An Indian Bank Is Using Humanoid Robots to Assist Customers

India’s leading private lender HDFC Bank is using robots in its branches to improve its customer service, making it the first to use ‘humanoids’ in India’s banking sector.

In a report from the Business Standard , more humanoids will be inserted into banks in India after determining the response from customers, according to Nitin Chugh, HDFC’s head for digital banking.

The installation of HDFC Bank’s humanoid is part of an artificial intelligence program that was launched last year. By doing so, the bank is hoping to improve their customer service as well as its marketing aspects.

Chugh states that the bank is evaluating different use cases in the blockchain including document management, KYC (know-your-customer) and transaction processing.

He said:

However, it is early days for this and we have not come across mature models in India. We are also interested in network blockchain, where multiple banks come together for this technology.

According to the bank around 71 percent of its customers had moved to digital banking by the end of March last year indicating that digital banking could eventually be the way forward for the nation.

Indian Banks Looking at Blockchain

More Indian banks are now turning their attention toward the use of AI and blockchain to perform banking tasks and improve customer service.

India’s Axis Bank recently announced that it will soon be introducing blockchain solutions to operate cross-border remittance using Ripple’s blockchain.

ICIC Bank in India is also exploring the bank’s digital capabilities. Last year it revealed that it has created a digital division to harness blockchain technology while stating that the bank is continually looking at the development of blockchain applications to improve the services it offers to its customers.

YES Bank, a prominent private sector bank in India, is also looking at the introduction of blockchain to digitize and automate vendor financing solutions.

Is AI the Way Forward?

Whether or not the use of robots will be further implemented into more banks remains to be seen.

After all, it comes down to whether a customer wants a robot helping them with their banking needs or an actual person.

At the end of the day, though, technology is moving at a fast pace and if countries fail to keep up with the changing times, they risk being left behind.

Who knows what impact HDFC Bank’s humanoid will produce, but it could potentially pave the way for how other banks operate in the future with their own robots in place of humans.

Featured image of stock humanoid robot from Shutterstock.