IIIT Delhi, Mastercard, and IIT Delhi unite to shape India’s future of AI driven finance at pre summit event for India AI Impact Summit 2026 

New Delhi, February 4, 2026: The Indraprastha Institute of Information Technology Delhi (IIIT Delhi), in collaboration with Mastercard and the Yardi School of AI at the Indian Institute of Technology Delhi (IIT Delhi), hosted a symposium on “AI in Finance, Payments, and Security”—an official pre-summit event of the India AI Impact Summit 2026 that will take place from 16th February to 20th February 2026 at Bharat Mandapam, New Delhi.

Held on 31 January, the symposium convened 250+ academics, policymakers, and industry leaders to advance the conversation on building reliable, responsible, and resilient AI systems for India’s financial ecosystem—grounded in safety, trust, and integrity.

The event brought together leading voices from the AI and technology landscape, including:
•    Dr. Shivkumar Kalyanaraman, CEO, Anusandhan National Research Foundation (ANRF)
•    Dr. Gaurav Gupta, Director and Scientist, Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY)
•    Prof. Gautam Shroff, IIIT Delhi
•    Dhananjay Goel, Founder, TimbleAI
•    Yatin Katyal, Vice President, Mastercard AI Garage
A panel discussion featuring Prof. Aparna Gupta, Principal Expert & Advisor to the CEO, ANRF, and Shashank Kumar, Temple, was moderated by Dr. Maneet Singh, Vice President, Mastercard AI Garage.
As part of the program, the organizers also unveiled a curated research compendium showcasing seven selected presentations, highlighting cutting edge ideas, early-stage innovation, and applied research at the intersection of finance, payments, and security.
Nitendra Rajput, Senior Vice President & Head, Mastercard AI Garage, said, “The pre-summit truly delivered on its purpose. By bringing together leaders from industry, government, and academia, we strengthened collaboration and built a shared understanding of how AI can responsibly shape the future of finance. With powerful insights from eminent voices and subject matter experts, our discussions spanned the full spectrum of opportunity and accountability-advanced AI, risk frameworks, agentic systems, governance, forensics, infrastructure, and more. The community meaningfully moved the conversation forward. This is exactly the kind of collective momentum required to unlock AI’s full potential for a safer, smarter, and more inclusive financial ecosystem in India.”
Prof. Puspendra Singh, IIIT Delhi, said, “It was gratifying to see the symposium come together so effectively. The sessions offered deep insights, with experts from academia and industry presenting rigorous perspectives on AI, financial security, and the evolving fintech landscape.”
The symposium reinforced the importance of cross-sector collaboration in shaping the future of AI driven financial systems and set a strong foundation for the upcoming India AI Impact Summit 2026.