The Hub will focus on addressing the unique challenges faced by the Indian banking and financial services sector using data analytics and AI.
NEW DELHI (India CSR): The State Bank of India (SBI), through its CSR arm SBI Foundation, has pledged a grant of Rs. 22.5 Crores to establish a Banking Data and Analytics Hub at the Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay (IIT-B). The focus of the Hub will be to address the unique challenges faced by the Indian banking and financial services sector. The collaboration aims to leverage SBI’s extensive experience in banking and IIT Bombay’s research expertise.
A milestone in industry-academia partnership
The grant was announced on the occasion of the 68th “Bank Day”, which marks the foundation day of SBI. The Hub includes a 10,000 Sq. Ft. lab space and shall fund research and skill development in data analytics and AI (Artificial Intelligence).
The Hub will undertake cutting-edge research focused on emerging problems in the banking sector and work towards developing elegant solutions for banking. It will also engage in competency-building and outreach activities to enhance the talent pool of professionals specializing in banking analytics.
The Hub will also help SBI’s data analytics and AI practice become part of the mainstream, day-to-day operations of the Bank. It will help the Bank generate and disseminate new ideas through industry-academia collaboration and training of the Bank’s staff. It will also help the Bank adopt emerging technologies like ChatGPT, which is a generative AI model that can create natural language conversations.
Benefits for SBI and the BFSI sector
The grant emphasizes the importance of data analytics and AI in banking. It comes close on the heels of the Bank’s announcement, during an Analyst Meet held on the 18th of May, 2023, that it had garnered business worth one lakh crore rupees through its Analytics function in the Financial Year 2023 alone.
Commenting on the development, Dinesh Khara, Chairman, SBI said, “The tie-up shall help enhance SBI’s AI capabilities and will lead to the generation and dissemination of new ideas through industry-academia collaboration and training of the Bank’s staff. The partnership shall benefit the entire BFSI sector and help in the adoption of emerging technologies like ChatGPT.”
Nitin Chugh, Deputy Managing Director and Head of Digital Banking and Transformation said, “The collaboration will help the Bank’s data analytics and AI practise become part of the mainstream, day-to-day operations of the Bank. He reiterated that the collaboration would help in taking the Bank’s Analytics practice to the next level.”
Professor Shri Ravi Gudi, the Dean of Alumni and Corporate Relations at IIT Bombay stated that “The Hub shall undertake cutting-edge research focusing on emerging problems in the Banking Sector and work towards developing elegant solutions for banking. He also said that the Hub shall engage in competency building and outreach activities to enhance the talent pool of professionals specializing in banking analytics.”
