My experience is as a business person and having to cure problems when a
system uses time zones based on local instead of UTC in Fineract is *not
recommended* and could lead to significant issues. It creates a fork in
effect.
*Key Reasons:*
-
*Rationale for UTC:* Fineract enforced UTC (after v1.7.0) to eliminate
timezone ambiguities (like DST), simplify global operations, ensure data
integrity, and improve interoperability. It's a best practice for financial
systems.
-
*Risks of IST:*
-
*Data Corruption:* Misinterpretation of existing UTC data and
incorrect storage of new data.
-
*Incorrect Logic:* Errors in loan calculations, batch jobs, and audit
trails due to skewed timestamps.
-
*Upgrade & Support Issues:* Future Fineract upgrades would be
complex, and community support would be limited for non-standard
configurations.
-
*Recommendation:* Maintain UTC configuration in Fineract and MySQL.
Handle timezone conversions for display purposes only at the user interface.
On Fri, Jul 25, 2025 at 8:53 AM Bhaskar Tiwari <bhas...@strideone.in> wrote:
> Hi Fineract Dev Community,
>
>
>
> In the Fineract documentation, it is mentioned that:
>
>
>
> "Recently (after release 1.7.0), we introduced improved date time handling
> in Fineract. Date time is from now on stored in UTC and we are enforcing
> UTC timezone even on the JDBC driver, e.g., for MySQL:
>
> serverTimezone=UTC&useLegacyDatetimeCode=false&sessionVariables=time_zone='-00:00'"
>
>
>
> We are currently using MySQL as our database and would like to use the IST
> timezone instead of UTC.
>
> While I'm aware of the configuration steps required to switch to IST, I
> wanted to ask:
>
> - Are there any known issues or errors that might arise from using IST
> instead of UTC with Fineract?
> - What was the rationale behind enforcing UTC for datetime handling in
> the newer versions?
>
>
>
> Understanding this will help us ensure compatibility and avoid potential
> pitfalls.
>
> Looking forward to your insights.
>
>
>
> Best regards,
>
> Bhaskar Tiwari
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> *Bhaskar Tiwari*
>
> Senior Manager
>
> *+91 8800188152*
>
>
>
>
> *"Print this mail only if absolutely necessary. Save Paper. Save Trees."* *
> Disclaimer: *“This electronic mail message sent from StrideOne (Stride
> Fintree Private Limited) may contain Confidential/Restricted/Internal
> information and should only be viewed by the intended recipients. Under no
> circumstances may any such information be disclosed, copied, used or
> distributed to any unauthorized persons or entities without the written
> consent of Strideone. If you are not the intended recipient, any review,
> retransmission, dissemination or reliance on the content of these materials
> is strictly prohibited and may be the subject of legal action. If you
> received this email in error, please notify the sender and delete the
> message immediately.”
>
--
--
Paul
