State Bank of India Unveils Plans for Blockchain tech integration

The State Bank of India (SBI) is planning a beta launch of smart contracts by December, where the platform will first support smart contracts and will soon after move to supporting blockchain-based know-your-customer (KYC) processes.

According to the head of innovation at SBI, Sudin Baraokar, the systems have been developed by Bankchain, the consortium of 27 banks that was launched to look into blockchain solutions in the banking sector.

 As reported by the Economic Times, Baraokar said that the beta launch of smart contracts in the bank's processes will enable "simple things" such as non-disclosure agreements.

He stated: "A lot of internal processes can be contracted. We do a lot of IT procurement, a lot of it can be implemented using blockchain."

SBI also has planned to set up an innovation center in Mumbai to explore new technologies including blockchain, artificial intelligence, machine learning and others. According to Baraokar, the innovation center is still in the design stage and is expected to launch by the middle of next year.