IIT Kanpur Partners with NPCI to Develop Indigenous Digital Payment Solutions

IIT Kanpur researchers will work collaboratively with NPCI on developing new agenda homegrown digital payments solutions

IIT Kanpur and National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for sharing knowledge on innovative ideas and to collaborate on the development of indigenous digital payments solutions. The collaboration will also help in the augmentation of cybersecurity controls for NPCI and its subsidiaries’ products and services. The MoU will precipitate a wide array of collaborative efforts between NPCI and IIT Kanpur.

Commenting on the MoU, Prof Abhay Karandikar, Director, IIT Kanpur said,:“IIT Kanpur has been at the forefront when it comes to developing secure and innovative solutions to digital transaction and storage of data. The institute houses the C3i Hub dedicated solely to developing cyber security solutions and cyber physical systems. This collaboration with NPCI further strengthens our goal to achieve a holistic cyber secure ecosystem for our country. This association will not only converge the best of both the institutions in developing a robust digital payments system, but will also pave the way for multi-disciplinary research and opportunities.”

With this collaboration, eminent faculty members from the institute will conduct informative sessions and deliver lectures for NPCI personnel on Cybersecurity and the new trends in Artificial Intelligence (AI), Machine Learning (ML), Security Product Roadmaps, and Distributed ledger technologies (DLT). NPCI, on the other hand, will offer internship opportunities to IIT Kanpur students, providing them an invaluable experience of working on live projects of NPCI. The domain-centric knowledge and expertise of IIT Kanpur scholars will aid NPCI in expeditiously executing the ever-evolving requirements of consumer-oriented offerings.

Antony Prakash, chief information security officer (CISO), NPCI said: “At NPCI, we are committed to building a robust digital payments infrastructure and are constantly creating innovative offerings for a seamless payments system. The association provides NPCI and IIT-K an excellent opportunity to develop advanced technical solutions that will provide customers with best-in-class, convenient, and safer payments experience. We believe it will usher in the development of a more refined digital payments ecosystem which will further ameliorate any potential bottlenecks in the system.”

The MoU will mutually benefit both parties with its knowledge-sharing nature and will enable the constitution of better and more secure digital payment products and services oriented towards national interest and upliftment.