IIT Kanpur, NPCI join hands for knowledge sharing, research collaboration

NEW DELHI: The Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Kanpur, and National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) have signed an agreement 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,” the institute said.

With this collaboration, eminent faculty members from the institute will conduct deep 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.

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“The domain-centric knowledge and expertise of IIT Kanpur scholars will aid NPCI in expeditiously executing the ever-evolving requirements of consumer-oriented offerings,” it said.

IIT Kanpur director Abhay Karandikar 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.”

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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.”

Sandeep K Shukla, Professor, Computer Science & Engineering Department, IIT Kanpur, and joint Project Director, C3iHub, IIT Kanpur, said, “IIT Kanpur has been paving the way for critical research and development in the field of cyber security and digital data privacy for long. In recent years, several blockchain-based and other cyber security initiatives have been developed and executed by IIT Kanpur. However, many of them are multi-disciplinary initiatives, and the need for such collaborations in today’s time is very crucial. This association with NPCI is in the same line and would ensure the development of a more secure and holistic ecosystem in the domain of digital payments and collaborative research initiatives.”