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Time of India
03-07-2025
- Automotive
- Time of India
How India's top CIOs are future-proofing strategy for 2025
At the ETCIO Annual Conclave 2025, some of India's most influential CIOs and tech leaders tackled the defining question of the digital era: how do you prepare for what you can't predict? In a dynamic panel titled 'CIO Agenda 2025: Disruptions You Can't Afford to Miss,' the discussion exposed the visible and invisible shocks shaping the future—and what India Inc.'s technology leaders must do to stay by senior journalist and ETCIO Consulting Editor Gautam Srinivasan, the panel featured voices from across industry verticals: Hilal Khan (CIO, Honda Cars), Vrijesh Nagathan (CIDTO, Marico), Yogesh Garg (CDO, Kotak Mahindra Bank), Mahesh Ramamoorthy (CIO, Yes Bank), Gopi Thangavel (Group CIO, L&T Group), Biswajit Bhattacharya (Partner, IBM), and Ashish Lahoti (Chief Transformation Officer, ServiceNow). Beyond AI: Disruptions that are reshaping the CIO mandate The conversation opened with the most visible disruption in every boardroom today—Generative AI. But Marico's Vrijesh Nagathan warned that what lies ahead is more profound. 'GenAI was just the start. Agentic AI will challenge every assumption we have about business and customer engagement. It's overwhelming—and that's precisely why it's exciting,' he said. Yes Bank's Mahesh Ramamoorthy called for reimagining customer experience beyond personalization—towards intelligence. 'We're not just talking about customizing experiences. We're talking about intelligent, contextual and consistent engagements that feel intuitive,' he noted. Alongside this, he stressed cybersecurity and operational efficiency as imperatives to scale responsibly. L&T's Gopi Thangavel added another layer to the disruption stack: integration between legacy OT systems and new-age IT, complicated by deep skill gaps. 'We're staring at a massive resource deficit. Managing this while modernizing is our tightrope walk,' he said. The hidden earthquakes beneath the surface When the panel shifted gears to 'hidden disruptions,' the insights deepened. Honda's Hilal Khan drew attention to CASE—Connected, Autonomous, Shared, and Electric—disrupting the very DNA of the automotive industry. 'It's not just technology transforming operations. It's redefining our business model,' he asserted. His message: data, IoT, and AI must converge to drive entirely new value. Kotak Mahindra Bank's Yogesh Garg spotlighted a societal disruption: India's underserved millions without access to credit. 'Account Aggregator and digital public infrastructure will create a credit revolution for those left out of the formal economy. That's disruption with impact,' he said. IBM's Biswajit Bhattacharya pointed out that many CIOs are underestimating 'localized disruption.' He cautioned against blindly replicating western tech models in Indian contexts. 'What works in California won't necessarily work in Calcutta. CIOs need to architect for Bharat,' he said, also flagging the risks of unsecured AI use and the need for vernacular innovation in platforms. Ashish Lahoti from ServiceNow introduced perhaps the boldest prediction of the session: orchestration of AI agents as the next evolution. 'Forget chatbots. Imagine a team of intelligent agents solving for specific outcomes like customer churn—nested, coordinated, and outcome-driven. That changes software, GCCs, consulting—everything,' he warned. Strategy in a state of flux The panel underscored the futility of rigid roadmaps in a volatile world. 'Today's playbooks will be obsolete tomorrow,' said Ramamoorthy. He proposed a four-block model: a stable core, a constant innovation track, flexible micro-pivots, and an extended partner ecosystem. Hilal Khan urged CIOs to stop thinking like IT managers. 'We obsess over our backend processes and lose sight of our customers. Technology-first thinking is now a liability. Business-first, customer-first must drive IT,' he said. His advice? 'Think like a T20 captain—be agile, read the pitch daily.' Kotak's Yogesh Garg shared a sharp framework—his 4Cs: Customer, Company, Colleagues, and Community. 'Disruptions must be solved for real people—customers underserved, employees undertrained, and regulators demanding accountability. That's how you convert shocks into sustainable opportunity,' he said. Innovation vs. risk: Walking the razor's edge A sobering truth emerged—while innovation is accelerating, safeguards aren't keeping pace. Vijesh Nagathan warned of the 'non-malicious collapse' when unvetted tools scale too fast. 'You don't just need security from hackers. You need protection from yourself,' he said. Ashish Lahoti bluntly stated that most organizations will fail if they try to 'build' their own AI capabilities. 'The AI stack is too deep, too wide, and evolving too fast. Standard protocols don't even exist yet. Leverage platforms, and reduce your risk surface,' he said. Gopi Thangavel noted that crises don't wait for readiness. 'The system will force your hand—like COVID did. You either modernize the easy way or the hard way,' he said. Building resilience: The ultimate agenda As the session closed, the panel reflected on future-proofing resilience. For Hilal Khan, it was about moving from IT as a utility to IT as a differentiator. Yogesh Garg quoted a scene from the Blackberry movie: 'Perfection is the enemy of business, but good enough is the enemy of humanity.' CIOs, he urged, must build solutions that go beyond checkboxes. Mahesh Ramamoorthy focused on supply chain risks. 'You must know what lies beyond your four walls. Your resilience depends on your partners,' he said. Thangavel summed up his approach in one line: 'Do more with less.' IBM's Bhattacharya stressed cybersecurity, vernacular tech, and agility through cross-functional teams. Ashish Lahoti reminded CIOs that resilience isn't an appendage. 'It must be embedded into your sprints, your governance, your tech stack—make it a first-class citizen,' he said. The CIO agenda for 2025 is not just about chasing innovation—it's about building intelligent, resilient, and responsible enterprises. Hidden disruptions, from agentic AI to local market volatility, demand agility, orchestration, and context-driven thinking. India's top CIOs aren't just preparing for the next wave—they're redesigning the ship while navigating the storm.
The Hindu
01-07-2025
- General
- The Hindu
Jyoti Nivas College in Bengaluru unveils art installation on its campus
Jyoti Nivas College (Autonomous) unveiled an art installation titled 'The Beacon' at its entrance on June 25. The monument features four women symbolising the college's vision of communion, service, excellence, and relevance. It is complemented by a water cascade that runs along the boundary of the college gate. During the unveiling, principal Sr Mary Louisa S dedicated the statue to the past, present, and future students of Jyoti Nivas. The unveiling was led by the principal, JNC sisters and members involved in the project. The six-month project, which has been completed under the supervision of Thomas Kallarackal, professional artist and founder of Myheart Creation, is now a permanent visual language on campus, meant to inspire students, according to the principal.
The Hindu
30-06-2025
- General
- The Hindu
Week-long orientation programme begins for freshers in government arts and science colleges in Coimbatore
A week-long orientation programme began for freshers in UG courses of government arts and science colleges on Monday (June 30, 2025). At the Government Arts and Science College (Autonomous), Coimbatore, the first-year students were apprised about the factors associated with transitioning from school system to higher-educational arena on the first day. The focus was on familiarising students with the institution's general information, vision and mission. After the general introduction, they were engaged department-wise by the faculty and the alumni members, Principal R. Yezhili said. College heads said they have aligned their week-long programme to the guidelines provided by the Higher Education department. The department has instructed the colleges to familiarise students with the institution, academic structure, rules and regulations, curriculum, examination, evaluation patterns, available resources, student support services, and government schemes and initiatives beneficial to students. On Tuesday (July 1, 2025), the focus will be on academic structure, departments, curriculum, and evaluation methods. For the rest of the week, the orientation sessions will cover aspects like academic calendar, course registration and grading system. The programme will also provide the students insights into the support systems, safety measures, awareness on health and hygiene, human rights, anti-ragging, anti-sexual harassment, anti-drug, and POSH Act. One day will be dedicated for career-guidance, training, and placement opportunities and industry-academic interface sessions, research opportunities, and career services within their fields to provide awareness on the scope of the disciplines undertaken. Inspirational talks and sharing of experiences by police officials, lawyers, women activists, NGOs, industrialists, and employment providers have also been planned for the holistic development of students.
Hans India
12-06-2025
- Science
- Hans India
KSRM College's eighth Graduation Day conducted
Kadapa: The 8th Graduation ceremony of B Tech students of 2021-2025 batch of KSRM Engineering College (Autonomous) was held grandly at KOR Auditorium in the college on Wednesday. Chief guests Padma Shri Dr MYS Prasad, Indian scientist and former Director SDSC, Sriharikota, and Prof Durga Prasad, Director of Academic Audit, JNTUA, Anantapur, presented degrees to the students and presented certificates to the branch-wise toppers. The chief guests congratulated students for starting the next chapter in their lives, saying that graduation is the beginning of unlimited opportunities and unimaginable possibilities. I College Managing Director Dr Kandula Chandra Obul Reddy, correspondent Kandula Rajeshwaramma, vice-chairman Kandula Madan Mohan, Principal Dr VSS Murthy, vice-principal Dr TN Prasad, programme convener & controller of examinations Dr MV Ravi Kishore Reddy, Heads of Departments, Deans, Staff, students and parents participated in this programme.
The Hindu
11-06-2025
- General
- The Hindu
Maximum UG seats filled in first-round counselling at Govt. Arts and Science college in Coimbatore
: Most of the seats for undergraduate programmes in the Government Arts and Science College (Autonomous), Coimbatore, were filled in the first round of counselling. As on Wednesday, 1,405 seats out of 1,727 were filled. All seats in Computer Science, Information Technology and Psychology have been filled, and only limited vacancies are available in all other science courses, college sources said. Admission for 322 vacancies that remain to be filled will be carried out on Friday, under Phase III of the first round of counselling. The college has informed that vacancies in arts and commerce courses will be filled only with students who had taken up vocational group in Plus Two. In Phase II schedule of admission counselling that began at the start of this week, the cut-off marks fixed by all departments, except English and Tamil, were 270 to 299 on Monday, and 240 to 269 marks on Tuesday. On Wednesday, the admission was carried out for BC and MBC candidates, with cut-off marks of 55 to 74 for Tamil and 50 to 59 for English. Likewise, in the Government Arts and Science College for Women at Puliakulam in the city, only top-scorers among the applicants could find themselves in the reckoning for admission. For instance, top-ranked candidate for Computer Science Shift-I had an aggregate score of 390. There were as many as 2,087 applicants for an intake of 50 seats. For Shift-II, the top-scorer had an aggregate of 385 marks. There were a total of 889 applicants. For Shift-I, the other course in demand, the top-scorer had an aggregate of 394 marks. The aggregate was 391 marks by the top-scorer in Shift-II.
