India's Kotak Mahindra Bank says it has used blockchain technology to reduce the time taken for a letter of credit (L/C) transaction from 20-30 days to just a few hours.

Kotak claims to be India's first bank to successfully complete the proof of concept for an end-to-end trade finance transaction for one of its clients, and says it will soon roll out this technology for all customers.

Partners

Kotak partnered with Deloitte and used the blockchain technology to complete L/C transactions with JP Morgan Singapore as partner bank.

JP Morgan handled the outbound L/C issuance and inbound document & bill lodgement.

Eliminates duplicity

Blockchain technology was used to issue the L/C, transfer trade documentation and to lodge bills. The proof of concept also used Swift online messaging.

According to Kotak, blockchain technology not only eliminates duplicity of data but also integrates data to a central cloud-based access system for participants in a transaction.

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