Alankit CTO on why fintech is moving from automation to accountability

As artificial intelligence becomes embedded into financial services workflows, fintech companies are confronting a new challenge – that of scaling AI without creating fresh compliance and governance risks. For Alankit Ltd, a 30-year-old fintech operating across financial services, RegTech, managed services and technology solutions, the challenge is driving a broader technology overhaul.

The New Delhi-based company, which has built a national and international presence across citizen-facing and financial platforms, is redesigning its technology stack around AI, cloud infrastructure and embedded compliance systems as transaction volumes rise and regulations become increasingly complex. In an interaction with TechCircle, Siteshwar Srivastava, chief information officer and chief technology officer at Alankit, said the company is approaching the shift as a business transformation exercise rather than a technology refresh.

“At Alankit, we are redesigning our platforms as a complete business transformation, scaling to handle growing transaction volumes in KYC, e-Governance, and financial services without sacrificing compliance or user-friendliness,” Srivastava said. 

The redesign centres around cloud-based architectures intended to improve resilience while embedding compliance directly into workflows. The objective is to reduce manual intervention while maintaining performance and usability as volumes scale. That focus comes as enterprises increasingly move away from treating compliance as a periodic reporting process toward making it a continuous operating function.

“AI and automation are helping shift compliance from a reactive to proactive state as regulations keep changing,” Srivastava said, adding that the company uses AI for real-time transaction checks, smart KYC document processing, and early risk detection to flag issues. 

In other words, AI-driven systems are helping the company scale operations without proportionately expanding manpower while also reducing processing times. 

But despite the industry-wide race toward automation, Alankit believes financial operations still require human judgment.

“In high-risk areas like compliance and transactions, AI improves efficiency in repetitive tasks like fraud detection and onboarding, but human accountability remains essential,” Srivastava said. 
Instead of fully automated systems, the company uses a ‘human-in-the-loop’ approach that routes higher-risk cases for review while maintaining audit trails and governance mechanisms for transparency. 

The same measured approach is guiding legacy modernisation. “We modernise legacy systems through phased, low-risk approaches in a hybrid setup,” Srivastava said. “High-impact areas are prioritised, with API-based integration to new platforms, parallel runs for testing, and careful data migration to maintain accuracy.” 

Beyond internal transformation, Alankit is also leaning on India's digital public infrastructure ecosystem to drive growth.

“India's DPI stack is a strong growth driver, enabling smooth scaling,” Srivastava said, pointing to Aadhaar-enabled eKYC, DigiLocker and ONDC integrations as key growth enablers. 

Cybersecurity, meanwhile, has moved beyond IT departments and into boardrooms. “Cybersecurity is a core priority for us, not an add-on, and is treated as a board-level focus due to the sensitive data we handle," he said. 

Over the next two to three years, Alankit plans to focus on AI and automation, cloud transformation, cybersecurity and advanced analytics. According to Srivastava, as AI moves deeper into enterprise operations, the next competitive advantage may not come from deploying more automation. It may come from building systems that can scale while remaining transparent, resilient and accountable, he said.