SBI's digital payment venture: Hitachi to use artificial intelligence, big data for new platform

India's largest lender State Bank of India (SBI) has formed a joint venture'SBI Payment Services Private Limited' in partnership with Hitachi Payments Services, a subsidiary of Japan's Hitachi, for the establishment of card acceptance and future-ready digital payments platform in India, according to a joint statement on Monday. Hitachi Payments will pick a 26% equity stake in SBI Payment Services, while the rest will be held by SBI. As part of the partnership, Hitachi – which manages more than 55,000 ATMs and 0.85 million PoS devices across the country – will contribute to the development and augmentation of digital payments service in the country by creating an online platform. SBI and Hitachi will now seek regulatory approvals for the joint venture. The two companies will integrate each other's strengths such as Hitachi's digital technologies like artificial intelligence and big data analytics, and SBI's large customer base, branch network as well as brand trust.