Spotlight: CXO movements this week (Feb 16-20)

This week (Feb 16-20) saw a flurry of CXO movements across sectors and verticals in India. Banks, manufacturing majors, tech companies and analytics firms strengthened their digital leadership benches as AI-led transformation moves from experimentation to enterprise-wide execution. Ujjivan Small Finance Bank, NAMTECH, Kotak Mahindra Bank, Polycab India Limited and LatentView Analytics have announced senior appointments across digital, AI and enterprise technology roles, signalling continued investment in platform modernisation, cybersecurity and data-driven growth. Here’s a roundup.

Pankaj Gupta joins Ujjivan Small Finance Bank as Chief Digital Officer

Pankaj Gupta has joined Ujjivan Small Finance Bank as Chief Digital Officer. The Bengaluru-based small finance bank is looking to sharpen its digital strategy as competition intensifies across retail and MSME banking. Gupta most recently served as Chief Digital and Marketing Officer at Karnataka Bank, where he led a holistic digital transformation programme focused on modernising customer engagement, strengthening analytics capabilities and accelerating technology-led growth. He was instrumental in setting up Digital and Analytics Centres of Excellence to institutionalise data-driven decision-making.

With over 30 years of experience spanning IT infrastructure, cloud, data centres, telecom, managed services, digital platforms and analytics, Gupta has also held senior roles at Sify Technologies, HCL Technologies, Wipro Infotech, Acer India and Godrej Pacific Technology. His appointment is expected to bolster Ujjivan SFB’s digital banking roadmap.

Kuldeep Koul appointed Chief Digital Officer at NAMTECH

Kuldeep Koul has been named Chief Digital Officer at NAMTECH, as the institute accelerates its technology-driven growth strategy.
In his new role, Koul will lead digital strategy, enterprise systems, cybersecurity and emerging technology adoption to enhance operational excellence and innovation across learning platforms.

Previously, he served as CTO & COO at Skhy, where he led AI-focused divisions spanning advanced sensing, hyperspectral AI engines, secure LLM deployments and IoT platforms. He also spent nearly 18 years at Thales Group, including roles as Regional CIO and Regional CISO across India, Africa and Eurasia, driving ERP implementations, cybersecurity strategy and large-scale digital transformation.

Vijay Narayanan takes on expanded innovation and AI mandate at Kotak Mahindra Bank

Vijay Narayanan has assumed a new role as Head of Innovation and AI at Kotak Mahindra Bank, reinforcing the bank’s AI-first strategy.
Narayanan previously led technology for physical and voice distribution platforms at Kotak, spearheading branch digitisation, loan origination platforms and AI deployments across marketing and credit functions. He also played a central role in advancing the Kotak AI Platform.

Before Kotak, he served as Managing Director and Technology Fellow at Goldman Sachs, where he led global microservices platform engineering and developer experience initiatives. He earlier worked as a Principal Engineer at Amazon, focusing on distributed systems and stream processing.

Gyan Pandey joins Polycab India as Chief Digital & Information Officer

Gyan Pandey has been appointed Executive President & Chief Digital & Information Officer at Polycab India Limited, as the company strengthens its digital and data strategy.

Pandey joins from Voltas Limited, where he served as Chief Digital Officer and led enterprise-wide digital transformation initiatives. Earlier, he was Global and Group CIO at Aurobindo Pharma, overseeing IT operations across 16 countries and supporting business in over 150 markets.
With over two decades of experience across manufacturing, pharma and technology services, Pandey is expected to accelerate Polycab’s digital roadmap, strengthen data governance and embed AI-led innovation across operations.

LatentView Analytics appoints Kiran Muddana to Advisory Council

AI-driven analytics firm LatentView Analytics has appointed Kiran Muddana to its Advisory Council. Muddana brings more than 18 years of experience leading enterprise-scale AI, analytics and technology transformation initiatives at global organisations including Google and Amazon.

In his advisory role, he will work closely with LatentView’s leadership team to provide strategic guidance on client delivery, AI adoption and data-led business transformation. “Kiran brings deep experience in translating enterprise goals into scalable technology strategy,” said Rajan Sethuraman, CEO of LatentView Analytics, adding that his expertise will help align AI investments with measurable business outcomes.
Across his career, Muddana has partnered with senior leaders across HR, sales, marketing and finance to drive revenue growth, improve product adoption and reduce operational costs through practical, impact-led AI implementation.