INFOTECH FORUM 2026: Forging Alliances, Fueling Growth

The 24^th edition of the VARINDIA Infotech Forum Leadership Summit 2026 concluded on a high note, reaffirming its position as one of India’s leading platforms for thought leadership, innovation, and industry recognition across the ICT ecosystem. Organized by Kalinga Digital Media Private Limited, the summit brought together an eminent gathering of technology leaders, including CIOs, CTOs, CISOs, policymakers, industry veterans, marketing leaders, and senior executives representing the entire ICT value chain.

Held under the theme “Growth through Alliances in a Transformation Era,” the summit explored the intersection of digital transformation, responsible technology adoption, and ethical innovation, highlighting their collective role in shaping a resilient and future-ready digital economy.

The day-long summit featured a thoughtfully curated agenda spanning morning, afternoon, and evening sessions. Attendees engaged in insightful keynote addresses, thought-provoking panel discussions, exclusive research report launches, prestigious award ceremonies recognizing the industry's most trusted companies and distinguished CIOs and finally culminating in the grand unveiling of the annual Brand Book coffee table publication.

The proceedings began with a ceremonial welcome, marked by the traditional lighting of the lamp, in the presence of dignitaries like Savitur Prasad, Member- High Powered Enquiry Committee- Delhi Government; Prof. N K Goyal, President- CMAI Association Of India; Nitin Mehta, Digital Risk Leader, EY India (Knowledge Partner); Dr. Pavan Duggal, Chairman- International Commission On Cyber Security Law; Dr. Arindam Sarkar, Chief Architect- FaceOff Technologies; Mr. Mylaraiah J N, V.P., Enterprise Business Unit - CommScope, India & SAARC; Lt. Col. (Dr.) Santosh Khadsare (Retd), CEO-I defence Innovations Pvt. Ltd.; Mr. V V Jacob, Chief General Manager-IT-Malayala Manorama Company Pvt Ltd; Mr. Sumeet Kela, Director- Net Protector Anti-Virus; Dr. Harsha Thennarasu, Founder & CISO-HKIT Security Solutions; Pranab Mohanty, Chief Business Officer- Data Safeguard Inc.; Pankaj Mittal, Founder & CEO- Digizen Consulting; Dr. Deepak Kumar Sahu, Editor-in-Chief, VARINDIA and S Mohini Ratna, Editor- VARINDIA.

The opening address was delivered by Dr. Deepak Kumar Sahu, Editor-in-Chief of VARINDIA, in which he highlighted the current position of where India stands today in terms of IT spending vis-à-vis the global scenario. “India's IT industry is a $250 billion global powerhouse — and yet our domestic IT spending is just one percent of global technology expenditure. For a nation of our scale and ambition, that is not a statistic. That is a wake-up call. Global compute spending stands at $250 billion a year — a $1 trillion opportunity over four years. If India moves decisively into this space, the dividends go well beyond technology. We are talking about transforming healthcare, education, agriculture, and climate resilience, all riding on the renewable energy infrastructure we are already building.”

The welcome address was delivered by Savitur Prasad, Member- High Powered Enquiry Committee- Delhi Government, in which he emphasized upon governance, accountability, and institutional excellence.

Following this, Nitin Mehta, Digital Risk Leader, EY spoke on the current data trends in India and how this throws great opportunities for the private sector to work collectively with the government.  

Dr. Pavan Duggal, Chairman- International Commission On Cyber Security Law outlined his deep insights into cyber law, cybersecurity, AI regulation, and the evolving legal landscape through a powerful presentation that gave the audience a valuable perspective on how to navigate the digital future responsibly.

The event progressed with a series of engaging corporate presentations, featuring insightful and thought-provoking sessions delivered by leading industry experts. Anuj Sharma, Presales Manager- Kaspersky shared his perspectives on today's evolving cyber threat landscape and the importance of proactive security, advanced threat protection, and cyber resilience.

Through his presentation, Dr. Arindam Sarkar, Chief Architect- FaceOff Technologies, while giving a glimpse of how FaceOff works, also focused on how identity intelligence, fraud prevention and digital trust converge in the synthetic intelligence era.

Ankur Patial, Sr. Solutions Architect- VARONIS enlightened the audience on AI ethics, and how it is the need of the hour to take a safe, secure, humane, and environmentally friendly approach to AI.

The morning session concluded with a vibrant panel discussion moderated by Dr. Deepak Kumar Sahu, Editor-in-Chief, VARINDIA. Titled ‘From Digital India to AI India: The Next Leap’, the esteemed CIOs who joined the discussion as panelists include - Vijay Sethi, Chairman-Mentorkart; Golok Kumar Simli, President - Technology & Innovation- BLS International; Sujoy Brahmachari, CIO & CISO- Rosmerta Technologies Ltd.; Bharat B Anand, Global CITO- Contec Global; Lt Col (Dr) Santosh Khadsare (Retd), CEO-I defence Innovations Pvt. Ltd.; Dr. Prince Joseph, Global CIO- SFO Technologies and V V Jacob, Chief General Manager-IT, Malayala Manorama Company Pvt Ltd.

AFTERNOON SESSION

The afternoon session started with felicitating the “Most Promising VARs in India”, who have been recognized for their differentiation, excellence, and unwavering customer focus.

Jagbir Singh, Manager, Sales Engineering (Pre-Sales)- Check Point Software next came up on stage to share his perspectives on today's evolving cybersecurity landscape and best practices.

Sumeet Kela, Director at Net Protector AntiVirus through his presentation delved into the security offerings that his company offers, while also sharing his perspective on his research done in malware is helping drive innovations in endpoint security, ransomware prevention, and data protection.

Gaurav Saxena, Director – Channels & Alliances- VEEAM Software gave his presentation on The Convergence Era: Unified Platform; Winning with Alliances, in which he shared his insights on data protection, cyber resilience, and the importance of a strong partner ecosystem.

A panel discussion themed “Post-Quantum Security: The Race Against Time” was moderated by Gyana Swain, Consulting, Editor, VARINDIA. The panelists who joined the session were Rohit Ponnapalli, CISO- Envoy Global; Saurabh Gugnani, Director, Global Head of Cybersecurity Engineering & Architecture- TMF; Dr. Rakshit Tandon, Founder- R T Cyber Academy; Sarita Padmini, Sr. Director- Protiviti India; Jaspreet Singh, Partner and GCC Industry Leader- Grant Thornton Bharat; Dr. Harsha Thennarasu, Founder & CISO-HKIT Security Solutions and Garvit Sharma, CTO- Athenian Tech.

Rahul Dani, Presales Engineer, Yubico

The third and the last panel discussion for the day was moderated by S Mohini Ratna, Editor-VARINDIA and the theme of the discussion was "Geopolitics Reshaping Marketing Budgets". The panelists for the discussion included Ankesh Kumar, Chief Marketing Officer- Ingram Micro India Pvt. Ltd.; Pranab Mohanty, Chief Business Officer- Data Safeguard Inc.; Dr. Mithilesh Singh, Marketing Head- Commscope India Pvt Ltd. and Debraj Dam, Chief of VAD, Supertron VAD Venture and Sanjay Chaudhary, Head of Marketing Enterprise, SAP India.

VARINDIA then announced the Most Influential CMO's in India 2026-27 awards. The awards felicitated the marketing leaders and CMOs who are spearheading digital transformation, highlighting their efforts in redefining brand engagement and customer experience in the digital age.

This was followed by the felicitation of Eminent CIOs, CTOs, and CISOs from across industries for their role in driving enterprise transformation and digital excellence and guided their organisations through complexity and disruption.

EVENING SESSION

The evening session featured inspiring speeches and insightful presentations by distinguished industry leaders whose vision and expertise continue to shape the future of the industry. Among them are eminent policymakers and influential thought leaders who play a pivotal role in formulating policies and driving India's digital and technology agenda.

While Arun Kumar Sharma, Director- Cypress Solutions Pvt. Ltd. presented his ideas on Techfluential Edge and the Way Forward through an insightful presentation, Atul Kumar, Director-Global Trade, Cyber Diplomacy, Government Initiative- DSCI offered his perspectives on cyber diplomacy, global trade, and building trusted digital ecosystems.

Dr. Gulshan Rai, India's first National Cyber Security Coordinator, Government of India delivered the keynote address for the evening in which he shared his visionary perspectives on cybersecurity, digital resilience, and India's evolving cyber ecosystem.

In his address to the audience, Dr. Amar Patnaik, Member of Parliament, Rajya Sabha, shared inspiring insights on data security, privacy, and the transformative potential of quantum innovation.

The next speaker was Prof. Charru Malhotra, Professor, Indian Institute of Public Administration (IIPA), who has made significant contributions to Digital India. She gave her presentation on Responsible AI, digital governance, cybersecurity, and data privacy.

KEY HIGHLIGHTS OF THE EVENINGS

·         A significant highlight of the evening session was the grand launch of the 15th edition of the Brand Book 2025. As a trusted industry resource, the Brand Book offers in- depth white papers, CXO interviews, and expert analysis of evolving market dynamics. This edition provides valuable insights into emerging technology trends, strategic leadership, and brand innovations that are transforming the enterprise landscape— making it an essential guide for VARs, corporate leaders, and CXO decision-makers.

·         Another defining moment of the evening was the presentation of the Lifetime Achievement Award to Dr. Ajai Chowdhry, Co-Founder of HCL, in recognition of his extraordinary vision, pioneering leadership, and an enduring legacy that shaped the Indian technology industry and inspired a generation of innovators. A short video showcasing his inspiring journey in the field of IT was also played before the audience.

·         The signing of an MoU between FaceOff Technologies and NACOF (National Federation of Farmers Procurement, Processing and Retailing Cooperative of India Ltd.) was yet another defining moment. This strategic collaboration aims to support Cooperative Banks and other organizations in combating the growing threat of deepfakes, synthetic identity fraud, and AI-generated fraud using FaceOff's Sovereign AI platform, powered by Post-Quantum Cryptography. Ram Iqbal Singh, Founder & Chairman, NACOF, Dr. Deepak Kumar Sahu, Founder & CEO, FaceOff Technologies, and Dr. Arindam Sarkar, Chief Architect, FaceOff Technologies participated in the signing ceremony.

·         VARINDIA also took the opportunity to recognize the 25 Most Trusted Companies followed by 50 Most Admired Brands in India’s ICT ecosystem. These organizations were selected through rigorous evaluation of brand performance, market reputation, and customer trust. This recognition serves as a testament to their resilience, innovation, and dedication to excellence in serving India's digital economy.