High Impact Research
The Institute is now working on a series of nationally-important projects aimed at contributing to systemic improvements in the Indian Banking and Financial Sector. Here is a snapshot of the high-impact research projects the Institute is currently working on:

Project on "Blockchain and Machine Learning Powered Unified Video KYC Framework" (to be carried out in collaboration with IIIT Hyderabad, and IIT Bhilai)
– Sponsored by Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY), Government of India; IIT Bhilai Innovation and Technology Foundation (IBITF) and RBI Innovation Hub
The Institute has been awarded a major research project entitled “Blockchain and Machine Learning Powered Unified Video KYC Framework” (to be carried out in collaboration with IIIT Hyderabad, and IIT Bhilai), sponsored by the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY), Government of India, IIT Bhilai Innovation and Technology Foundation (IBITF) and RBI Innovation Hub on 14th February 2022. The overall coordination and execution of the project will be done by IDRBT.
The objective of the project is to develop a Blockchain and Machine Learning powered unified video KYC framework for the financial sector. The developed solution would be ready for transfer to the financial institutions. Dr Rajarshi Pal, Faculty, is the Chief Investigator for the project. Dr Mridula Verma, Faculty, is the Principal Investigator from IDRBT and Dr Susmita Mandal, Faculty, is the Co-Investigator from IDRBT.
(to be carried out in collaboration with IIIT Hyderabad, and IIT Bhilai)
Sponsored by Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY), Government of India;
IIT Bhilai Innovation and Technology Foundation (IBITF) and RBI Innovation Hub

Project on "Developing Reverse Engineering Resilient Hardware Accelerators during Architectural Synthesis"
– Sponsored by Science and Engineering Research, Govt. of India
The Science and Engineering Research (SERB), a statutory body of the Department of Science and Technology, Govt. of India, has awarded the Institute a research project titled “Developing Reverse Engineering Resilient Hardware Accelerators during Architectural Synthesis " under the Start-up Research Grant.
This project aims to design a reverse engineering attack resilient Hardware Accelerator (HA) by developing robust algorithms to enhance the reverse engineering complexity. As for most of the attacks, the primary step is the reverse engineering of the targeted hardware. This project can help prevent such attacks (such as piracy, cloning, inserting hardware Trojan, false claim of ownership, etc.) and enable a robust foundation of Indian banking and other sectors for adopting IoT-based smart solutions, where every IoT device will be secured through robust reverse engineering resilient design methodology.
Dr. Dipanjan Roy, Faculty IDRBT, is the Primary Investigator of this project.
Sponsored by Science and Engineering Research, Govt. of India

Project on "Design and Development of a Unified Blockchain Framework for offering National Blockchain Service and creation of a Blockchain Ecosystem"
– Sponsored by Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY), Govt. of India
The Institute has been awarded a research project entitled Design and Development of a Unified Blockchain Framework for offering National Blockchain Service and creation of a Blockchain Ecosystem " (to be carried out in collaboration with C-DAC (Hyderabad, Mumbai, Pune), IIT Hyderabad, IIIT Hyderabad, NIC, and SETS), sponsored by the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY), Government of India.
The objective of the project is to evolve an Unified Blockchain framework with Technology Stack supporting the following capabilities:
- End-to-end, rapid application development
- Interoperability across the platforms & applications
- Open APIs for seamless integration and
- Distributed infrastructure
IDRBT's role in the project is to design and develop security and privacy solutions to achieve confidentiality, authenticity, and data privacy using Blockchain Technology.
Dr. Susmita Mandal, Faculty, is the Principal Investigator and Dr. Abhishek Thakur, Faculty, is the Co-Investigator from IDRBT.
Sponsored by Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY), Govt. of India

Project on "Secure Offline m-Payment System using Certificateless Key Agreement Mechanism for Faster Access and Handover Authentication in Space Information Networks"
– Sponsored by Science and Engineering Research Board (SERB),
Department of Science and Technology, Govt. of India
The Science and Engineering Research Board (SERB), a statutory body of the Department of Science and Technology, Govt. of India has awarded the Institute a research project titled "A Secure Offline m-Payment System using Certificateless Key Agreement Mechanism for Faster Access and Handover Authentication in Space Information Networks" under the Start-up Research Grant.
The primary goal of the project is to enable a secure mobile payment for rural population using the backbone support of the space information network (SIN). The project focuses on designing an algorithm to enable faster authentication between ground station and satellite, followed by designing a protocol to address the handover propagation delay in space information network for carrying out the transaction swiftly using the cryptographic mechanism of certificateless key agreement scheme.
Dr. Susmita Mandal, Faculty, is the Investigator from IDRBT.
Sponsored by Science and Engineering Research Board (SERB),
Department of Science and Technology, Govt. of India

Project on "5G Use Case Lab for Banking and Financial Services"
– Sponsored by Dept. of Telecommunications & Dept. of Financial Services, Govt. of India
The Department of Telecommunications and Department of Financial Services, Government of India, has awarded the IDRBT a major research project on "5G Use Case Lab for Banking and Financial Services". With a primary focus to carry out this transformational research project, the IDRBT has set up the 5G Use Case Lab for Banking and Financial Services.
The lab will identify India-specific use cases of 5G in Banking and Financial Services sector and would support the Banking and Financial Services to implement 5G technologies on par with developed countries. Considering that India has the 2nd largest mobile penetration in the world and has a diverse digital divide, the security gaps in 5G technologies and services would also be identified along with 5G use cases.
The lab would collaborate with Financial Services organizations, Service Providers, Academic Institutions and most importantly, Startups, to promote agility and innovations for enhanced customer experience. The lab will work on Financial Inclusion and rural connectivity, Futuristic ATM/Mobile Banking, Claim Processing, Fraud detection, enhanced customer experience leveraging IoT, Distributed Ledger, VR and AR, AI and ML, Network Slicing technologies and Security technologies to ensure trust is built into the technology from the day of 5G adoption.
The 5G Use Cases lab would be guided by a steering committee consisting of Department of Telecommunications (DoT), Ministry of Communications; Department of Financial Services (DFS), Ministry of Finance, Govt. of India; Telecommunications Standards Development Society (TSDSI), etc.
Sponsored by Dept. of Telecommunications & Dept. of Financial Services, Govt. of India

Project on "Developing Data Science Framework, Architecture and Methodology for Fraud Detection in ATM Transactions in Banks"
– Sponsored by Department of Science and Technology, Govt. of India
The Department of Science and Technology, Govt. of India, has awarded the Institute a research project titled "Developing Data Science Framework, Architecture and Methodology for Fraud Detection in ATM Transactions in Banks" in collaboration with C-DAC.
This project aims to work out a framework, architecture and methodology in the paradigm of big data to analyze the structured and unstructured data that the ATM transactions are replete with, in order to detect and prevent ATM frauds in near real time. Dr. V. Ravi, Faculty, is the investigator from IDRBT and Ms Supriya N. Pal, Senior Director, is the investigator from CDAC.
Sponsored by Department of Science and Technology, Govt. of India

Project on "Hardware Trojan Detection in PCBs Using X-Ray Images"
– Sponsored by Defence Research and Development Organization (DRDO)
The Defence Research and Development Organization (DRDO) has awarded the Institute a research project titled "Hardware Trojan Detection in PCBs Using X-Ray Images", in collaboration with Indian Statistical Institute, Kolkata.
The project aims to detect malicious components (trojans) in the hardware using x-ray images of the hardware. In the context of this project, hardware refers to printed circuit boards (PCBs). A reconstructed model of the test PCB will be compared against a reference model to find out the additional/malicious components in the hardware so as to deliver a method based on structural analysis to detect if a test PCB contains malicious additional hardware component. In the wake of several cyber attacks using hardware trojans, this project aims to make important contributions in devising a novel method for hardware trojan detection.
Dr. Rajarshi Pal, Faculty, is the investigator from IDRBT and Prof. Ashish Ghosh, Indian Statistical Institute, Kolkata, is the investigator from Indian Statistical Institute, Kolkata.
Sponsored by Department of Science and Technology, Govt. of India