Leading tech companies and major banks in India have started experimenting with blockchain technology.

Indian IT giant Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) recently said that it is significantly investing in building and enhancing domain specific solutions as well as developing advisory and PoCs for technologies such as blockchain and robo advisor among others. Moreover, in its consolidated financial results for the quarter ended September 30, 2016, the company mentioned a dedicated ‘Blockchain Centre of Excellence’, which is building solutions for remittances, cross-border payments, trade finance, KYC as well its use in Securities issuance, trading and processing.

The company recently revealed that it is currently involved in over 100 blockchain prototypes and has been working on the technology for the past 18 months.

Speaking with The Economic Times, CEO N Chandrasekaran said that there is a lot of excitement about the technology in the financial services industry. He said that currently the company is exploring how to effectively use blockchain to bring a real-time behaviour between (multiple) nodes in a financial process.

“It’s complex because it’s a heavily regulated industry. What we are trying to do is not just understanding block-chain technology but how to re-imagine it for a particular process”, he added. “We have been working on this for 18 months. We have active discussions with 40 banks globally. Today, we have many solutions, proof of concepts, pilots…more than 100 such demos.”

Indian IT company Mphasis announced an industry first Centre of Excellence (CoE) for blockchain-based solutions in July 2016. Another tech giant Wipro established a blockchain research facility at its Bengaluru campus, India, last month.

Moreover, leading Indian private sector bank ICICI recently announced the successful execution of first two transactions using blockchain technology. Also, AXIS Bank and Kotak Mahindra Bank are conducting pilot transactions and exploring the potential of the technology in various business segments to determine whether there exists a business model for blockchain in India.