Date: 12th August 2026

Strategic Initiative Overview

CAMS Limited and Indian Institute of Technology Madras (IIT Madras) are extending and expanding their collaborations under the CAMS IIT Madras FinTech Innovation Lab (CIFIL) to drive the next phase of innovation in financial technologies. The renewed partnership aims to strengthen India's rapidly evolving digital financial ecosystem through deeper industry-academia collaboration.

Initiative Background

CIFIL was established in 2022 through a collaboration between IIT Madras and CAMS as part of its CSR Initiatives. It brought together CAMS' expertise in financial technology and financial services with IIT Madras' academic and research capabilities to promote innovation in the BFSI sector.

Focus Areas for Expansion

In its next phase, CIFIL will focus on emerging areas including:

  • AI in financial services
  • Digital payments
  • Blockchain and tokenisation
  • Cybersecurity
  • Regulatory Technology
  • WealthTech
  • InsurTech
  • Digital lending
  • Data analytics
  • Financial inclusion

Research and Commercialization Objectives

The Lab will work towards expanding its research portfolio, developing intellectual property, facilitating technology transfer, and creating opportunities for commercialization of research-led solutions. A new MoU towards these initiatives was signed on 12th August 2026 at the IIT Madras campus.

Student and Industry Engagement

The partnership will provide students with opportunities to engage directly with industry through research projects, internships, hackathons, expert interactions, and startup mentoring. These initiatives aim to provide practical exposure to financial technology challenges while strengthening students' research, innovation, and entrepreneurial capabilities.

Startup Support Ecosystem

A key focus will be strengthening support for fintech startups and entrepreneurs. CIFIL will provide access to:

  • Technical and faculty expertise
  • Mentoring
  • Industry networks
  • Validation support
  • Research collaborations
  • Innovation challenges

The Lab will seek to connect promising startups with relevant industry opportunities and enable them to develop solutions addressing real-world challenges in financial services.

Professional Education Programs

CIFIL is expanding its talent development initiatives through professional education programmes including:

  • Professional Certificate Programme in FinTech
  • Certificate Programme in Personal Financial Planning

These programs are designed for working professionals, entrepreneurs, researchers, students, and aspiring fintech leaders. Participants who successfully complete the Professional Certificate Programme in FinTech and meet academic requirements will receive a Professional Certificate from CODE, IIT Madras through CIFIL.

Industry Collaboration Platform

For industry partners, CIFIL provides a platform to work with IIT Madras faculty and researchers on business and technology challenges, evaluate emerging technologies, develop proofs-of-concept, and undertake applied research. The Lab facilitates interaction between industry, academia, startups, regulators, and other stakeholders in the financial ecosystem.

Past Achievements

Since its inception, CIFIL has supported multiple fintech research projects, conducted national hackathons with industry participation, mentored startups through incubation and pre-incubation initiatives, developed executive education programmes, and established collaborations with banks, regulators, and industry partners. Its work has contributed to innovation across areas including digital payments, AI, blockchain, cybersecurity, and wealth management.

Management Commentary

Mr Anuj Kumar, Managing Director, CAMS: "Organisations that have spent decades serving an industry develop deep expertise, but some of the most transformative ideas often emerge from outside conventional boundaries. They come from researchers questioning accepted models, students bringing fresh perspectives and innovators experimenting with new technologies. CIFIL was established to create this intersection between industry experience and academic exploration."

Prof V Kamakoti, Director IIT Madras: "The CAMS FinTech Innovation Lab is a significant step forward in IIT Madras' commitment to drive innovation in the rapidly evolving field of financial technology. By combining IIT Madras' research excellence and CAMS' deep industry expertise, this partnership has the potential to strengthen and accelerate growth to build cutting edge fintech solutions for Bharat's financial ecosystem."

Prof M. Thenmozhi, Head – CAMS IITM Fintech Innovation Lab: "Our vision for CIFIL is to emerge as a global centre for innovation and research in FinTech and co-create fintech solutions that cater to unsolved problems in the Banking, Financial markets and Financial services sector and develop fintech ventures of the future."