinex noted, “India’s maritime rise is one of the defining economic stories of this generation, and GIFT City is its financial engine. We are honored to test the complete maritime tokenization cycle under the Authority’s observation, and to contribute to the transparent, well-governed capital markets that India’s maritime ambition deserves.”

He adds, “GIFT IFSC has already proven itself in ship leasing; tokenization is the natural next layer. A real-economy asset class tested on a permissioned ledger, with the regulator holding full visibility, is exactly how real-world assets should enter a market – through the regulator’s front door.”