Modernize Without Stopping the Business

Why this matters to BFSI leaders today

Banks, insurers and NBFCs must upgrade their technology without interrupting customer services. UPI processed 24.07 billion transactions worth ₹29.37 lakh crore in September 2026, averaging around 802 million transactions a day. That is 23% more than a year earlier.

As customers expect faster, always-available digital services, adding new products, partners and AI capabilities becomes harder when legacy systems were built for stability rather than speed.

The real challenge

In Mint CIO Circle’s October 2026 poll of 68 BFSI leaders, 48% identified connecting legacy and modern systems as their biggest modernization challenge. Budget and business case came next at 22%, followed by the risk of disrupting live services at 13%.

Kyndryl’s 2026 global research highlights another concern: only 9% of leaders fully understand how their applications depend on one another.

Key takeaways for leaders

●      Map before you move: Understand how applications, data, APIs, partners and controls connect before making changes.

●      Take a tailored approach: Decide which applications to modernize, assess further, retain for now or retire.

●      Build compliance from the start: Bring technology, risk, compliance and business teams together before work begins.

●      Modernize while keeping services running: Consider SBI’s four-step approach: Upgrade, Offload, Modernize and Build.

●      Start with a 90-day plan: Map critical services, select one meaningful improvement and define how to test changes and recover if something goes wrong.

The question every BFSI leader should ask

Which customer and business services must never stop, and do we know every application, API, data flow and partner they depend on?

What the full report covers

Modernize Without Stopping the Business combines insights from Mint CIO Circle’s original poll, Kyndryl’s 2026 research, regulatory guidance and SBI’s modernization example.

It also features perspectives from Ravi Doshi (Mirae Asset Financial Services (India) Pvt. Limited), Sameer Khakhar (Shriram Finance Limited), and Kyndryl leaders Vivek Menon, Hussain Zaidi and Parag Mukherjee.