Mumbai: Bajaj Finserv would join hands with multiple academic institutions, invest in startups and build a 40-strong in-house team as part of a new initiative called Finserv Intelligence to build scalable technology solutions in India for the world, chairman Sanjiv Bajaj told ET in an exclusive interview.
The holding company for financial services in the Bajaj Group will invest ₹1,500-2,000 crore over a five-year period to build scalability in AI, cybersecurity, quantum technologies, Bajaj Finserv said Thursday.
The investment program will prioritise early-stage companies, from seed to Series B, with scalability potential across AI, cybersecurity, quantum technologies, fintech, and consumer technology platforms, the company said. Bajaj said the new Finserv Intelligence initiative aims to leverage both the foundational digital public infrastructure and AI capabilities in India to create high technology, scalable, secure and low-cost solutions for India and the world.
"In the last 15 years, as we have built our own research and the application focus has been with a three to five year time frame...What we have realised is that given the advent of how the digital world has grown in the last couple of years with AI, it was timely for us to look at a five to ten-year window as well," Bajaj said. "Medium-term research is what we will do through this initiative because we think that it is important to build transformational capabilities in the medium-term." Work on new initiatives has been ongoing for the past six months. The first Memorandum of Understanding with IIT Bombay will research in retail experiences besides AI, cyber security and quantum technologies.
