Indian IT giant Wipro opens blockchain research center to develop blockchain applications

Wipro, India’s third-largest software and information technology company, has set up a blockchain research centre in Bengaluru as the IT giant looks to develop real-life applications based on distributed ledger or blockchain technology.

Wipro has been involved in multiple blockchain projects and has also set up a new blockchain research center to research and develop blockchain applications for its local and global clients.

Wipro focuses on the financial sector, and according to LiveMint, it is developing several blockchain-related projects with its banking clients. The goal is to use blockchain technology to replace existing systems such as SWIFT.

KRSanjiv, CTO of WIPRO said:

“The reason blockchain is getting a lot of attention is because of its potential. For us, the areas of focus are SWIFT, asset management and identity gateway management.”

Prototypes and demos are already complete. The company is testing internal use cases among clients. The outsourcing giant has also partnered with some startups to expand its blockchain business.

Infosys, a competitor in the IT sector and one of the world’s largest providers of banking software, expressed interest in implementing the most secure distributed ledger – the Bitcoin blockchain – into its core banking products in April 2015. Recently, a subsidiary of Infosys released a blockchain framework for the global financial services sector.

The race to develop mainstream private blockchain applications has already begun. For example, R3CEV-led banking blockchain alliance, HyperLedger led the ledger alliance. However, as more and more participants join, the industry needs standards, according to Presanna V. Sundararajan, head of blockchain applications and APIs at Wipro. In his company's blog, he said:

“Standards are the infrastructure for blockchain applications. They connect industries. It will affect the entire business community, and in the future blockchain may be the foundation of everything, just like the Internet is today.”

In related news, VISA, the world’s largest payment network, is also expanding its tech center in India to focus on blockchain technology. The payments giant plans to hire 1,000 employees for the blockchain research center, which will also be located in Bengaluru.