Protean Digital Disruptors 2026 recognizes leaders powering India's next-gen financial ecosystem

MUMBAI, India, March 24, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- ETBrandEquity.com, in partnership with Protean eGov Technologies, successfully concluded the inaugural edition of Protean Digital Disruptors 2026, recognizing leaders driving large-scale transformation across India's financial ecosystem.

The awards spotlighted changemakers across banking, fintech, insurance and financial services who are building technology-led, scalable and resilient systems. As India's financial sector advances on the pillars of digital public infrastructure (DPI), embedded finance and regulatory innovation, these leaders are redefining how financial services are designed, delivered and scaled.

The evaluation process was led by a distinguished jury comprising senior industry leaders and domain experts:

• Ratan Kumar Kesh, Executive Director and COO, Bandhan Bank
• R. Viswesvaran, Managing Director and CEO, India Post Payments Bank
• Pankaj Sharma, Head – Business Transformation, IndusInd Bank
• Pankaj Sood, Head – Branch Banking, DCB Bank
• Rohit Kilam, Senior Leader in Digital and Financial Services
• Rakesh R. Dosi, Chief Business & Product Officer, Protean eGov Technologies Limited
• Anand Mihir, Partner and Leader – Financial Services Consulting (Domestic), EY
• Prasad Sangameshwaran, Editor, ETBrandEquity

The jury assessed nominees on innovation impact, scalability and their contribution to strengthening India's digital financial architecture, ensuring the recognition remained credible and meaningful.

Protean Digital Disruptors 2026 Winners:

• Anurag Chottani, Chief Technology Officer & Chief Operating Officer, Bajaj Finance
• Sameer Shetty, Group Executive, Digital Business Transformation & Strategic Programs, Axis Bank
• Neeraj Singh, Whole-Time Director & Chief Technology Officer, Groww
• Pradeep Pandey, Chief Digital Officer, LIC
• Ravi Kumar, Senior Executive Vice President & Head of Technology, Kotak Mahindra Bank
• Ganessan Soundiram, Chief Technology Officer, ICICI Prudential Life Insurance Company
• Girish Nayak, Chief Technology Officer, ICICI Lombard General Insurance Company
• Rahul Chari, Co-Founder & Chief Technology Officer, PhonePe
• Avinash Naik, President & Chief Information Officer, Bajaj General Insurance
• Mahesh Ramamoorthy, Chief Information Officer, Yes Bank
• Saurabh Shukla, Chief Technology Officer, Bank of Baroda
• Pinak Chakraborty, Chief Information Officer, Airtel Payments Bank
• Vishal Bhatia, Chief Information and Digital Officer, SBI Life Insurance Company
• Dhruv Shankar, Chief Digital Officer, Aditya Birla Health Insurance Company
• Gangadhar SJ, Head of Technology, Digit Insurance
• Johnson K Jose, Group President – Chief Technology Officer and Controller Fedserv, Federal Bank
• Sony A, Senior General Manager & CIO, Digital, Technology, Alliances & Marketing, South Indian Bank
• Siddharth Sureka, Chief AI Officer, Motilal Oswal Financial Services
• Saurabh Tiwari, Chief Technology Officer, PolicyBazaar
• Ankur Tripathi, Chief Information Officer, AU Small Finance Bank
• Soumya Ghosh, Executive Vice President & Chief Technology Officer, Tata AIA Life Insurance Company
• Suhail Ghai, Chief Digital Officer and Head – Operations, Axis Max Life Insurance
• Naveen Macharla, Chief Technology Officer, Acko General Insurance
• Sajin Mangalathu, CFO, CIO and COO, Hero Fincorp
• Shallu Kaushik, Chief Digital Officer, Tata Capital
• Devesh Verma, General Manager – Digital Transformation, Bank of Maharashtra
• Balaji Nuthalapadi, ED – Technology and Operations, Equitas Small Finance Bank
• Ramesh Lakshminarayanan, Group Head – Information Technology and Chief Information Officer, HDFC Bank
• Shrini Vishwanath, Co-founder, Upstox
• Sourabh Chatterjee, Chief Technology and Digital Transformation Officer, Kotak Life Insurance

Beyond recognizing achievements, Protean Digital Disruptors 2026 aims to inspire the next generation of leaders to build bold, future-ready institutions and drive purposeful innovation in a rapidly evolving landscape.

Commenting on the initiative, Mr. Rakesh Dosi, Chief Business & Product Officer, Protean eGov Technologies Ltd., said, "At Protean, we are evolving into an AI-first organization, focused on enabling population-scale digital systems that go beyond incremental digitization. As DPI converges with AI, it is unlocking a more intelligent, adaptive and resilient financial ecosystem. The Protean Digital Disruptors Awards recognize leaders who are architecting this next phase of India's digital economy, where scale, trust and innovation come together to drive systemic impact."

In an era defined by digital public infrastructure, embedded finance and intelligent compliance, leadership is no longer about incremental digitization. It is about building resilient, future-ready systems that power the nation's economic engine. Protean Digital Disruptors 2026 highlights leaders who are modernizing legacy frameworks, enabling secure digital identities and driving fintech innovation and regulatory transformation, collectively shaping the backbone of India's digital economy.

About Protean:

Protean eGov Technologies Limited is engaged in the business of developing citizen-centric and population-scale e-governance solutions. Protean is an information technology-enabled solutions company conceptualizing, developing, and executing critical and population-scale greenfield technology solutions. The company collaborates with the Indian government and has extensive experience in creating digital public infrastructure and developing innovative citizen-centric e-governance solutions.

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