ICCCNT 2025 at IIT Indore: Asia’s Largest STEM Conference Ignites Global Dialogue on Technology and Innovation

Belong, India’s first fintech app built exclusively for Non-Resident Indians (NRIs), today announced its official launch starting with the UAE, one of the largest NRI hubs in the world comprising about 22% of the total NRI population globally. Belong is now the first fintech company to offer USD Fixed Deposits to NRIs through GIFT City, India’s International Financial Services Centre.
With this launch, NRIs in the UAE can now invest in USD fixed deposits with trusted Indian banks directly through the Belong app. These deposits offer tax-free returns in India, protect against rupee depreciation, allow shorter investment tenure and eliminate the need for NRE/NRO accounts while being completely repatriable. Belong will offer doorstep KYC in UAE making the entire experience seamless and tailored for NRIs. The company has also launched a dedicated India tax filing service for NRIs without the typical “NRI markup” pricing. NRIs are usually charged higher and non-standardised rates for most services in India. Belong aims to change that by offering transparent and cost-effective NRI taxation services.
The launch is backed by a $5 million seed funding round led by Elevation Capital, with participation from Relentless Ventures and prominent angels including Abhiraj Singh Bahl and Varun Khaitan (Urban Company), Akshant Goyal (Zomato), Varun Alagh (Mamaearth), Vineet Sethi (PayU), and Aditya Sharma (McKinsey).
Belong addresses the longstanding pain points that NRIs face when trying to save and invest in India—complex KYC processes, non flexible investment tenures, risk of lower returns due to currency fluctuations, taxation complications, and cumbersome repatriation procedures. In the past 5 years, remittances to India grew from $82B in 2019 to $129B in 2024. Yet, NRIs’ share in mutual fund AUM fell from 2.9% to 2.3%. This shows while their intent to invest in India is strong, the process is often difficult. The app operates through GIFT City, India’s International Financial Services Centre which makes it simpler for NRIs to invest back home. Belong has obtained licenses in GIFT City and is the first licensed fintech to offer retail investment products to NRIs through GIFT City. Belong has secured a Payment Services Provider (PSP) license and Broker Dealer license through GIFT city to build innovative and well regulated products for NRIs.

While Belong offers USD Fixed Deposits at launch, the platform will soon add other financial products such as mutual funds, stocks, insurance, cards and more, which will offer NRIs more rewarding investment and transaction options in India. They already have a suite of NRI-specific digital tools to help NRIs make informed financial decisions. These offerings reflect Belong’s vision to simplify every aspect of NRI life.
Belong aims to become the financial and lifestyle bridge for global Indians – helping NRIs stay connected, invested, and rooted in India, no matter where life takes them. So in the near future Belong is also looking to add non-financial services like elder care, property management to help NRIs manage their India relationship and lives better.
Looking ahead, Belong plans to expand to other key NRI markets including the GCC, UK, and US soon.

Belong is a fintech brand owned by Betafront Technologies Pvt Ltd and its subsidiaries, a firm funded by Elevation Capital along with other marquee angel investors. Betafront has secured a Payments Services Provider (PSP) license under IFSCA (the regulator of GIFT city) which makes it one of the first 3 IFSCA regulated PSP license holders permitted to manage cross border financial transactions in and out of GIFT city and the first fintech to offer retail investment products to NRIs. They have also secured the Broker Dealer license through GIFT city for building upcoming investment products.

“Being away from India comes with its own challenges – from complex cross-border banking to managing investments remotely,” said Ankur Choudhary, Co-founder and CEO of Belong. “Every NRI has built a global identity through hard work and ambition, but financial services haven’t kept up. We’re building Belong to be the trusted financial home for Global Indians—starting with simple, secure access to USD Fixed Deposits through GIFT City. Our vision is to simplify India for NRIs.”