India moves ahead in blockchain, AI research as NPCI and IISc join forces

India, despite its skepticism towards cryptocurrencies, supports research and development around blockchain, the underlying technology that powers cryptocurrencies. In a new development, the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) has joined forces with the Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bengaluru. The purpose of this partnership is to conduct research around emerging technologies such as blockchain and artificial intelligence (AI). The two countries signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) formalizing this cooperation.

NPCI, as its name suggests, is an initiative of the RBI focused on innovating retail payment systems through technology. IISc, on the other hand, is among India’s leading institutes for advanced scientific and technological research – established in 1909. Both parties will jointly work on developing scalable blockchain platforms. A multi-modal analytics platform for fintech data monitoring will also be under development as part of this collaboration.

“As our nation moves towards digital sustainability, we recognize the significant potential for research in deep technologies like blockchain and AI to further enhance the payments landscape,” said Vishal Kanvati, Chief Technology Officer, NPCI in official statement.

Blockchains are digital ledgers that record transactions across multiple computers, rather than storing the data on a single network or server. Replacing traditional networks with blockchain will increase the security factor offered by protocols against tampering and hacking. NPCI’s quest to deeply understand blockchain technology is not new. Last year, NCPI announced the launch of Falcon, an open source project that aims to simplify the management and use of blockchains.

Back in 2020, NPCI designed ‘Vajra’, a blockchain-based system to automate payment clearing and settlement processes for NPCI products. In April 2023, a dedicated Impact Lab was established at the Hyderabad campus of the Indian School of Business (ISB) aimed at developing and working around blockchain technology.

The Telangana government also entered into an agreement with the Bharat Web3 Association last February to spark discussions around blockchain technology. As part of this research, NPCI and IISc will also conduct research and development around cryptography and machine learning (ML).

“The collaborative research envisioned between NPCI researchers and IISc faculty members provides a unique opportunity for translational research that can improve the scalability and efficiency of the billion-scale platforms operated by NPCI,” said Professor Yogesh Simhan, Associate Professor in the Department of computing and computer technology Data Sciences, IISc.