IIT Madras Signs Rs 1 Crore Licensing Deal with Indrarka Quantum Technologies for India’s First Silicon Photonics-Based High-Speed QRNG.
National
In August 2025, the Technology Transfer Office (TTO) of the Indian Institute of Technology Madras (IIT-M) signed a licensing agreement worth Rs 1 crore with Indrarka Quantum Technologies Pvt. Limited to transfer India’s first indigenously developed silicon (Si) photonics-based high-speed Quantum Random Number Generator (QRNG) technology for commercial deployment.
- The licensing agreement is a significant step in advancing India’s quantum innovation ecosystem. It allows Indrarka Quantum Technologies Pvt. Limited to commercially deploy the QRNG technology, which was indigenously developed at IIT-M’s Centre for Programmable Photonic Integrated Circuits and Systems (CPPICS). This collaboration aims to accelerate the adoption of cutting-edge quantum solutions in India.
- The project was led by Professor Bijoy Krishna D’s from the Department of Electrical Engineering at IIT-M, who also serves as the chief investigator at CPPICS.
- The team successfully designed and tested the silicon photonics-based QRNG module, ensuring high-speed and secure generation of quantum random numbers, a critical requirement for advanced cryptographic and computational applications.
Main Point :- (i) Previous prototypes of the QRNG module were delivered to the Defence Research and Development Organisation’s (DRDO) Young Scientist Laboratory-Quantum Technologies (DYSL-QT). Later, advanced versions were deployed at the Society for Electronic Transactions and Security (SETS) in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, for practical quantum security applications, demonstrating its readiness for real-world deployment.
(ii) The QRNG technology has wide-ranging applications across defence, financial transactions, scientific simulations, and cryptographic algorithms. By leveraging silicon photonics, the technology ensures scalable, high-speed, and secure random number generation, enabling India to compete in global quantum technology research and development.
(iii) This licensing marks a key milestone for IIT-M and India’s quantum technology sector. By transferring cutting-edge QRNG technology for commercial use, the collaboration strengthens the bridge between academic research and industrial application, fostering innovation, security, and economic growth in quantum-enabled technologies.
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