SBI Life has signed a MOU with the Indian Institute of Technology, Mumbai to establish a joint research and innovation centre dedicated to building India's own deep-technology defences for the insurance sector.
The ‘Bharat AI & Cyber Innovation Hub for Insurance’ (also known as, Bharat Innovation Hub), will be a joint research and innovation centre dedicated to building deep-technology defences that are designed, built, and owned in India. 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.
The Indian insurance market is expected to grow at 6.9% annually until 2030, making it one of the strongest growing major insurance markets in the world. As the country’s insurance penetration improves, customer data is set to grow by the day, and protecting that data is as important as protecting the policies themselves. The Bharat Innovation Hub 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 a developed India by 2047, the Bharat Innovation Hub will develop solutions across AI, 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.
SBI Life President of Operations and IT Abhijit Gulanikar said that 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,’ he said.