~ Two-day Summit explored the transition from AI experimentation to enterprise-scale impact across banking and financial services ~

New Delhi: Punjab National Bank (PNB), one of India’s leading public sector banks, concluded the inaugural PNB AI Summit 2026 themed “Innovate, Integrate & Elevate” at its Corporate Office in Dwarka, New Delhi. Marking a significant milestone as one of the first dedicated AI summits hosted by a public sector bank, the two-day summit brought together policymakers, regulators, banking and technology leaders, fintechs and academia to deliberate on the next phase of AI-led transformation in financial services.

Present on the occasion were Shri (Dr.) Debasish Prusty, Additional Secretary, Department of Financial Services (DFS); Shri Ashok Chandra, MD&CEO, PNB; Shri Atul Kumar Goel, Chief Executive, IBA; Shri JBV Reddy, Head QTC, National Quantum Mission, Department of Science and Technology, Government of India; Shri Gulshan Rai, IS Advisor; and Dr. Pratik Sen, Dean, IIT Kanpur, along with senior officials from DFS, RBI and IBA. Leaders and experts from organisations including NPCI, NeGD, DBS, Emirates NBD, IDFC First Bank, SBI Life, AWS, NVIDIA, Microsoft, Google, Infosys Finacle, McKinsey, BCG, Gartner, PwC, EY, IIIT Hyderabad and ISB Hyderabad also participated in the discussions.

The Summit focused on four core areas: AI-driven customer experience, AI in credit and assurance functions, Generative AI and Agentic AI in banking, and responsible data and technology foundations. More than five AI case studies and two academic perspectives demonstrated how emerging technologies are moving from experimentation to practical applications across banking, while nearly 20 kiosks showcased solutions spanning across AI, GenAI, cybersecurity, analytics and customer service.

Shri Dr. Debasish Prusty, Additional Secretary, DFS, said, “Artificial Intelligence has the potential to fundamentally transform the economics of banking by enabling smarter credit delivery, predictive risk management, real-time fraud detection and highly personalised customer experiences. For India, the convergence of AI with our Digital Public Infrastructure such as UPI, Account Aggregator and CKYC can take financial inclusion to the next level by making financial services more accessible, affordable and responsive, particularly for underserved and rural communities. As Indian banking embraces AI, innovation must go hand in hand with responsible governance. PNB’s efforts to integrate AI into banking while preparing for emerging technologies such as quantum computing exemplify the forward-looking approach that the Indian financial sector needs. The PNB AI Summit is not merely a showcase of technology, but the beginning of a broader ecosystem conversation that can help shape the future of responsible, inclusive and resilient AI-led banking in India.”

Shri Ashok Chandra, MD&CEO, PNB, said, “The PNB AI Summit reflects our commitment to being at the forefront of technology in India’s banking sector. As we move from traditional and predictive AI to Generative and Agentic AI, our responsibility as a leading public sector bank is not just to adopt these technologies, but to do so with transparency, accountability and auditability, in line with the RBI’s AI framework. PNB has established the Centre of Excellence for AI and Gen AI. PNB has also demonstrated its leadership by becoming the first bank in the country to deploy quantum-proof cryptography across 86 public-facing applications, certified by NIST, USA. The PNB AI Summit provides a platform for banks, regulators and technology leaders to come together, share use cases and collectively build a responsible, secure and future-ready AI ecosystem, in alignment with the Hon’ble Prime Minister’s vision of building AI capabilities at scale.”

A key highlight of the Summit was the recognition of the PNB Cybersecurity Hackathon 2026, conducted under the aegis of DFS, Ministry of Finance, as part of the PSBs’ Hackathon Series 2026. Organised by PNB in collaboration with IIT Kanpur, the hackathon was themed “Quantum-Proof Systems for Public-Facing Applications.” Participants developed solutions to assess public-facing applications, identify cryptographic implementations, evaluate Post-Quantum Cryptography (PQC) readiness and generate a Cryptographic Bill of Materials (CBOM). The winning teams were felicitated with cash prizes for their innovative solutions aimed at strengthening cybersecurity resilience in the banking sector.

The first day, themed “Setting the Direction: Global Lessons and India Context”, explored how AI is reshaping banking globally and the opportunities it presents for India. Discussions covered AI-led digital payments, customer experience, enterprise transformation, multilingual AI, responsible governance and the emergence of the AI-first bank. The second day, themed “From Pilots to Scale: Technology, Execution and Acceleration”, shifted the focus towards implementation and scale. Deliberations explored Agentic AI, explainability, cyber resilience, AI-powered decision-making, enterprise AI agents, cloud economics and AI architecture, alongside the transition from legacy technology environments towards AI-native enterprises.

A recurring theme across the two days was that AI adoption in banking is moving from proof-of-concept experimentation towards enterprise-wide transformation, with success dependent on robust data foundations, secure architecture, skilled talent, governance frameworks and measurable business impact.

The PNB AI Summit 2026 marked a significant step in the Bank’s efforts to deepen collaboration across the financial, technology and academic ecosystem. The insights and use cases emerging from the Summit will support PNB’s ongoing AI journey and contribute to the broader industry dialogue on building secure, responsible, inclusive and scalable AI capabilities for Indian banking and financial services.