More Than 100 Blockchain Pilots Underway at Tata IT Consultancy

One of India's biggest IT services firms is pursuing a wide range of potential blockchain applications.

N Chandrasekaran, CEO of Tata Consultancy Service (TCS), remarked on that work during an interview with Indian newspaper The Economic Times. According to the transcript, Chandrasekaran said that the firm is involved in "more than 100" blockchain prototypes, the result of a process that has played out over the past year and a half.

He remarked:

"Companies are doing this differently, in different pieces. If you take financial services, there is a lot of excitement about blockchain. So, we are trying to see how we can effectively use blockchain to bring a real-time behaviour between (multiple) nodes in a financial process."

TCS, which employs more than 300,000 individuals worldwide, further said in a note to investors that it is exploring applications for blockchain in cross-border payments, trade finance and digital identity.

While Chandrasekaran's comments constitute the broadest look at the Tata's work with blockchain to date, it's not the first. Last year, Visa indicated that it was looking to work with the consultancy on blockchain, and the firm has also reportedly worked with Dutch bank ABN Amro on developing proofs-of-concept.

Still, the remarks come amid a brightening climate for blockchain applications within India's financial sector, which is a likely source of at least some of the projects in which Tata is involved.

Chandrasekaran went on to say that the process by which technology is evolving in the IT space, "it’s not just replacing the old, it’s opening up new possibilities".

"If you ask me two or four quarters away, 'Do you see a blockchain practice producing a billion dollars next year?' I can't answer the question," he continued. "We are on the forefront."

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