: Happy New Year 2026 ? New beginnings, fresh hopes, Ready for what’s ahead ?

As we welcome a new year, India’s technology leaders reflect on their journeys, priorities, and aspirations. Presented below are their unfiltered responses—shared exactly as written—grouped under concise thematic prompts to capture authentic leadership thinking as we move into 2026.

Bhagvan Kommadi
Joint VP – Development, Greenko Group

Skill for 2026
Post LLM use cases and applications development
2025 as a Movie
From AI to Gen AI : Voyage

Dishant Gupta
CTO, Sterling Hospitals

Skill for 2026
Delegation of work
Tech to Leave Behind & New Digital Habit
In house development of applications and move to SAAS based approach
Song That Reflects 2026 Vision
Kar har maidan fateh from Sanju
2025 as a Movie
Swades

Dr. Ashok Sangwan
Chief Manager – IT Security, Honda Motorcycle & Scooter India Pvt. Ltd.

Tech to Leave Behind & New Digital Habit
AI First Cybersecurity
2025 as a Movie
Logic to Life

Golok Kumar Simli
President – Technology and Innovation, BLS International

Tech to Leave Behind & New Digital Habit
Leaving behind: Tech for applause, Flashy pilots, AI demos, and buzzword-heavy solutions that look impressive but quietly fail to change lives or institutions.
Embracing: Technology with conscience and continuity. In 2026, my habit is simple but demanding - Design digital systems that are responsible by default, scalable by intent, and human at the core. For me, AI that strengthens governance, Data that earns trust and Innovation that reaches the last mile are the true sense of technology leverage.
Looking ahead: The next chapter of digital transformation won’t be written by those who adopt technology fastest but by those who apply it wisely, ethically, and for the greater good.
2025 as a Movie
“Code That Counted: Turning Digital Ambition into Public Impact.”
A year where technology wasn’t about speed or scale alone but about meaning. From AI to Digital Public Infrastructure, the focus shifted from building platforms to building trust, inclusion, and lasting public value.

Jagannath Sahoo
CISO, Gujarat Fluorochemicals Ltd

Skill for 2026
Excited to master Quantum-Safe Cryptography to future-proof cybersecurity against next-gen threats.
Tech to Leave Behind & New Digital Habit
Ready to retire manual patching and adopt autonomous, AI-driven vulnerability management as a core digital habit.
Song That Reflects 2026 Vision
“Eye of the Tiger” – for resilience and bold innovation in cybersecurity.
2025 as a Movie
Beyond Firewalls: The AI Frontier

Pradnya Umaji Manwar
CISO & DPO, Thomas Cook

Skill for 2026
AI driven cyber risk management--combining security, compliance and automation to stay ahead of evolving threats.
2025 as a Movie
Resilience in Action

Sneha Suhas
Chief Technology Officer, ACBD Aditya Birla Capital Digital

Tech to Leave Behind & New Digital Habit
Siloed approach by teams to be left behind. New digital habit to leveraging on new technologies with collaboration across industry.
Skill for 2026
Strategic AI adoption

Subhash Singh Punjabi
CISO, Deepak Fertilisers And Petrochemicals Corp. Ltd

Skill for 2026
Strategic AI Governance and Cyber Risk Quantification—translating technical risk into financial, operational, and reputational impact to support informed executive and board decisions. As CISOs and CIOs, our mandate is evolving—from protecting systems to protecting business value and digital trust.
2026 will be less about adopting more technology, and more about governing it wisely, measuring risk intelligently, and enabling growth securely.
Tech to Leave Behind & New Digital Habit
What I believe we must leave behind in 2026: Compliance-first, checkbox-driven cybersecurity and fragmented digital decision-making.
What we must institutionalize instead: AI-led, risk-based decision intelligence—where cyber risk, data protection, and technology investments are continuously measured, prioritized, and aligned to business outcomes and board-level risk appetite.
Song That Reflects 2026 Vision
“Kar Har Maidaan Fateh” – reflecting disciplined execution and long-term vision.
Technology that is resilient by design, secure by default, and largely invisible—allowing leadership teams and businesses to move faster with confidence.
2025 as a Movie
“Securing the Future: From Resilience to Intelligence.”
A year where disciplined execution, zero major security breaches, successful audits, and on-time delivery of critical digital initiatives reinforced the role of technology as a business enabler—not a risk anchor.

What These Reflections Tell Us About 2026
These reflections capture the evolving mindset of India’s technology leadership—where innovation is grounded in responsibility, cybersecurity is strategic, and digital transformation is measured by trust and impact. As we move into 2026, these voices remind us that true technology leadership lies not in adopting trends, but in shaping outcomes that last.

Team IndiaIT360

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