New Delhi, Nov. 7 -- In the week of November 1-7, India's technology sector continues to witness strong leadership churn, with global firms strengthening their regional and innovation leadership benches. From cybersecurity and cloud networking to digital infrastructure and financial services, a fresh wave of senior appointments underlines India's growing importance as a strategic hub for technology, product engineering, and digital transformation. Here are the latest executive movements across leading organisations. Here's a roundup:
Sanket Atal Joins OpenText as SVP, Engineering & Country Head - India
OpenText, a global cloud and AI company, has appointed Sanket Atal as Senior Vice President, Engineering and Country Head - India. Atal will oversee the company's India operations and engineering leadership, reinforcing OpenText's innovation and talent footprint in the region. Atal brings over 25 years of experience driving global technology strategy and innovation. He previously served as Managing Director - India at Salesforce, where he transformed the India operations into a global innovation hub. His earlier leadership roles include tenures at Intuit, Oracle, MakeMyTrip, and CA Technologies. Atal holds degrees in Computer Science from Cornell University and University of Wisconsin-Madison, and an MBA from the University of Oregon.
Viral Davda Named Chief Information Officer at BSE India
BSE India has appointed Viral Davda as its new Chief Information Officer (CIO), underscoring the exchange's focus on digital resilience and modernisation. Davda will lead BSE's technology vision and strategy, ensuring secure, high-performance systems for the 149-year-old institution. Davda previously served as Deputy CIO at BSE, where he played a central role in driving digital transformation initiatives and enhancing operational efficiency. Prior to that, he spent over 16 years at NCDEX, serving in senior leadership roles including CTO and EVP - Head of Technology, overseeing mission-critical systems and market infrastructure. His earlier stints at Datamatics, Agilisys, and Aditya Birla Minacs equipped him with deep expertise in enterprise systems, project management, and business analysis.
Ramnish Bhandari becomes Chief Architect & Head of Engineering at Axis Max Life Insurance
Axis Max Life Insurance has promoted Ramnish Bhandari to Senior Vice President | Chief Architect & Head of Engineering, reflecting his pivotal role in driving the insurer's technology transformation. With over 20 years of experience in digital transformation, AI-driven architecture, and cloud modernisation, Bhandari has been at the forefront of Axis Max Life's engineering evolution - leading modernisation of legacy systems, building a unified multi-cloud ecosystem, and embedding AI, SRE, and Zero-Trust frameworks across functions. Prior to Axis Max Life, Bhandari spent a decade at Accenture, advising global CXOs in banking and insurance on modernisation and architecture design. His earlier roles at TCS, NHS Scotland, and Maersk Sealand saw him deliver large-scale tech programs across global markets.
Abhilash Verma Takes Charge as SVP & GM, Security Business Unit at Citrix
Abhilash Verma has been appointed Senior Vice President and General Manager of the Security Business Unit at Citrix, where he will drive global product strategy, go-to-market execution, and the company's strategic partnership with Google. A Citrix veteran with over two decades at the firm, Verma has led several transformative initiatives - from spearheading the NetScaler business to serving as Chief Product Officer, overseeing global product, marketing, and design strategy. His leadership has been central to Citrix's evolution in enterprise networking and secure access solutions. Before Citrix, Verma held roles at Mahindra Special Services Group and Network Security Solutions, contributing to the cybersecurity ecosystem.
NetSPI Appoints Sridhar Jayanthi as Interim Chief Product & Technology Officer
NetSPI, a U.S.-headquartered cybersecurity company with an India base in Pune, has named Sridhar Jayanthi as Interim Chief Product and Technology Officer (CPTO). In this role, Jayanthi will lead product innovation and engineering for NetSPI's Penetration Testing as a Service (PTaaS) platform. With over two decades in cybersecurity leadership, Jayanthi brings extensive experience from McAfee (now Trellix), where he built the India Development Centre and served on the global executive team, and FireEye (now Mandiant), where he led endpoint security products and global operations. He also co-founded PolyLogyx, later acquired by EclecticIQ, where he led the Endpoint/XDR business. Jayanthi's expertise in scaling global cybersecurity engineering and product strategy will be key to advancing NetSPI's mission of proactive security and innovation.
Amit Chopra Joins Cato Networks as Country Manager - India & SAARC
Cato Networks, a provider in Secure Access Service Edge (SASE), has appointed Amit Chopra as Country Manager - India & SAARC. In this role, Chopra will steer regional growth, expand enterprise adoption, and strengthen partner ecosystems across South Asia. A technology leader with over two decades of experience in enterprise sales, channel strategy, and business development, Chopra has held leadership roles at MongoDB, CrowdStrike, Palo Alto Networks, Juniper Networks, and EMC (Dell Technologies). At MongoDB, he led strategic enterprise accounts and drove ISV growth across India. Known for his strong command over cybersecurity and networking markets, Chopra's track record of scaling revenue and building high-performance teams, positions him to accelerate Cato Networks' momentum in India's fast-growing secure cloud and network transformation space.
Published by HT Digital Content Services with permission from TechCircle.