IIT Madras Research Park (IITMRP) and IIT Madras Incubation Cell (IITMIC) have teamed up with the Reserve Bank Innovation Hub (RBIH) to develop voice-driven banking innovation that tackles language barriers to financial inclusion. The voice-based banking solution will be rolled out in Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, and English. The move comes in response to the challenge of millions of Indians lacking access to digital banking, with more than 600 million Indians in low and middle-income brackets without access. As part of the initiative, the partners will look to incubate some of the solutions showcased during the recent voice banking hackathon, Vaulter Voice. Nine start-ups worked on developing solutions during the event, with the goal of rolling out a pilot project of the winning solutions within 12-18 months, going to a scaled version within two to three years.
IITMRP is a research park located in Chennai, India, established in 2006 with the aim of fostering innovation in technology and entrepreneurship. The incubation centre provides support to start-ups, primarily in the technology and social sector, with facilities for prototyping and product commercialisation. RBIH is a unit of the Reserve Bank of India that aims to promote and facilitate innovation in financial technology.
Rajesh Bansal, CEO of RBIH, and Prof Ashok Jhunjhunwala, president of IIT-M Research Park, are leading figures in the voice-driven banking project, aimed at addressing financial inclusion barriers for Indian citizens.
