Indian fintech firms using AI to detect money laundering: Kiya.ai MD Rajesh Mirjankar

Sep 06, 2023

By Shailesh Yadav
Mumbai (Maharashtra) [India], September 6 : Fintech companies globally are using advanced surveillance mechanisms employing artificial intelligence to scan through volumes of data to detect and flag money laundering patterns, if any, said Rajesh Mirjankar, Managing Director of Kiya.ai.
Talking to ANI during the ongoing Global Fintech Fest 2023 in Mumbai, Rajesh Mirjankar, Managing Director of Kiya.ai, an innovative digital solutions service provider, said that investigation patterns of investigative agencies and government institutions have changed with technology transformations.
"When anti-money laundering initiative had started, the regulations were simple and investigation process was very lengthy and tedious. Then came the evolution of customer due diligence where we also look at the transaction pattern," he said.
Having a total of 12 global offices, Kiya.ai serves 600 odd enterprises across 56 countries, including South-East Asia, Africa, the Middle East, Europe, and North America.
"Now we are not only scanning the large volumes of data for our govt clients and institutions, not just data but also patterns, social profiles,  company profiles and what kind of business that company does and importantly, detect where you say money movement has happened as siphoning when you take a loan, etc. So artificial intelligence came in to not just detect money laundering, but also other diversions of that could be money laundering, serious financial fraud like fund siphoning."
Talking about India's fintech sector growth, he said the day is not far when we will witness one billion transactions a day.
India registered a whopping 10.58 billion (1 billion is equal to 100 crore) UPI transactions in August with a total Rs 15.76 lakh crore in value. Unified Payments Interface (UPI) is India’s mobile-based fast payment system, which facilitates customers to make round-the-clock payments instantly, using a Virtual Payment Address (VPA) created by the customer.
UPI payment system has become hugely popular for retail digital payments in India, and its adoption is increasing at a rapid pace. Notably, Sri Lanka, France, UAE, and Singapore have partnered with India on emerging fintech and payment solutions.
"We look at this milestone from the perspective of what India has been able to render during India's G20 Presidency," he said.