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Noida, May 21: There is no shortage of stalled real estate projects and stuck home buyers in the country. If one delves into the root causes, lack of funds will emerge as the most significant hurdle in 90% of these projects. But these projects are financially viable and if funds are made readily available, all such projects would be re-capitalized and could be successfully completed. Consequently, through the combined efforts of both government and private institutions, these stalled projects are now being brought to fruition, finally enabling home buyers who have been stuck in limbo for years to take possession of their homes.

Government Initiatives:

To address this issue, the Central Government established the SWAMIH (Special Window for Affordable and Mid-Income Housing) Fund of Rs. 25,000 Cr. in 2019. According to government statistics, over the past six and half years, this fund has facilitated the completion of more than 61,000 housing units across approximately 150 projects nationwide, thereby unlocking capital worth nearly Rs. 38,000 Cr. In light of this success, the 2026 budget has approved SWAMIH Fund 2.0 with an allocation of Rs. 15,000 Cr., aiming to facilitate the completion of another 100,000 homes.

According to Dinesh Gupta, President of CREDAI Western UP, the lack of funds has historically been the single greatest impediment to the completion of stalled real estate projects. Government initiatives like SWAMIH along with the participation of Alternative Investment Funds (AIFs) have demonstrated a viable path to transforming this crisis into an opportunity. If timely and accessible financing is made available, the majority of stalled projects could not only be completed but also help restore confidence in the sector, thereby bringing relief to millions of home buyers.

In Greater Noida West, stalled due to NCLT proceedings, the KVD Wind Park is currently being completed by ReaRCo (Real Estate Asset Resolution Company Pvt. Ltd.), a process supported by a contribution of Rs. 195.50 Cr. from the SWAMIH Fund. According to MD Gitanjali Khanna, the Wind Park project was first successfully resolved through the NCLT (National Company Law Tribunal) process, after which construction work commenced. With the assistance of the SWAMIH Fund, approximately 400 existing buyers are set to receive their long awaited homes, while the construction of an additional 250 new units will also be made possible in under-construction 5 towers.

Another stalled project, Antriksh Valley, being completed by Diligent Builders Pvt. Ltd., has received Rs. 115 Cr. from the SWAMIH Fund to meet the shortage of funds to deliver the entire project. Lt. Col. Ashwani Nagpal (Retd.), COO, Diligent Builders mentioned that shortage of funds remains the single biggest hurdle for the unfinished project. Currently, out of the two towers comprising 316 units, one has already received its Occupancy Certificate (OC), while the construction of the second tower is being expedited with the assistance of the SWAMIH Fund. Not only this, we have paid all dues to make it a registration ready project for the home buyers.

Beyond these, other housing project marching towards its target with help of SWAMIH Fund includes Capital Group’s Capital Athena, NCR Group’s Monarch and Panchsheel Group’s Panchsheel Greens as one of the early projects in the Gautam Buddh Nagar. More projects include Sikka’s Kaamya Greens, Mangalya’s Novena Greens, Skytech’s Colours Avenue, Future World’s Rhythm County and Future Estate, etc.

Private Funds & Initiatives:

Alongside government initiatives, private institutions are also stepping in to complete stalled projects by investing through Alternative Investment Funds (AIFs). Prior to investing, a thorough assessment is conducted regarding the land, legal status, outstanding dues, remaining payments, and market demand; this process aims to minimize liabilities associated with the project, thereby making it a viable investment opportunity.

Renox Group, for instance, has revived the land bank of a stalled project in Greater Noida West, brought fresh new project, ‘Renox Thrive’. Chairman of the group Shailendra Sharma, explained that to transform the land bank of a completely stalled project into a viable new venture, they first completed acquisition of the parent company and then cleared outstanding dues owed to the development authority, regulatory, banks, and homebuyers (allottees); only after settling these liabilities could the new project, comprising 400 units, be successfully launched. In this context, the easy availability of alternative funding sources holds the potential to rescue numerous other stalled projects.

Himanshu Garg, Director of the RG Group, states: “Through the ‘Reverse Insolvency’ mechanism facilitated by the NCLT, we successfully completed over 1,900 units at ‘RG Luxury Homes’ in Greater Noida West. This endeavor was executed under the supervision of an Interim Resolution Professional (IRP) and was supported by funds secured from a non-banking financial institution (NBFI). The process for the possession and registration of these units is currently underway.”

Many private institutions are infusing funds to stalled real estate projects and pushing them towards completion. In fact, private institutions have saved few projects from heavy debtors and NCLT proceedings too.

New Delhi, May 21: PaySprint, a unified FinTech and banking infrastructure platform, has strengthened its trust and compliance framework with ISO 27001, SOC 2 Type II and PCI-DSS. The milestone reinforces the company’s commitment to building secure, scalable and enterprise-ready digital financial infrastructure for banks, NBFCs, enterprises, startups and digital-first businesses.

The development comes at a time when businesses across banking, payments, verification, escrow, embedded finance and RegTech are increasingly relying on API-led platforms to power critical financial, transactional and identity-led operations. As India’s digital finance ecosystem expands, security, compliance, data protection and operational resilience are becoming key decision-making factors for institutions choosing infrastructure partners.

For PaySprint, the milestone strengthens the company’s compliance-led approach and adds another layer of trust for partners and customers who rely on its platform to manage sensitive financial, transactional and identity-related workflows. It reflects the company’s focus on embedding security, governance and reliability into the core of its technology systems, business processes and operational infrastructure.

A key part of this achievement is PaySprint’s PCI-DSS compliance, which is considered one of the more rigorous security validations for companies operating in payment-led and financial technology environments. The process typically involves a detailed assessment of how an organisation stores, processes and transmits cardholder data, along with a review of its broader security controls, systems and business processes. For a fintech infrastructure company, this adds further credibility to its ability to support partners operating in highly sensitive and regulated payment ecosystems.

Founded in 2020, PaySprint is a unified platform service provider delivering a complete ecosystem of banking, payments, verification, escrow and contract management services. The company powers 5,100+ partners through 200+ API solutions and 7 core product verticals spanning banking, payments, verification, escrow and contract management. Its platform is designed to help businesses move money, establish trust and manage transactions quickly and confidently.

The strengthened compliance framework supports PaySprint’s key platforms, including SprintNXT, SprintVerify, SprintOPN, SprintEXcrow and SprintEX-Code. These platforms enable businesses across business banking, digital verification, payments, escrow solutions, software escrow and contract management, where security, reliability and governance are central to customer confidence.

Speaking on the milestone, S. Anand, Founder & CEO, PaySprint, said, “The future of digital finance will be built on trust. At PaySprint, we have always believed that innovation and compliance must move together. Achieving these globally recognised security and compliance milestones is a validation of the systems, discipline and security-first culture we have built over the years. PCI-DSS in particular reflects the depth of security assessment required for organisations handling payment-linked workflows and sensitive transaction environments. As more businesses depend on financial infrastructure to power critical operations, our focus remains on creating a secure, resilient and compliant ecosystem that our partners can confidently build on.”

PaySprint operates at the convergence of fintech, RegTech and escrowtech, delivering a single platform, a single integration and a complete foundation for businesses to scale from their first transaction to enterprise growth. As businesses increasingly seek infrastructure partners that can simplify complexity while maintaining strong governance standards, compliance-led platforms are becoming central to how digital financial ecosystems are built and trusted.

For companies managing sensitive financial and identity-related information, frameworks such as ISO 27001, SOC 2 Type II and PCI-DSS serve as important trust indicators. PCI-DSS, governed by the Payment Card Industry Security Standards Council framework, is especially relevant for organisations connected to payment data and cardholder security, as it requires businesses to demonstrate strong controls across people, processes and technology. Together, these frameworks demonstrate that information security, data protection, risk management and governance are not treated as peripheral functions, but as essential layers of digital infrastructure.

For PaySprint, this milestone reflects its broader vision of building a responsible financial infrastructure for India’s next phase of digital growth. The company continues to focus on simplifying complex financial workflows while ensuring that security, reliability and compliance remain embedded across every layer of its operations.

With this achievement, PaySprint further strengthens its credibility as a trusted infrastructure partner for institutions and enterprises operating at the intersection of finance, technology, compliance and digital trust. The company will continue to invest in enhancing its security systems, compliance posture and governance frameworks as it expands its ecosystem of solutions for India’s fast-evolving digital economy.

Delhi, May 21 : Meta Fashion, a new-age digital fashion platform which is building the “Zara for the Virtual World”, announced that it has raised approximately $400K in a pre-seed funding round. The round was led by Lumikai, India’s leading interactive media, digital platforms, and games-focused VC fund. The round also saw participation from prominent angel investors including Big Bets (the family office of Anton Gauffin, founder of HUUUGE Games), Akshat Rathee, Founder of Nodwin Gaming, and Pratham Mittal, Founder of Masters’ Union.

Founded in 2022 by Arjun Goel, a 19-year-old entrepreneur who appeared on Shark Tank, Meta Fashion designs and develops digital fashion items for platforms like Roblox, Fortnite, Grand Theft Auto, ZEPETO and others. Arjun is joined by his co-founder, Sanjay Goel, a NIFT Delhi alumnus with two exited startups, one of which was acquired by PayTM. Sanjay brings 20+ years of industry experience in consumer tech, manufacturing, and exports.

Further, the company is building their original IP game called Glam Girls for Roblox. Meta Fashion has also created a consumer D2C line for superfans that has successfully converted virtual best selling items into physical fashion goods. At the core of Meta Fashion’s platform is a proprietary AI-native “fast fashion” engine for digital assets, using AI-powered styling and creation tooling that analyzes live marketplace trends and demand signals to improve discovery, accelerate asset creation, and drive higher conversion across virtual marketplaces. To date, Meta Fashion has sold over 2.5 million virtual fashion units on the Roblox marketplace, generating approximately $300K in gross merchandise value operating at a 92% gross margin. Global brands such as Walmart have also partnered with Meta Fashion to bring real world products into the digital world.

Their dress-up game, GlamGirls, launched in beta on Roblox in late 2025 and has attracted over 100K paying users with zero marketing, with a 75% female user base and 50% of users over the age of 18.

UGC platforms such as Roblox, Fortnite, and ZEPETO are emerging as new ecosystems for entertainment and IP creation, particularly for a Gen Z and Gen Alpha digitally-native demographic that has grown up on multiplayer, creator-led worlds. At current growth rates, this sector is expected to cross $100B by 2036.

Roblox alone has grown to 150 million average daily active users and $6.8 billion in annual bookings in 2025. The platform paid out over $1.5 billion to creators in 2025 (a 70% year-over- year increase). Roblox’s 40 million monthly paying users spend an average of $20 per month. The phygital opportunity is also already proven, with studios like Twin Atlas generating six- figure commerce revenue within weeks of enabling in-game purchases.

As Roblox’s user base ages up (with 65% of age-verified users now 13 or older, including 27% aged 18 and above) and as new monetization surfaces such as real-world commerce and ad- revenue sharing open up, UGC platforms are increasingly becoming home to venture-scale IP businesses.

Arjun Goel, Co-founder and CEO of Meta Fashion, said:

“I’ve been creating on Roblox since I was 15, and I’ve watched it grow from a children’s gaming platform into one of the most powerful consumer ecosystems in the world. With Meta Fashion, we want to build the definitive consumer IP company for these new platforms, one that combines taste, speed, and a digital-to-physical flywheel that no traditional brand can replicate. Lumikai backed our vision from day one, and their depth in this ecosystem makes them the right partner to build this with.”

Aditya Deshpande, Principal at Lumikai, said:

“We first came across Arjun’s work while tinkering on Roblox. His virtual items stood out in the marketplace with a level of taste that was hard to miss. What sets Arjun apart is a rare combination of foresight to pre-empt aesthetic trends on UGC marketplaces and the commercial discipline to convert that signal into a profitable, capital efficient operation. Meta Fashion sits at the intersection of two trends that drive our thesis on the space: the rise of UGC platforms as the next generation of consumer entertainment and the professionalization of creators on these platforms into real, venture-scale businesses. We’re truly thrilled to partner with Arjun.”

PAN India, May 21 : Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Wednesday conducted a high-level review of three important subjects linked to the future economy of the state, which include the Uttar Pradesh Data Centre Cluster  Project Ganga, and possible exemption in mandi fee and cess to promote in-house processing of wheat. 

Reviewing the Uttar Pradesh Data Centre Cluster  the Chief Minister said that the project will create the basic infrastructure for Uttar Pradesh’s AI mission. 

He said, “The Data Centre Cluster should not remain limited to the NCR region and other parts of the state should also be connected with it.”

Chief Minister directed that the project can begin from the Bundelkhand Industrial Development Authority (BIDA) area, where large-scale land is available. Dialogue should be established with major tech companies, including the Tata Group, to develop Lucknow as an ‘AI City’.

It was informed during the meeting that the Uttar Pradesh Data Centre Cluster is a long-term strategy to make the state the biggest AI compute power centre of India and the Global South. Its objective is to make Uttar Pradesh a global hub for artificial intelligence, data centres, cloud infrastructure and high-tech digital manufacturing. 

The presentation informs that this is not just a project but a blueprint for the new economic structure of Uttar Pradesh for the next 50 years. Under this, targets have been set to build a 5 trillion dollar economy, generate more than 1.5 lakh direct jobs and develop a 5-gigawatt AI compute corridor by 2040.

It was told during the meeting that by 2040, the world’s new economy will develop around ‘future arenas’ such as AI, cloud, cyber security, semiconductors, electric vehicles, robotics and space technology, whose combined global market could reach 29 to 48 trillion dollars. 

For India, sectors like AI software and services, cloud services, cyber security, semiconductors, aerospace and EVs will become major economic engines of the future.

The meeting highlighted Uttar Pradesh’s 5 major structural strengths which include the geographical location, vast land availability, large youth population, rapidly developing infrastructure and strong leadership. It was stated that Uttar Pradesh’s inland location keeps it safe from sea risks and cyclones, while expressways, airports, logistics networks and power infrastructure are already developing rapidly. 

Due to Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur, National Institute of Technology Prayagraj and more than 50 engineering institutions, the state has a large pool of technical talent.

The meeting described Uttar Pradesh as Asia’s most secure, scalable and connected inland AI territory. It was stated that almost all major fibre networks of the country pass through UP and the state is connected with all sea cable landing points of India. 

Connectivity of less than 5 milliseconds within the state and 5-12 milliseconds connectivity to digital hubs like Mumbai and Chennai is available. For global tech companies, UP is an ideal AI infrastructure hub with lower cost, better scalability and higher network redundancy.

Chief Minister also reviewed ‘Project Ganga’ – Government Assisted Network for Growth and Advancement. He directed that youth selected as digital entrepreneurs should be given quality training. He said a system should also be developed so that companies carrying out survey work can use these youths. 

Chief Minister stressed rapid expansion of the optical fibre network and complete transparency in all works. Proper incentives should be provided to digital entrepreneurs from the beginning.

It was informed in the meeting that Project Ganga is an ambitious initiative to bring high-speed broadband networks to rural Uttar Pradesh. Its objective is not only to provide internet but also to promote telemedicine, digital education, skill development, e-governance, digital employment and rural entrepreneurship. Under the project, more than 10,000 youths are targeted to be developed as Digital Service Providers (DSPs), which is expected to create around 50,000 direct and over 1 lakh indirect jobs.

Under the scheme, a target has been set to connect more than 20 lakh homes with fibre-based high-speed internet networks. Each DSP will be able to connect 200 to 300 homes in their area. Special priority has also been given to women entrepreneurship and a target has been fixed to include around 50 percent women entrepreneurs.

In the meeting, it was informed that only limited services are possible through mobile internet, whereas high-speed broadband is necessary for real digital transformation. Strong digital infrastructure was described as essential for services like AI-based agriculture, drone monitoring, smart villages, virtual labs, telemedicine and cloud computing.

Under Project Ganga, DSPs will not only be internet service providers but will also develop a complete network of digital services in rural areas. They will provide services such as high-speed broadband, IPTV, OTT access, CCTV solutions, public Wi-Fi, cyber security and enterprise connectivity. Under the scheme, each DSP will be provided interest-free loans of up to Rs 5 lakh. The project is currently being prepared as a ‘proof of concept’ in 21 priority districts, after which it will be expanded across the state.

Chief Minister also conducted a detailed review of the strategy to promote in-house processing of wheat. Stressing the need for reforms in the mandi tax and mandi fee system, he said that the state’s mandi should be made modern, clean and attractive. He directed that cleanliness, painting, lighting during festivals, removal of encroachments and better management should be ensured in mandis.

Mentioning the possible impact of El Niño, the Chief Minister said that crops may be affected in the coming years, so the state must prepare from now for food security. The state’s food grain reserves should remain adequate and strong.

During the meeting, it was informed that Uttar Pradesh is the largest wheat-producing state in the country. In 2025-26, wheat production in the state is estimated at 372 lakh metric tonnes, while total availability may reach 407 lakh metric tonnes. Around 2.88 crore farmers in the state are connected with wheat production. Despite this, due to limited processing capacity, a large quantity of wheat goes to other states as raw grain, causing value addition, GST revenue and employment opportunities to move outside the state.

The state has 559 roller flour mills with a total milling capacity of 218.4 lakh metric tonnes, but actual utilization is limited to only 126.45 lakh metric tonnes. Apart from this, more than 40,000 flour mills are also operational. 

The report stated that if wheat processing is promoted within the state, there can be major growth in employment, electricity consumption, GST collection and food industries. 

The committee suggested that registered mills in Uttar Pradesh purchasing wheat for processing within the state should be given exemption in mandi fee and development cess, but this exemption should not apply to trading activities.