Top CISO movements in India in 2018

Like CIOs, quite a few Chief Information Security Officers (CISOs) too moved to newer opportunities in 2018. If the list looks smaller, it is because the overall list is smaller—there are far lesser people with a CISO designation.

You will notice that most of the movements have happened with Banking, Financial Services & Insurance (BFSI) sector. What explains this? Elementary, my dear Watson. These are the only industries with full-fledged CISOs, because that is mandated by regulation. In addition to these, only IT/ITES, telecom and large groups have full-fledged CISOs.

Here is the list, presented alphabetically by CISO names with information on the new assignment, immediate past assignment and month of change:

• Abhilash Balan took over as CISO at Bharti AXA General Insurance in December 2018. He was earlier with Kotak Mahindra Bank.
• Akhil Verma took over as CISO of Airtel Payment Bank in November 2018. He was the Senior General Manager and CISO in Fincare Small Finance Bank before this.
• Akhil Wadhavkar joined as CISO in Suryoday Small Finance Bank in May 2018. He was with BSE.
• Anuprita Daga has joined as President and Head of Information Security Group at Yes Bank in October. She was earlier CISO of Reliance Capital for more than five years.
• Bhavesh Kumar Pandey joined as CISO of Hero FinCorp in April. He was earlier with MedusInd.
• Deepak Mande joined as CISO of ICICI Lombard in July. He came from ICICI Bank.
• Dilip Panjwani joined as CISO and IT Controller at Larsen & Toubro Infotech in February. He was Director - Information Security at FIS before this assignment.
• Fal Ghanacha joined as the CISO in Aegon Life Insurance in June. He was earlier with Reliance Nippon Life Asset Management.
• Hiren Pandya took over as CISO at Liberty General Insurance in August. He was with Reliance Industries before that.
• Kalpesh Doshi joined as the CISO, India at FIS in August. He was CISO – APAC with Capgemini immediately prior to this assignment.
• Maya R Nair joined as CISO at Reliance Capital in October. She moved from Idea Cellular where she headed information security.
• Oscar Pereira took over as the CISO of Cigna TTK Health Insurance Company. He was earlier handling IT infrastructure in the same company.
• Prasad G joined as CISO of DHFL General Insurance in August. He served for more than seven years at HDFC ERGO General Insurance, including a one and half year stint as CISO.
• Santosh Gupta assumed the responsibility of CISO ar Future Generali India Insurance Company in September. He came from Ocwen Financial Corporation.
• Satyanandan Atyam joined took over as Chief Risk Officer at MAX BUPA Health Insurance in August. He was earlier Head of Risk Management, Data Protection Officer and CISO at Bharti AXA General Insurance.

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