Bajaj Finserv and other Bajaj Group companies have announced a significant commitment to support AI innovation in India. According to reports from Mint, the group will invest ₹1,500 crore to ₹2,000 crore in AI innovation startups over the next five years. The programme will prioritize early-stage companies from seed to Series B stage funding, with strong scalability potential across AI, cybersecurity, quantum technology, fintech and consumer technology platforms.
The company has launched Finserv Intelligence, a group-wide strategic initiative in applied research and innovation focused on high-tech, low unit-cost, highly scalable solutions built in India for India and the world. As reported by Mint, Sanjiv Bajaj, chairman and managing director of Bajaj Finserv, emphasized that the next decade of value creation in financial services will belong to those who build technology that powers it. The initiative is designed as a holistic innovation ecosystem with a five-to-ten-year horizon for realisable impact.
The investment addresses a critical gap in India's research and development landscape. According to Mint, citing a Niti Aayog report, India's gross expenditure on R&D has remained stagnant, with 60% publicly funded as compared to advanced economies where almost 70% of R&D investment comes from the private sector. This disparity highlights the need for increased private capital participation in research and development activities.
Finserv Intelligence has established a strategic partnership with the Indian Institute of Technology Bombay to enhance India's private sector R&D capabilities. As reported by Mint, the company has signed agreements to establish a joint research centre and define a joint statement of work spanning AI, cybersecurity, quantum technologies and the reimagining of physical retail experience. The initiative will operate through an integrated model bringing together academic collaborations, startup ecosystem investments, and in-house specialists.
The programme will be managed by a dedicated team and will offer startups access to Bajaj Finserv's enterprise ecosystem, governance frameworks, financial discipline, operational depth and market insight. According to Mint, Rajeev Jain, vice-chairman and managing director of Bajaj Finance, noted that the initiative offers founders something fundamentally different from capital alone, with flexible ticket sizes and committed follow-on investment. The initiative envisages R&D labs, centres of excellence, venture-led models and scholars-in-residence programmes for capability building.
