‘We Can’t Just Upload Docs to Any LLM,’ Godrej Capital CTO on Building Saksham AI
Given the sensitivity of financial data, security is at the heart of Godrej Capital’s AI strategy. At the forefront of this is Jyothirlatha B, CTO of the firm, who is leading the charge for making sure AI is engrained in every part of the firm’s functioning, while ensuring data remains secure. “We can’t just upload documents to any LLM,” Jyothirlatha told AIM. “Our platform ensures strict data security policies, controlling what data can be used and how it is processed.” Citing concerns over open source models, even the likes of China’s DeepSeek, Jyothirlatha said that rigorous security evaluations are conducted for every model in the financial sector. “If a model passes security checks, only then do we allow it for R&D,” she said. At Godrej Capital, AI is not just an innovation but a part of everyday workflows. Jyothirlatha explained how the company’s proprietary Saksham AI platform is redefining business operations, customer service, and decision-making processes. Godrej Capital refers to generative AI as ‘Everyday AI’—a tool embedded in daily operations. According to Jyothirlatha, AI in small places can show great value. Whether it’s reading large documents like bureau reports or disbursement request forms, AI helps extract insights in an easy and efficient way. AI at Godrej At its core, Saksham AI is a flexible and scalable AI platform designed to be used across various business functions. Instead of building AI applications from scratch for different use cases, Godrej Capital employs a modular approach, where a single API can power multiple workflows. “Saksham AI provides reusable components so teams don’t have to reinvent the wheel,” Jyothirlatha said, adding that the platform offers different open source models like Llama or Mistral. The team is also experimenting with models from Indian providers like Sarvam AI to test its efficiency. “Their performance has been promising, especially in regional languages,” she revealed. Commercial solutions from AWS Bedrock are also key to the offerings. “There’s no one-size-fits-all LLM,” she explained. “For every use case, developers can experiment with different models to find the best-performing one in terms of accuracy and cost.” Recently, Snowflake announced that Godrej Capital uses its AI Data Cloud as a unified platform to enhance financing solutions. This integration has streamlined the customer loan journey, enabling predictive insights and personalised services for thousands across India. Godrej Capital’s platform engineering team plays a crucial role in evaluating AI models. “They continuously test new models and shortlist the best ones for different use cases,” Jyothirlatha said. This ensures that developers working on business applications can simply plug into the best-performing AI model without worrying about underlying infrastructure, security, or cost optimisation. One of the key capabilities of Saksham AI is document summarisation, allowing business teams to process large amounts of data quickly. This feature extends beyond financial documents, assisting credit managers and customer service representatives to analyse customer interactions and improve service quality. “When call centre agents interact with customers, it’s impractical to manually review all calls for quality checks,” Jyothirlatha explained. Saksham AI automates call analysis, rating conversations, and identifying areas for training. The same capability applies to credit managers who make verification calls, to ensure consistency and compliance in customer interactions. The platform also powers Customer 360, an AI-driven dashboard that consolidates relevant insights for agents handling customer queries. “Instead of bombarding an agent with excessive data points, we provide summarised insights that improve decision-making,” she added. AI adoption is not limited to customer service and risk management; it extends to the developer ecosystem as well. “We actively use GitHub Copilot for code reviews and security checks,” she said. While it’s an excellent tool, Jyothirlatha acknowledges the cost considerations in scaling it across all developers. India’s AI Future The debate over whether India should develop its own foundational AI models or not has also reached Jyothirlatha. While some experts argue for investing in data marts, Jyothirlatha believes both are essential. “No LLM can be successful without quality training data,” she asserted. She sees an opportunity for India-specific LLMs trained on financial data from government initiatives like IndiaAI Mission and Unified Lending Interface (ULI). One of the most significant impacts of AI at Godrej Capital is in fraud detection. “We analyse bank statements and multiple documents to identify anomalies,” said Jyothirlatha. While she couldn’t disclose exact figures, she hinted at AI significantly improving fraud detection rates. Saksham AI is more than just an AI platform—it’s a developer playground where teams can experiment with AI models securely and efficiently. “It reduces technical debt by providing ready-made software development kits (SDKs), security frameworks, and API gateways,” Jyothirlatha explained. Currently, Saksham AI is exclusive to Godrej Capital. However, there are plans to expand it across the entire Godrej Group. “It’s not just for our organisation, it’s a scalable platform that can serve multiple Godrej businesses while maintaining security and compliance,” Jyothirlatha revealed. Whether through hiring AI engineers, upskilling employees, or adopting new AI models, the company is embracing AI at every level. “Smart people will always be needed to train and refine AI agents,” she concluded. “Humans will always be in the loop.”
Jyothirlatha explained how the company’s Saksham AI platform is redefining business operations, customer service, and decision-making processes.
“Our platform ensures strict data security policies, controlling what data can be used and how it is processed.”
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["AI", "ML", "generative AI", "Aim", "fraud detection", "AWS", "Snowflake", "R", "Go", "Scala"]
Mohit writes about AI in simple, explainable, and often funny words. He's especially passionate about chatting with those building AI for Bharat, with the occasional detour into AGI.