In a move that reshapes how India protects the financial data of millions, SBI Life Insurance, one of the country’s most trusted private life insurers, has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Indian Institute of Technology Bombay (IIT Bombay) to establish ‘Bharat’s AI & Cyber Innovation Hub for Insurance’ (the “Bharat Innovation Hub”), a joint research and innovation centre dedicated to building India’s own deep-technology defences for the insurance sector.
The MoU was signed by Prof. S.V Kulkarni, Dean-R&D, IIT- Bombay and Vishal Bhatia, Chief Information & Digital Officer, SBI Life Insurance in presence of Prof. Shireesh B Kedare, Director, IIT-Bombay; Abhijit Gulanikar, President – Ops & IT, SBI Life; Subhendu Bal, President – Chief Risk Officer, SBI Life; Balaji Venketaswar, Professor of Practice, IIT-Bombay; Prof. Ganesh Ramakrishnan, Chair Professor, Department of CSE, IIT-Bombay & Founding Director, BharatGen; and Pravin Ghate, EVP & Head – Infra Core, Cloud & CITSO among other respected dignitaries.
India’s insurance premium growth is forecasted at 6.9% annually until 2030, making it the strongest growing major insurance market. As the country’s insurance penetration improves, customer data is set to grow by the day, protecting that data is as important as protecting the policies themselves. Thus the need for ‘Bharat Innovation Hub’, which marks a decisive shift away from dependence on imported security frameworks and towards cyber defence capabilities that are designed, built, and owned in India
Aligning with the government’s vision of ‘Atmanirbhar Bharat’, the ‘Bharat Innovation Hub’ brings together SBI Life’s deep understanding of insurance and customers with IIT Bombay’s distinguished academia and scientific talent to develop solutions across Artificial Intelligence, Cyber Security, Quantum Technologies, and the future of insurance. The collaboration spans cyber defence innovation, AI-driven tools, talent development, executive education, strategic consulting, and innovation incubation.
The partnership marks a significant step in SBI Life’s journey towards becoming an AI-native insurer; an organisation that does not merely adopt technology, but actively creates it. The goal is to build scalable, resilient, deep-tech solutions capable of meeting the expectations of both customers and regulators in an increasingly digital world.
Speaking at the MoU signing ceremony, Abhijit Gulanikar, President – Operations & IT, SBI Life Insurance, said: ‘The next era of value creation in financial services will be led by organisations that don’t just consume technology, but actively build it. By bringing together some of India’s brightest scientific minds with our deep understanding of insurance, we are choosing to innovate, build, and scale from India, for India. Through the partnership with IIT-Bombay we are building an indigenous, AI-native foundation that protects every customer who trusts us with their financial future, while strengthening the resilience of the wider insurance industry.’
Prof. Ganesh Ramakrishnan, Chair Professor, Dept. of CSE, IIT-Bombay & Founding Director, BharatGen, said, “At IIT Bombay, our endeavour has always been to apply world-class research to challenges that matter to society. Protecting the financial security of millions of citizens is exactly such a challenge. This partnership allows academia to work shoulder-to-shoulder with industry on real-world problems in artificial intelligence, cyber security, and quantum technologies with sovereignty at the core.
Thus, translating fundamental research into solutions that serve the nation. More importantly, by nurturing the next generation of Indian talent, we are strengthening the country’s ability to build its own sovereign technological capabilities. We are proud to partner with SBI Life in building, from India and for India.’
The Bharat Innovation Hub is expected to create lasting value beyond SBI Life. By developing a structured model of collaboration between a leading academic institution and a regulated financial organisation, the partnership aims to build a homegrown talent pipeline in AI and cyber security, advance India’s institutional readiness against evolving digital threats, and offer a template that the broader financial services sector can learn from.
As India’s insurance landscape evolves, building indigenous, AI-native, and institutionally sovereign cyber defence capabilities has become essential. This partnership formalises a shared, long-term commitment to meeting that need through sustained, research-driven collaboration between two of India’s most respected institutions.