
Dr. Raj P. Narayanam named Entrepreneur of the Year 2024-25 by HMA
Hyderabad (Telangana) [India], June 10: Dr. Raj P. Narayanam, Founder and Executive Chairman of Zaggle, has been honoured with the prestigious Entrepreneur of the Year Award 2024-2025 by the Hyderabad Management Association (HMA). This esteemed recognition celebrates Dr. Raj's exceptional entrepreneurial vision, leadership, and his impactful contributions to the industry, reaffirming his role as a driving force in India's business and fintech landscape.
The Entrepreneur of the Year Award was conferred upon Dr. Raj P. Narayanam at the 52nd HMA Annual Awards ceremony, held at the Marigold Hotel, Hyderabad. The award selection followed a rigorous evaluation process conducted by an independent and distinguished jury comprising Mrs. K. Vijaya Lakshmi (Retired Judge), Prof. S. Sreenivasa Murthy (Director, IPE), Mr. V. N. Vishnu (IAS, Retd.) and Mr. Prakash Chandra Baror (General Manager, SBI). After a thorough assessment of the nominees, the jury unanimously recommended Dr. Raj P. Narayanam for this honour in recognition of his outstanding entrepreneurial achievements and industry contributions.
Expressing his gratitude on the recognition, Dr. Raj, said, "I am deeply honoured and humbled to receive the 'Entrepreneur of the Year Award' from HMA. This recognition is a reflection of the collective dedication, innovation and hard work of the entire team at Zaggle. The award celebrates impactful business leadership in the region, and I am proud to be among those acknowledged. This recognition inspires us to keep pushing the boundaries of innovation and to continue contributing meaningfully to India's ever-evolving business landscape."
Conceptualized in 1964, HMA has a legacy of fostering managerial excellence and professionalism. The 'Entrepreneur of the Year Award' category recognizes outstanding leadership and significant growth in the entrepreneurial landscape. Past recipients of this award include notable figures such as Dr. Manne Satyanarayana Reddy, Founder & Chairman of MSN Group, Mr. V. Venkatram, MD & CEO, SeedWorks International and A. Sridhar Reddy Managing Director, Esennar Transformers.
With over two decades of experience in global finance and technology, Dr. Raj has been a trailblazer in developing innovative solutions that drive efficiency and ensure compliance within the SaaS and FinTech sector. His visionary leadership has earned him multiple prestigious accolades, including the 2024 Hurun Industry Achievement Award for Financial Solutions. He was also recently named 'FinTech Leader of the Year' at both the Bharat FinTech Summit and by Business World, further cementing his reputation as a leading force in the fintech landscape.
About Hyderabad Management Association
The Hyderabad Management Association (HMA), established in 1964, is a prominent professional organization dedicated to fostering managerial excellence and spreading professionalism among executives, academia, and students in Hyderabad and Secunderabad. Affiliated with the All India Management Association (AIMA), HMA provides a vital platform for knowledge sharing, skill development through various programs, and recognizing outstanding contributions to the management and entrepreneurial landscape. The 'Entrepreneur of the Year Award' is one of its most distinguished accolades, celebrating leaders who demonstrate exceptional performance and drive significant growth in their respective fields.
For more information, visit their website https://www.hmaindia.net/.
About Zaggle
Founded in 2011, Zaggle (BSE: 543985) (NSE: ZAGGLE) is a leading player in spend management, offering a differentiated value proposition with a diversified user base. Operating within the business-to-business-to-customer (B2B2C) segment, Zaggle stands out as one of the few companies with a comprehensive range of financial technology products and services. Zaggle is one of India's top issuers of prepaid cards, collaborating with banking partners to drive its card offerings. The company also boasts a diverse portfolio of SaaS products and an extensive network of touchpoints. As of March 31, 2025, Zaggle has issued over 50 million prepaid cards, serves more than 3,400 corporate enterprise clients and supports a user base exceeding 3.2 million. With a robust corporate client base spanning various industries, including banking and finance, technology, healthcare, manufacturing, FMCG, infrastructure and automobiles, Zaggle is well-positioned as a leading player in the spend management sector.
Hashtags

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles


India Gazette
10 hours ago
- India Gazette
Fintech sector must focus on financial education and consumer protection, says DFS Secretary
New Delhi [India], July 7 (ANI): Department of Financial Services Secretary M Nagaraju has called upon India's FinTech sector to prioritise financial education and consumer protection as the country continues its digital transformation journey. Speaking at the CII Financial Inclusion and FinTech Summit, Nagaraju highlighted that FinTech companies have a tremendous opportunity to educate millions of Indians about financial services, noting that a large number of people fall victim to cyber frauds due to a lack of financial awareness. 'You bring to bear your tools of innovation, and easy-to-operate systems to ensure that people are not defrauded by the fraudsters,' Nagaraju urged the FinTech community, emphasising their role in protecting vulnerable consumers. He stressed that consumer protection should be a top priority, ensuring that users of FinTech ecosystems are treated fairly, their complaints are addressed properly, and they remain protected from fraudulent activities. DFS Secretary outlined several key areas where FinTech companies should focus their innovation efforts. These include developing payment solutions for offline transactions, voice-based authorisation systems, improving connectivity coverage, and facilitating cross-border payments. He also called for the development of low-cost but effective cybersecurity and anti-hacking solutions, along with innovations in tamper-proofing financial applications to enhance security. Nagaraju's address came against the backdrop of India's remarkable achievements in financial inclusion. He revealed that the country now has around 55 crore Jan Dhan accounts, with 56 per cent held by women, and 90 per cent of Indian adults now possess bank accounts. According to the latest data, 99.9 per cent of villages have access to banking facilities or banking correspondents, demonstrating the extensive reach of India's financial infrastructure. The DFS Secretary also highlighted the success of various government financial schemes. Under the PM Mudra Yojana, which completed 10 years in April, 53.5 crore loans worth Rs 34.6 lakh crore have been sanctioned, with 68 per cent going to women entrepreneurs. The Stand Up India Scheme has sanctioned 2.75 lakh loans worth Rs 62,000 crore, while the PM Swanidhi scheme has sanctioned Rs 4.5 lakh crore and disbursed Rs 3.5 lakh crore in loans, showcasing the government's commitment to inclusive financial growth and the potential for FinTech innovation to build upon these foundations. (ANI)


Time of India
15 hours ago
- Time of India
Fintech sector must focus on financial education and consumer protection, says DFS Secretary
Academy Empower your mind, elevate your skills Department of Financial Services Secretary M Nagaraju has called upon India's FinTech sector to prioritise financial education and consumer protection as the country continues its digital transformation at the CII Financial Inclusion and FinTech Summit, Nagaraju highlighted that FinTech companies have a tremendous opportunity to educate millions of Indians about financial services, noting that a large number of people fall victim to cyber frauds due to a lack of financial awareness."You bring to bear your tools of innovation, and easy-to-operate systems to ensure that people are not defrauded by the fraudsters," Nagaraju urged the FinTech community, emphasising their role in protecting vulnerable consumers. He stressed that consumer protection should be a top priority, ensuring that users of FinTech ecosystems are treated fairly, their complaints are addressed properly, and they remain protected from fraudulent Secretary outlined several key areas where FinTech companies should focus their innovation efforts. These include developing payment solutions for offline transactions, voice-based authorisation systems, improving connectivity coverage, and facilitating cross-border payments. He also called for the development of low-cost but effective cybersecurity and anti-hacking solutions, along with innovations in tamper-proofing financial applications to enhance address came against the backdrop of India's remarkable achievements in financial inclusion. He revealed that the country now has around 55 crore Jan Dhan accounts, with 56 per cent held by women, and 90 per cent of Indian adults now possess bank accounts. According to the latest data, 99.9 per cent of villages have access to banking facilities or banking correspondents, demonstrating the extensive reach of India's financial DFS Secretary also highlighted the success of various government financial schemes. Under the PM Mudra Yojana , which completed 10 years in April, 53.5 crore loans worth Rs 34.6 lakh crore have been sanctioned, with 68 per cent going to women Stand Up India Scheme has sanctioned 2.75 lakh loans worth Rs 62,000 crore, while the PM Swanidhi scheme has sanctioned Rs 4.5 lakh crore and disbursed Rs 3.5 lakh crore in loans, showcasing the government's commitment to inclusive financial growth and the potential for FinTech innovation to build upon these foundations.


Time of India
19 hours ago
- Time of India
Digital payments vs digital risks: India's fintech ambitions and bridging a trust gap with AI
India's digital prowess has accelerated phenomenally over the past few years. (AI image) By Kunal Pande, National Co-Head, Digital Risk and Cyber, KPMG in India India's digital prowess has accelerated phenomenally over the past few years. Riding high on its digitalisation and FinTech ambitions, the country has rolled out several pathbreaking programmes such as Aadhaar, Unified Payments Interface (UPI), CKYC (Common KYC), Securities Dematerialization, Account Aggregation, ONDC, etc. With the advent of artificial intelligence (AI), financial institutions in India are leveraging advanced techniques to provide seamless interactions across all touchpoints. However, even as India's banking, financial services, and insurance (BFSI) sectors have achieved a commendable feat in digitalising the payments system to drive financial inclusion, it comes with an unavoidable downfall of digital risks. Companies in the financial services sector are among the most at-risk in the world when it comes to cybersecurity threats. Industry studies predict that cost of cybercrime in the industry is set to scale up drastically somewhere in the region of to USD 10.5 trillion annually by 2025, up from USD 3 trillion a decade ago. Projections such as these make a compelling case for putting stronger security systems in place for safeguarding important financial data of consumers and building trust in the long run. by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like Por qué está en boca de todos esta inteligencia artificial que hace dinero? IA CFD Solicita ahora Undo It also exemplifies how cybercriminals have kept pace with advances in FinTech, thereby creating new and, at times, even sophisticated schemes and strategies to exploit digital payment products and services. Moreover, with several customers just about getting acquainted with digital financial products, they tend to be highly vulnerable to the risks of online fraud, information theft, and malware or virus attacks. At the same time, companies that are nascent in their digitalisation journey can have weaknesses in their cyber security and technology resilience capabilities, thus falling prey to the risk of data breaches and service disruptions. These risks have led to increased government and regulatory action in terms of a flurry of statutes and regulations. Consequently, BFSI industries along with FinTech and other Tech partner companies are constantly focused on balancing the need to build convenient and fit for purpose offerings with prioritising identification and management of increased risks, including financial crime to sustain stakeholder trust and deliver value. At a time when AI has been embedded into fintech services for providing superior customer experiences and streamline employee functions for enhanced productivity, it can also be beneficial for effectively managing digital risks. A case in point is the use of GenAI, which as per 76% of financial services executives can be highly effective for fraud detection and prevention. These are also the two most critical areas where Gen AI, with its ability to consume large data sets to base its predictive outcomes on is likely to find most application in the near- to mid-term, across the sector. India already has multiple evidence-based examples that complement this global trend. For instance, a leading provider of OPD and IPD health claims processing services in the country has deployed an AI-driven SaaS/PaaS platform, which is helping minimise fraud, optimise resource utilisation, and enhance healthcare insurance management for insurers. The company has reduced average claim handling time by 40% and enhanced fraud detection capabilities, identifying 5x more fraudulent claims than conventional methods. Some of the most common threats that we see impacting the payments industry today are micro-structuring, identity theft, and the use of third parties. While overcoming these digital risks could feel like a daunting task, digital payment providers should consider layered capabilities delivering comprehensive prevention as well as quick detection and response. Using AI can help companies take a proactive approach by setting up a continuously evolving and comprehensive monitoring mechanisms that can faster detecting unusual login patterns or suspicious data requests and provide actionable insights or even automate action. Furthermore, personalization that is associated with customer engagement in terms of offering fit for purpose and curated offerings can also be used to build persona with behaviour and risk profiles to act like a person security guard. An industry report has shown some promising results regarding the use of AI in cybersecurity. Though the financial sector is one of the prime targets for cybercriminals, organisations that use AI extensively in their security protocols experienced data breach costs that were, on average, USD1.76 million lower compared to no use. They were also able to detect and contain breaches an average of 108 days faster than those not utilising AI capabilities. Enhanced accessibility of digital financial services worldwide, means that digital payment services will continue to draw more customers, making managing digital risks more pertinent than ever before. In 2022, the global digital payment market size was valued at USD 81.03 billion, with global digital payments valued at over USD 8 trillion, and the market size is only expected to continue, at an annual growth rate of around 20% in the next seven as the third largest fintech economy in the world, India's fintech market is expected to reach $145.09 country is proactively harnessing the power of tech-led innovation to carve its unique path of digitalisation with AI. As BFSI firms in India strive to become future-ready by infusing AI across the value chain, they will have to keep security and resiliency at the centre. Investing well in building a strong AI-led digital payment network, will not only help India achieve its fintech projections, but also elevate itself to the position of a global leader in this domain. (Kunal Pande is National Co-Head, Digital Risk and Cyber, KPMG in India) Stay informed with the latest business news, updates on bank holidays and public holidays . AI Masterclass for Students. Upskill Young Ones Today!– Join Now