HDB Financial Services, AWS partner to launch FinTech Ideathon

HDB Financial Services has partnered with Amazon Web Services (AWS) to launch an ideathon aimed at accelerating the development of scalable technology solutions for India’s financial services sector.

The initiative, positioned at the intersection of finance and technology, invites FinTechs, TechFins, and independent innovators to address business challenges identified by HDB Financial Services across lending, risk management, customer experience, and operational efficiency. Participants will leverage AWS’s cloud, data, and artificial intelligence capabilities while working on live use cases sourced from the non-banking financial company’s (NBFC) operations.

Unlike conventional hackathons that often prioritise experimentation over execution, the HDB–AWS Ideathon is structured around real-world deployment. The program incorporates AWS’s “Working Backwards” methodology, a customer-centric framework that begins with clearly defined user problems and builds solutions aligned to those needs. According to the companies, structured discovery workshops with HDB’s leadership helped identify high-impact challenges suitable for scalable technological intervention.

The initiative reflects a broader trend within India’s financial services industry, where NBFCs and banks are increasingly collaborating with cloud providers and startups to accelerate digital transformation. As regulatory scrutiny intensifies and customer expectations evolve, institutions are under pressure to deploy solutions that are compliant, resilient, and capable of operating at scale.

Mathew Panat, Chief Technology Officer at HDB Financial Services, said innovation in financial services “must translate into measurable outcomes.” He added that the ideathon is designed to develop solutions that are practical and scalable while remaining aligned with regulatory requirements. “Our partnership with AWS has been instrumental in helping us adopt a truly customer-obsessed approach—starting with real customer challenges identified through structured discovery workshops with our leadership team and ensuring that every solution addresses genuine business needs,” he said.

Kiran Jagannath, Head of Financial Services Industries (FSI) and Conglomerates at AWS India and South Asia, said cloud and AI technologies are central to transformation efforts across the sector. He noted that the collaboration seeks to enable startups to build solutions capable of operating at enterprise scale.

The ideathon will unfold in multiple phases, including proposal submissions, shortlisting, mentorship, and final evaluations. Shortlisted participants will receive guidance from industry experts and present their solutions to a jury comprising senior leaders and domain specialists. Select winners may receive opportunities for deeper engagement, including potential commercial partnerships with HDB Financial Services, subject to internal evaluation and applicable requirements.

The launch of the program signals a continued push by financial institutions to move beyond proof-of-concept innovation toward commercially viable, production-ready deployments in India’s rapidly evolving financial ecosystem.