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Kiya.ai, a Mumbai-based fintech company, has launched India’s first banking Metaverse, Kiyaverse, which will be used by banks and non-banking finance companies (NBFCs) to enable virtual interactions.

Kiyaverse will be rolled out in phases. In the first phase, the banking Metaverse will offer services such as virtual relationship managers, peer avatars and virtual advisors called Robo-advisors, the company said.

Over the next few phases, Kiya.ai plans to have NFTs as tokens and support central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) for transactions. In a statement, the company said that Kiyaverse will also interface open API connectors with aggregators and gateways, creating a banking super app and a marketplace in the Kiyaverse.

One of the most popular examples of a similar application of API connectors is Tata Digital’s flagship super app Tata Neu. Kiya.ai also said that in future, Kiyaverse will provide a near real-world interaction experience using haptics-enabled headsets and using the internet of senses.

“Kiyaverse offers meaningful applications in the Metaverse that apply to relevant business use cases in the real world,” Kiya.ai CEO and MD Rajesh Mirjankar said.

He added that the Kiyaverse uses personalised avatars to allow banking across the real world, mixed reality and virtual reality environments. “Our product roadmap includes integration with CBDC and interoperability with other Metaverses to enable open finance in the Metaverse.”

Founded in 1995, Kiya.ai is a fintech company that provides banks and NBFCs solutions in financial services, digital payments, governance, risk, and compliance. These solutions include omnichannel banking, robotic process automation (RPA) and data analytics, among others.

The company has 12 global offices and serves more than 500 enterprises in 56 countries.

How Will Kiyaverse Work?

Banks and NBFCs will be able to use the Kiyaverse to make their own versions of an in-branch experience. Customers will be asked to use their personalised avatars within the metaverse to access banking services on multiple interfaces.

These include digital banking units, mobiles, laptops, VR headsets and mixed reality environments.

After a user sets up their avatar on the platform, Kiyaverse will enable them to either access banking services, interact with a virtual relationship manager, or choose from a variety of cross-banking services such as portfolio analysis, wealth management, lending and corporate banking.

A company spokesperson told Inc42 that its focus would be on a specific set of people, targeting people who face difficulty in reaching their respective branches physically due to various issues.

Kiya.ai said Kiyaverse will provide data analysis including CMO insights, product performance, risk analysis and channel analytics to partner banks and NBFCs.

India is seeing increasing use of Metaverse for a number of use cases across multiple industries. From edtech to entertainment to Web 3 applications, Metaverse-based experiences are on the rise.

The most popular use case, by far, has been the NFT-based Metaverse, with many Indian corporates bringing their own versions of the Metaverse to the market. Recently, media house ZEE announced that it will launch a Metaverse which will offer NFTs from movies, TV shows, music and web series that it holds licences to.

Before ZEE, T-Series partnered with HEFTY Entertainment, a branch of Hungama, to create an NFT ecosystem based in the Metaverse.