Every secret India sends online today — a bank transfer, a defence message, a medical record — is locked with mathematics that a powerful enough quantum computer could one day pick open. Adversaries are already collecting encrypted traffic to decrypt later, in what cryptographers call “harvest now, decrypt later”. In June 2026, a Pune company gave India its first nationally recognised answer: the Data Security Council of India (DSCI) awarded its C-SAFE recognition to Fortytwo Labs for Ci2, an indigenous quantum-safe key exchange algorithm built entirely in India.
Ci2 is a Ring-LWE based quantum-safe key exchange algorithm — the cryptographic core of Fortytwo Labs’ π-Control platform. DSCI’s C-SAFE programme — Cryptographic Security Assessment and Functional Evaluation, India’s first independent cryptographic evaluation programme — put Ci2 through multiple structured rounds run by an expert panel of India’s foremost cryptographers, covering mathematical correctness, quantum resilience and implementation security. The evaluation included 13 named statistical security tests, among them a formal IND-CPA security proof, lattice-attack resistance analysis, decryption-failure probability modelling, adversarial scenario testing, and post-quantum security margin verification against NIST security category targets. The recognition, Certificate No. DSCI-CSAFE-01, was announced at FINSEC 2026, the DSCI Financial Security Conclave in Mumbai, where DSCI CEO Vinayak Godse presented it to Nilesh Dhande, Co-Founder and CEO of Fortytwo Labs.
Ci2 does not sit in a laboratory. It is the cryptographic core of the π-Control platform, which has been in continuous production deployment since 2018. Built around I-AM® Cryptographic Identity Technology, π-Control creates and provisions digital identities for users, enterprises, things, devices, applications and data, and delivers mutual authentication, authorisation with provable consent, e-signatures with non-repudiation, encryption-decryption, and end-to-end encrypted application-layer tunnelling — identity fabric, key exchange, encryption and access control on a single quantum-safe foundation, across web applications, mobile apps, APIs and digital services. The company says it has built and delivered more than 14 security solutions, and that its platform secures over 33 million financial transactions every month.
Trusted where it matters most
The platform is trusted by banks, defence and enterprises. The company says it is adopted by Indian defence units, an Israeli government unit, and more than 50 million ICICI Bank users. The honours around it tell the same story: the SIDM Defence Champion Award 2023, conferred by Defence Minister Rajnath Singh; the BRIG SB Ghorpade Award for MSMEs in Defence Production 2026; the DSCI Excellence Awards 2022; and NASSCOM’s Emerge 50 League of 10 in cybersecurity. Fortytwo Labs is incubated at the National Centre of Excellence for cybersecurity startups run by DSCI and the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology.
Cryptography India owns
“Cryptographic sovereignty is not a preference. It is a strategic imperative and for India, it is long overdue. India’s critical infrastructure cannot be secured on algorithms we did not build, standards we did not set, and trust frameworks that answer to foreign authorities. An Atmanirbhar India cannot outsource its cryptographic foundation,” said Nilesh Dhande, Co-Founder and CEO of Fortytwo Labs. The platform is protected by multiple granted patents in India and the United States, with zero foreign IP in the cryptographic trust layer, the company says. DSCI’s Vinayak Godse put the national need plainly: “With the rapid evolution of quantum technologies, it is important to establish credible alternative mechanisms for evaluating emerging cryptographic algorithms, being built in India.”
The quantum era has not arrived yet — but Fortytwo Labs has already made sure India will not have to borrow its locks when it does. “Secure today. Future ready.” is not just the line on the company’s wall; it is certificate number DSCI-CSAFE-01 on India’s first homegrown quantum-safe algorithm.
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