The Institute for Development and Research in Banking Technology (IDRBT), an arm of the Reserve Bank of India, has set up 5G use cases lab for the banking and financial segment. The use of 5G will change a range of technologies and applications, including point of sale (PoS) machines in the banking sector, which are currently using 2G and are in the process of being phased out.

“The Department of Telecommunication is collaborating with other departments for better preparedness and adoption of 5G technology. This is a soft launch. We have all ideas and plans in place. Actual work will begin very soon once we have equipment and other modalities ready,” AS Ramasastri, director of IDRBT, said, adding that banks need to adopt 5G-enabled network.

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The 5G technology, along with blockchain, will be progressively adopted by banks. The broad objectives of the lab include developing and demonstrate 5G use cases for banking and financial services; setting up 5G research and development experience platform for banking and financial services; collaborating with stakeholders such as banks, government, service providers, financial institutions, OEM, academicians, R&D bodies, standards setting bodies and others for 5G promotion and absorption of best practices; providing state-of-the-art experimental test bed solutions for mobile, wireless technologies, IoT and security services for the BFSI segment.

According to RK Pathak, deputy director general, DoT, the Ministry of Communications, the 5G use case lab would contribute to new standards in the country. IDRBT has brought together multiple bodies like the DoT, Department of Financial Services and Telecommunications Standards Development Society to work on the 5G initiative.

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“One of the things that the banking sector uses is the PoS, which right now is 2G-enabled. In a couple of years, there will be no 2G in this country. There will only be 3G, 4G and beyond,’’ Amit Yadav, joint secretary, DoT, said. 5G has arrived in the world and the department has already launched test beds for 5G use in the academia in Hyderabad, Chennai and Bangalore to develop 5G for Indian use.

According to a white paper on 5G applications in the banking and financial sector, the BFSI sector will need 5G for applying artificial intelligence and for enabling the government’s social inclusion agenda. While 5G can play in furthering financial inclusion, it will enable integration and leveraging of various new technologies like cognitive computing, artificial intelligence, big data, etc.

But it is crucial for 5G to have full-stack convergence, and it is here where the use case lab at IDRBT can play a major role.