Tag: CIO

Equirus Appoints Sahil Shah as Chief Investment Officer and Fund Manager of Equirus Long Horizon Fund

Mumbai 20th June,2024: Equirus is excited to announce the appointment of Mr. Sahil Shah as the new Fund Manager of Equirus Long Horizon Fund (ELHF) and Chief Investment Officer (CIO). With an impressive career spanning over 17 years in the financial industry, Sahil Shah brings a wealth of expertise and a proven track record of success to Equirus.

Sahil Shah

Prior to joining Equirus, Mr. Shah served as a fund manager at Edelweiss Small Cap Fund, overseeing assets under management (AUM) of INR 3,300 crores. He also co-managed the Midcap and Multicap funds at Edelweiss. Mr. Shah’s stellar and consistent track record in managing mutual funds and PMS, particularly in the small and mid-cap markets, combined with his analytical acumen, positions him as a key asset to Equirus.

Mr. Shah is a CFA (ICFAI) holder, and his extensive background includes roles both on the sell-side as an analyst and on the buy-side managing mutual funds and PMS, further enriching his comprehensive view of the market.

Mr. Ajay Garg, Founder & Managing Director of Equirus, expressed his enthusiasm about the new appointment, stating, “We are thrilled to welcome Sahil Shah to the Equirus family. His extensive experience and outstanding track record in fund management are invaluable as we continue to strengthen our asset management business. Sahil’s expertise and strategic vision will play a crucial role in driving the performance of our funds and delivering exceptional value to our investors.”

In his role as CIO, Sahil Shah will be responsible for managing the Asset Management business and leading the Equirus Long Horizon Fund. He will also provide strategic leadership to other Equity funds, encompassing investment, research, and management, working closely with other fund managers.

“I am honored to join Equirus and excited about the opportunity to lead the asset management team,” said Sahil Shah. “I look forward to leveraging my experience to enhance fund performance and contribute to the continued success of Equirus’s investment offerings.”

Mr. Shah’s appointment marks a significant milestone in Equirus ongoing commitment to delivering top-tier financial services and investment solutions to their clients.

ANSR Appoints Kirk Ball as Group Chief Information Officer

India, 2nd May: ANSR, the global leader in enabling companies to build, manage, and scale global teams, announced the appointment of Kirk Ball as its new Group Chief Information Officer (CIO). With over three decades of experience in technology leadership and innovation, Kirk brings a wealth of expertise to his new role.

KirkBall

Kirk joins ANSR from Giant Eagle where he was the CIO. Kirk has also served in technology leadership positions with companies like Kroger and Christ Hospital Health Network. Kirk has consistently delivered innovative and sustainable outcomes amidst volatile economic market cycles and digital transformations.

“The role of the CIO is undergoing a profound change in today’s digital era. The modern CIO is now a strategic architect of digital value, driving innovation and shaping the future of business,” said Lalit Ahuja, Founder & CEO of ANSR. “We are delighted to welcome Kirk to our leadership team. With his wealth of experience in crafting and executing GCC-enabled global technology teams, Kirk will play a key role in supporting our clients in developing the most efficient strategies for leveraging GCCs as drivers for enhanced value, change, and transformation throughout their organizations. Kirk will also provide coaching and mentorship to GCC leaders, ensuring alignment with organizational goals in support of the evolving CIO agenda”, he added.

Kirk will serve as a trusted advisor and partner to our customers, guiding them in determining functions that are best suited for the GCC and providing insights on their transformation blueprint. He will also serve as counsel to CIOs and CXOs on establishing new competency pods within their GCCs, offering insights into best practices and key performance indicators (KPIs) to monitor. Kirk will play a pivotal role in the company’s evolution into a GCC SuperApp, providing modular and adaptable solutions for companies to establish GCCs.

“I am thrilled to join the talented team at ANSR and embark on this exciting journey,” said Kirk. “I look forward to leveraging my experience to contribute to ANSR’s growth and success and to drive a positive change for broader the industry. I’m excited to join ANSR at a hypergrowth stage where we are setting up a new GCC almost every 2-3 weeks, which presents a tremendous opportunity for innovation and expansion.”

Kaspersky and Airtel join forces to make online journeys more secure for customers

Bharti-Airtelkaspersky logo

Airtel customers now purchase Kaspersky security solutions for PC and Smartphones via Airtel Thanks app

Global cybersecurity company Kaspersky has partnered with Bharti Airtel (“Airtel”) – India’s premier communications solutions provider, to ensure instant security for internet users in India.

The collaboration between the two companies will allow Airtel customers to purchase Kaspersky Total Security solution directly from the Airtel Thanks app in a matter of few clicks. What’s more! Airtel customers also enjoy exclusive deals on these advanced solutions from Kaspersky.

Airtel customers simply need to download the latest version of Airtel Thanks app> Go to ‘Shop’ section> Go to lifestyle offers> Click on the Kaspersky banner and get started. Airtel Thanks also enables seamless payments through cards, net banking and UPI.

The alliance is formed with the aim to increase the cybersecurity awareness amongst Indian internet users and encourage them to practice cyber safety in the wake of growing cyberthreats.

Cyberthreats are constantly evolving and cybercriminals in the past 2 years have been actively targeting internet users in India. In the first quarter of 2021 Kaspersky products detected 37,650,472 different Internet-borne cyberthreats. Mobile users are also at risk as cybercriminals are constantly targeting them for financial gains, as well as to obtain important private data. Mobile threats in India have drastically increased since 2019 and are becoming more targeted and sophisticated in nature. India ranked 7th amongst the countries attacked with Mobile Threats in 2020.

The top mobile threats targeted at the smartphone users globally were, Adware which topped the list with 57% (3,254,387 detections).Talking about the other threats, the number of backdoors detected almost tripled from 28,889 in 2019 to 84,495 in 2020. The number of detected Android exploits increased seventeen fold, and the number of Trojan- Proxy threats had increased by twelve times. Kaspersky solutions detected 156,710installation packages for mobile banking Trojans in 2020, which is twice the number of attacks detected in 2019. However, a decline in ransomware trojans was witnessed as we found 20,708 installation packages for ransomware Trojans in 2020, a decrease of 3.5 times as compared to the previous year.

Eugene Kaspersky, CEO of Kaspersky, said: “We’re very much looking forward to supporting Bharti Airtel, the leading global telecommunications company and one of the biggest mobile service providers, in its goal to protect their users, create a more secure internet, and build a safer digital world together with Kaspersky. I’m convinced that this partnership will further contribute to establishing Airtel as an innovational pioneer and a leader in its industry.”

Pradipt Kapoor, CIO, Bharti Airtel said: “As customer lifestyles become increasingly integrated with digital platforms, it becomes paramount for all of us to secure these journeys with the right solutions. Airtel is working round the clock to deliver a secure network experience through world-class infrastructure and partnerships. We are delighted to partner with Kaspersky and make their solutions easily accessible for Airtel customers, who can purchase and install these in a matter of minutes and enjoy complete peace of mind.”

“Malicious apps, to spyware, mobile banking trojans, adware, phishing attacks, ransomware attacks, etc, are some of the most risky threats that a smartphone user has to be safe and secure from at all times. In a time when data privacy has become one of the most supreme criteria of our lives, smartphones become the greatest and most important source of our personal and sensitive data. Keeping this in mind, protecting our phones from the various online threats should be our highest priority. The first and the easiest step towards practicing cyber safety is by installing a reliable security solution to our devices. Increasing our cyber maturity and being aware of the constantly evolving threats is also the responsibility of an online user, in order to protect themselves from the nefarious cybercriminals”, said Mr. Dipesh Kaura, General Manager, Kaspersky (South Asia).

Mr. Dipesh added, “Our association with Airtel is not only a strategic business partnership for us, but is also an important collaboration in order to increase cyber awareness amongst the growing number of smartphone users, who also may be potential targets of cybercriminals. With an affordable and accessible internet connection available today, we have opened our gates to a great digital future, and we have taken yet another step towards securing this digital future with the help of Airtel. We look forward to our association with them, and hope to instil an increased sense of cyber awareness amongst Indian users as much as possible”.

Through this association with Airtel, Kaspersky looks forward to a positive reaction from the users, and hopes to encourage them to take a step forward towards securing themselves. Both the companies are trying to ensure instant security to the users and contribute towards making Digital India a lot more safe and secure.

Consumers can now conveniently avail of Kaspersky Total Security solution on the Airtel Thanks app and move closer to achieving cybersecurity.

Bharti AXA Life Insurance appoints Rahul Bhuskute as Chief Investment Officer

Bharti AXA Life Insurance appoints Rahul Bhuskute as Chief Investment Officer

MUMBAI: Bharti AXA Life Insurance, a joint venture between Bharti Enterprises, one of India’s leading business groups, and AXA, one of the world’s largest insurance companies, today announced the appointment of Rahul Bhuskute as Chief Investment Officer effective 1st June, 2021.

Mr. Rahul Bhuskute is a tenured investment professional with over decades of experience in creating and scaling up significant investment portfolios in Asia and Europe. Prior to joining Bharti AXA Life, he had a long stint with the ICICI Group in London and Mumbai leading significant verticals in Asset Management and Corporate & Investment Banking. His work experience spans investments in bonds, loans, convertibles, equity-linked instruments and credit derivatives in investment-grade, growth capital, special situations and distressed debt. In his last stint, he led the creation of a private equity platform focused on investing in distressed assets and special situationsat ART Special Situations.

An MBA from Jamnalal Bajaj Institute of Management Studies, Rahul also successfully completed all three levels of the CFA course by the CFA Institute, USA. Earlier, he studied engineering at VNIT, Nagpur.

In his role at Bharti AXA Life, Rahul will be a part of its leadership team and lead the Investments function overseeing AUM of INR 9,400 CR across debt, equity and alternative investments portfolios, managed in the interests of policyholders and shareholders. The firm has significant plans of scaling up its business and the Investment team will continue to play a critical part in strengthening its balance sheet further for growth and generating returns for its policyholders.
Speaking on Rahul’s appointment, Mr. Parag Raja, MD & CEO, Bharti AXA Life, said, “We are delighted to have Rahul on board as he brings the perfect blend of professional expertise and business acumen. His extensive experience in scaling up profit and size-critical businesses will be a great asset to us. We have ambitious plans for the company and we are sure that Rahul will play a critical role in supporting us to meet our objectives.”

“Iam truly excited to join Bharti AXA Life Insurance at this critical juncture. The Indian life insurance industry has a significant growth runway ahead of it, and Bharti AXA Life is determined to be a part of this growth story. I look forward toworking with the wider Bharti AXA Life family to contribute to the company’s success and leading the Investment team in meeting key organizational objectives towards all its stakeholders.” said Rahul Bhuskute, CIO, Bharti AXA Life.

Bharti AXA Life Insurance Company Ltd.

Bharti AXA Life Insurance is a joint venture between Bharti, one of India’s leading business groups with interests in telecom, agriculture business, and retail, and AXA, one of the world’s leading organizations with interests in financial protection and wealth management. The joint venture company has a 51% stake from Bharti and 49% stake of AXA. The company has a pan-India presence through its 261 offices and offers a wide range of value for money and need-based insurance products targeted at individuals and groups.