In a special interaction with Express Computer, Murali Mohan Rao, Chief Technology Officer at DCB Bank, shares the essence of his organisation’s digital philosophy. Under his leadership, DCB Bank has built a robust foundation of AI, data intelligence, and governance, ensuring that every stride in innovation strengthens trust. From same-day onboarding to quantum-safe security, DCB Bank is redefining how technology can accelerate growth without compromising integrity.
How does DCB’s AI-enabled SOC use behavioural biometrics to prevent fraud and ensure seamless customer authentication?
At DCB Bank, we view cybersecurity as a trust enabler. Our AI-enabled behavioural biometrics and machine learning models continuously learn from customer interactions such as typing cadence, navigation rhythm, and device patterns to identify anomalies without disrupting user experience. This approach predicts and prevents fraud in real time, ensuring legitimate users enjoy frictionless access. It represents the convergence of AI, risk intelligence, and customer empathy.
What were the key challenges in reducing onboarding time from five days to same-day with the CUBE platform, especially at scale?
The CUBE platform has reduced onboarding time from five days to same-day (often within hours) by creating intelligent, automated workflows across multiple systems. Through real-time digital KYC APIs, rule-based automation, and API orchestration, DCB Bank achieved both agility and full regulatory compliance. We embedded compliance checkpoints into every onboarding flow, ensuring each journey remains secure and auditable. The result is a benchmark for same-day banking at scale, faster, more accurate, and fully transparent.
How does DCB Bank achieve biometric KYC refresh in seconds while maintaining security and compliance?
We leverage UIDAI’s Aadhaar biometric authentication APIs, secured by encryption and tokenization layers, to perform KYC refreshes within seconds. Every transaction passes through zero-trust validation and real-time consent capture, embedding compliance into the process by design. The result is instant verification with no compromise on privacy or data protection.
How has DCB Bank supported 84M+ UPI transactions at a 96% success rate, and what role do you play in UPI Lite and Aadhaar-based onboarding?
Our API-first, microservices-based architecture powers more than 120 million UPI transactions (FY24–25) with a 98% success rate. The system’s reliability stems from real-time routing optimisation and intelligent load balancing to handle transaction surges. On this foundation, DCB Bank has integrated UPI Lite for micro-payments, UPI Circle for delegated payments, and Aadhaar-enabled onboarding empowering customers with secure, fast, and inclusive digital payment experiences.
What are the main challenges and opportunities for DCB Bank in enabling cross-border UPI payments?
Cross-border UPI represents a breakthrough for India’s payments ecosystem. For DCB Bank, it opens new opportunities in retail remittances, travel payments, and NRI ecosystems. The challenge lies in harmonising KYC/AML frameworks and foreign exchange settlements across jurisdictions. Working closely with NPCI International and ecosystem partners, the bank ensures its global UPI services offer the same trust, transparency, and efficiency as domestic payments. A key innovation has been integrating LRS (Liberalised Remittance Scheme) checks in real time during cross-border transaction execution made possible by our API-first design.
How does your Enterprise Data Lake turn massive datasets into actionable insights for offers, forecasting, and risk analytics?
Our Enterprise Data Lake unifies data from core engines, payments, and digital channels into a single intelligent ecosystem. From AI models and visualisation dashboards, we enable real-time analytics across risk, operations, finance, customer service, and marketing. This unified data environment powers early warning signals, hyper-personalised offers, and more accurate credit decisioning. It’s the foundation of DCB Bank’s data-first approach to growth, governance, and risk optimisation.
What lessons from DCB Bank’s digital transformation would you share with other banks, and which emerging technologies excite you the most?
Digital transformation isn’t about replacing systems, it’s about evolving mindsets. Our key learning is that modernisation must go hand in hand with operationalising innovation. Governance, cloud-native architecture, and design thinking are as critical as technology itself.
Looking ahead, we’re excited about generative AI for knowledge automation, composable banking for rapid product innovation, and quantum-safe security to future-proof digital trust. DCB Bank continues to align innovation within Reserve Bank of India compliant frameworks, ensuring every leap forward is secure, ethical, and scalable.