| Institute for Development and Research in Banking Technology | |
| Abbreviation: | IDRBT |
| Established: | 1996 |
| Type: | Banking Technology Research Institute |
| Headquarters: | Castle Hills, Road No. 1,Masab Tank, Hyderabad,Telangana-500057, India. |
| Leader Title: | Director |
| Leader Name: | Dr. Deepak Kumar |
| Location: | Hyderabad, Telangana, India |
The Institute for Development & Research in Banking Technology (IDRBT) is an engineering training institution exclusively focused on banking technology. Established by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) in 1996, the institution works at the intersection of banking and technology. It is located in Hyderabad, India.[1]
The main focus of the institute is to conduct applied research and experimental development in the area of banking technology. The research at the institute is directed primarily towards a specific practical objective that will serve the banking and financial sector.
Accordingly, the research and development activities of the institute aim at improving banking technology in India. While addressing the immediate concerns of the banking sector, the research at the institute also focuses on anticipating the future needs and requirements of the banking sector and developing technologies to address them.
These state-of-the-art research centers drive the research and development work of the institute. The research centers are also being constantly upgraded with the latest systems, devices and tools to keep pace with the ever-changing technology trends. Presently, the Institute has the following six research centers for focused research and development directly relevant to the Indian Banking and Financial Sector.[2]
Every year, the institute organizes an international conference in an area of relevance to the institute. The conferences are intended to promote an exchange of the latest knowledge, experiences, research findings and technical know-how in information technology and its application in the Indian banking and financial sector.[3]
During the last seven years, the institute organized the following three conferences:
IDRBT offers a range of academic programs, designed specifically to meet both the existing and emerging human resources of the Indian banking and financial sector. These include:[7]
Training programs form an inherent part of IDRBT's initiatives in aiding technology absorption in the Indian banking and financial sector and keeping it abreast with the developments taking place in technology.[8] The institute's programs are structured to prepare the top and middle-level management of Banks and other Financial Institutions for the future in technology banking.
These executive development and education programs mainly focus on identifying the gaps in the skill requirements and providing training in those areas. The IDRBT provides holistic executive education through these programs, which cover the entire spectrum of technology applied in the banking and financial sectors. The institute offers over 100 programs that train over 2500 bankers every year.[9]
With the objective of instilling healthy competition and widening the reach of technology adoption and absorption in a faster way among all the banks, the institute constituted the IDRBT Banking Technology Excellence Awards [13] in 2001. The awards are a recognition bestowed on the banks which have implemented and improved the use of technology at all the fronts of banking activities for enhancing customer service as well as ease of doing banking.
The awards are presented keeping in view a particular aspect of technology implementation which changes year-by-year. There are various categories which focus on cyber security, financial inclusion, IT infrastructure, IT risk management, etc. These technology awards honour the best banks of the Indian banking and financial sector. The awards are presented by the governor of the Reserve Bank of India every year.[14]
To bank on the popularity of apps development, and bring in new and useful app innovations in the Indian banking and financial sector, the institute launched the IDRBT Banking Application Contest (IBAC) in 2016.[15] The IDRBT Banking Application Contest (IBAC) aims to serve two key purposes – Indian banking and financial community benefits from the innovative ideas from the best tech talent in the country, and the Gen Next gets an opportunity to showcase their tech talent through this platform.[16]
IDRBT is the certifying authority (CA) for the Indian banking and financial sector, licensed by the Controller of Certifying Authorities, Government of India, under IT Act 2000.[17] The CA issues digital certificates aimed to facilitate speedy and cost-effective digital transactions. These certificates are used by the RBI, banks and other financial institutions to exchange electronic messages between banks ensuring authenticity, integrity, non-repudiation and confidentiality. The CA services are aimed at facilitating. So far, more than 2,00,000 digital certificates have been issued by the CA.
With a view to provide focused attention and enable development of techno-banking in the country, the institute has promoted a new Section 8 company named The Indian Financial Technology and Allied Services (IFTAS). Headquartered in Mumbai, the mandate of the IFTAS is to provide IT-related services to the RBI, banks and other financial institutions.[18]
Services like Indian Financial Network (INFINET),[19] Structured Financial Messaging System (SFMS)[20] and the Indian Banking Community Cloud (IBCC)[21] have been handed over to IFTAS with effect from 1 April 2016.[22]