The co-founder and former co-chairman of Infosys, Senapathy (Kris) Gopalakrishnan gets appointed as the first Chairperson of the Reserve Bank Innovation Hub.

During the month of August, the central bank announced its setting up of the Reserve Bank Innovation Hub (RBIH) for promotion of innovation in the financial sector through leverage of technology and creating an environment, which would facilitate and augment innovation.

RBI said, “The Reserve Bank has appointed Senapathy (Kris) Gopalakrishnan, co-founder and former co-Chairman of Infosys as the first Chairperson of the Reserve Bank Innovation Hub."

At present, Gopalakrishnan is serving as the Chief Mentor of Start-up Village, which is an incubation hub of startups.

RBI said its innovation wing will be guided and managed by a governing council led by the Chairperson.

The members comprising the governing council includes CEO (to be appointed), Ashok Jhunjhunwala (Institute Professor, IIT, Madras), H Krishnamurthy (Principal Research Scientist, IISc, Bengaluru), Gopal Srinivasan (CMD, TVS Capital Funds), A P Hota (Former CEO, NPCI), Mrutyunjay Mahapatra (Former CMD, Syndicate Bank), T Rabi Sankar (Executive Director, RBI), Deepak Kumar (CGM, Department of Information Technology, RBI), and K Nikhila (Director, Institute for Development & Research in Banking Technology, Hyderabad).

The Reserve Bank Innovation Hub will be creating an eco-system for access promotion of financial services and products, as stated by RBI, adding, “This will also promote financial inclusion".

Reserve Bank Innovation Hub will collaborate with the financial sector institutions, technology and industry and academic institutions, and coordinate efforts for exchanging ideas, and development of prototypes important for financial innovations.

Reserve Bank Innovation Hub will develop an infrastructure which will promote fintech research and facilitate engagement with innovators and startups.