IIM Indore Introduces Executive Certificate Programme in AI Leadership for Banking, Financial Services Professionals
Financial expertise remains fundamental to banking and financial services, but as Indian BFSI institutions explore AI to automate operations and strengthen decision-making, technology fluency is becoming an essential complement. EY’s 2025 AIdea of India report found that 74% of financial services firms had initiated generative AI proof-of-concept projects, while 42% were allocating budgets to AI initiatives.
With generative AI projected to improve productivity in Indian financial services by 34–38% by 2030, the challenge for BFSI leaders is to identify high-value applications, prioritise investments, align AI with business strategy and establish governance frameworks for responsible deployment.
Against this backdrop, the Indian Institute of Management Indore (IIM Indore) has introduced the Executive Certificate Programme in AI Leadership for Banking, Financial Services The 20-week, self-paced online programme is designed to help professionals develop the strategic understanding and decision-making capabilities needed to lead AI initiatives across financial services, without requiring them to become technical specialists.
From AI awareness to enterprise application
The programme brings together AI, Generative AI and Agentic AI with business applications across banking, insurance, non-banking financial companies (NBFCs), wealth management and FinTech. Its curriculum is organised around seven pillars covering AI foundations, customer growth and experience, risk transformation, AI-powered products, AI strategy and operating models, responsible AI governance, and enterprise AI transformation.
Key areas of focus include:
• Customer growth and experience: Applying AI to customer segmentation, personalisation, retention, relationship management and service delivery.
• Lending, fraud and risk: Exploring AI-enabled credit assessment, underwriting, financial crime detection, risk monitoring and operational resilience.
• Strategy and investment decisions: Evaluating AI opportunities, prioritising use cases, assessing investment requirements and measuring business value.
• Products and operations: Understanding AI-enabled financial products, intelligent workflows, automation and human-AI collaboration.
• Governance and trust: Examining responsible AI frameworks, model risk management, cybersecurity, explainability and regulatory expectations, including those of the RBI, SEBI and IRDAI, alongside the implications of the Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023.
The programme combines recorded lectures by IIM Indore faculty with industry-led learning and applied exercises. Three live workshops focus on AI strategy simulation for BFSI leaders, executive decision-making with GenAI and Agentic AI, and executive presence and AI transformation storytelling.
Graded mini-projects address customer growth, risk and fraud intelligence, and AI investment prioritisation. The programme culminates in a capstone project in which participants develop an AI Transformation Blueprint for BFSI, bringing together opportunity assessment, solution design, implementation planning, business value and governance.
Leadership capability alongside institutional grounding
The programme reflects the growing importance of business judgement in AI adoption. Technology decisions in financial services have implications for customer trust, regulatory obligations, capital allocation and operational resilience, making leadership involvement central to how AI initiatives are evaluated and scaled.
Deloitte’s 2026 report, Banking on Trust: AI Governance for Growth, Resilience and Scale, found that 63% of bank employees use AI weekly, while only 13% of banks surveyed had reached the leading stage of AI governance maturity. The findings suggest that governance capabilities need continued attention as AI usage expands.
IIM Indore’s institutional credentials provide the academic foundation for the programme. Ranked #62 globally and #2 in India for its Executive Education Programmes (Open) in the Financial Times Executive Education Rankings 2026, IIM Indore is also one of India’s select Triple Crown-accredited business schools, holding accreditations from EQUIS, AACSB, and AMBA. These globally recognised distinctions reflect the institute’s academic excellence and enhance the value of the learning experience, supporting participants’ professional mobility and global recognition. The programme’s faculty coordinator is Prof. Saumya Ranjan Dash, Faculty of Finance and Accounting at IIM Indore.
Programme details
The programme is intended for professionals across banking, insurance, NBFCs, payments, FinTech, wealth management, financial services consulting and related functions, including lending, risk, fraud, operations, product, strategy, technology and transformation. It is also relevant to senior BFSI professionals seeking to evaluate AI opportunities within their business domains.
• Duration: 20 weeks
• Format: Self-paced online learning, with live industry-led workshops and office hours
• Programme fee: ₹1,30,000 plus GST
• Eligibility: A bachelor’s degree or a diploma meeting the 10+2+3 qualification requirement
• Credential: IIM Indore Certificate of Completion, subject to programme requirements
As AI becomes more closely integrated with core financial services, the ability to connect technology decisions with business priorities, risk management and governance is becoming an important part of the BFSI leadership brief.
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