On Data Privacy Day 2026, NCN highlights the vital role of data protection in an AI-driven, hyper-connected world. Featuring insights from industry leaders, we showcase how privacy, security, and resilience are shaping trust, innovation, and responsible digital growth across India.
Dr. Sanjay Katkar, Joint Managing Director, Quick Heal Technologies
“This Data Privacy Day is a reminder that as India’s digital economy grows, personal data has become central to every business and increasingly vulnerable to misuse. Data privacy today is not just about technology. It is about trust, accountability, and how responsibly organisations handle information that people share with them. We have built an indigenous solution, Seqrite Data Privacy, with capabilities designed for the realities of Indian organisations, helping startups, small and medium businesses, and large enterprises embed privacy into their day-to-day operations. Our focus has been to make data protection practical, scalable, and aligned with the intent of the Digital Personal Data Protection Act.
As a responsible cybersecurity leader, we believe clarity is as important as capability. That is why we have created a dedicated DPDP Act resource page on the Seqrite website, bringing together clear explanations of data privacy, the DPDP Act, its impact on organisations, and how it can be adopted in practice. We invite businesses, practitioners, and stakeholders to explore these insights, deepen their understanding, and engage with us as India collectively builds a safer and more trusted digital ecosystem.”
Mr. Sunil Sharma, Managing Director & VP – Sales (India & SAARC), Sophos
“Data Privacy Day 2026 is a timely reminder that data protection has become a fundamental business priority, not just a regulatory obligation. As organisations increasingly adopt AI, cloud, and digital-first operating models, the volume and sensitivity of data being created and processed continues to grow, making it an attractive target for cybercriminals. In this context, systems must incorporate privacy and cybersecurity by design, bolstered by robust governance, ongoing monitoring, and swift incident response. Equally important is building a culture of accountability and awareness across the organisation, because technology alone cannot address data risk. Organisations that prioritise data privacy and security will be better positioned to earn trust, meet compliance requirements, and drive sustainable digital growth.”
Mr. Reuben Koh, Director of Security Technology & Strategy at Akamai Technologies
“In 2026, Data Privacy Day is a reminder that in an AI-driven world where data is the new precious commodity, privacy continues to be a critical and continuous responsibility. As data moves across cloud platforms, APIs, and intelligent systems at machine speed, our ability to discover and secure data must move even faster. At Akamai, we know this starts with deep visibility and granular network segmentation to effectively shrink the blast radius of any breach. Real-time threat intelligence also provides organizations with an edge to stay ahead of evolving cyber threats. By embedding privacy-by-design into AI deployments and leveraging automated, distributed defenses, organizations can innovate at speed and maintain consumer trust, while navigating an increasingly sophisticated threat landscape.”
Mr. Ranga Jagannath, Senior Director, Growth, Agora
“As technologies like AI, IoT, and Real-Time Engagement redefine the way we interact, the volume of personal data being generated is enormous. While this volume of data promotes innovation, it also poses significant risks to individual privacy and security. The challenge today is not only about compliance but about building a digital ecosystem where privacy is an intrinsic part of every user connection.
Businesses must adopt privacy-by-design principles, ensuring that data protection is an integral part of their solutions. This includes implementing secure APIs, end-to-end encryption, and adhering to the highest standards of transparency and user control. However, meeting these standards requires more than just regulatory compliance. It requires proactive measures to stay ahead of emerging threats and an unwavering commitment to privacy.
Looking ahead, the key to a trusted digital world lies in balancing innovation with responsibility. As real-time engagement technologies continue to evolve, protecting privacy will be crucial for fostering trust and ensuring a safe, secure digital experience for all. At Agora, we are committed to building this future, where innovation and privacy go hand in hand, delivering seamless and secure digital interactions globally.”
Mr. Sandeep Bhambure, Vice President and Managing Director – India and SAARC, Veeam Software
“This Data Privacy Week is a timely reminder that data control is at the heart of trust, resilience, and safe AI adoption. As cyber threats grow more sophisticated, an organisation’s ability to govern, protect, and recover its data is becoming just as critical as its ability to secure it. Trusted, well-managed data is the bedrock for regulatory confidence, operational continuity, and responsible AI innovation.
Veeam’s latest ransomware research underscores this urgency with 69% of impacted organisations experienced multiple attacks in a single year, and 90% had their backups targeted. This highlights how fragmented visibility and weak data governance leave businesses dangerously exposed. Without clear oversight of where data resides, how it is protected, and how quickly it can be restored, organisations risk not only breaches but prolonged and costly disruptions.
In India, with the Digital Personal Data Protection Act now in effect and further regulatory changes ahead, businesses must move beyond reactive cybersecurity. They need to embed data control, governance, and resilience into their core strategies. Ensuring data is secure, compliant, and recoverable is no longer optional; it is essential for responsible AI adoption and long-term business success.”
Mr. Rick Vanover, VP of Product Strategy, Veeam Software
“True data resilience starts with trust and control. As we mark Data Privacy Week, we must empower organizations to take charge of their data – protecting privacy, ensuring security, and unlocking value at every turn. In today’s digital era, trusted data is the cornerstone of both privacy and progress. Organizations that ensure their data is secure, governed, and trustworthy lay the foundation not only for compliance, but also for safe AI adoption and transformative business outcomes. Let’s recognize that empowering organizations with trusted data is what enables innovation, builds resilience, and unlocks the true promise of AI for our businesses and society. And should things not go as planned, organizations should have the confidence in resilience technology and practices to keep the business running.”
Mr. Shiva Pillay, SVP and GM Americas, Veeam Software
“Data Privacy Week 2026 is a powerful reminder that taking control of your data is more than a security imperative, it’s a business accelerator. When organizations build trust in their data and embrace safe AI, they unlock new levels of agility, customer confidence, and competitive edge. Trusted data fuels smarter decisions, resilient operations, and innovation that drives real business outcomes. The companies who get this right won’t just keep pace – they’ll lead the way.”
Mr. Vaibhav Tare, Chief Information Security Officer, Fulcrum Digital
“Data privacy has become a foundational pillar of digital trust, especially as enterprises accelerate AI adoption. In India’s evolving data protection landscape, organisations must move beyond checkbox compliance and build privacy into the design of their systems, processes, and AI models. Managing privacy risks in an era of automation requires strong governance, accountable leadership, and a clear balance between innovation and responsible data use. Enterprises that prioritise transparency and secure data practices will be best positioned to earn consumer confidence and sustain long-term growth in an AI-first economy.”
Mr. Narendra Sen (Founder & CEO, RackBank & NeevCloud)
“Today’s data Privacy depends on digital infrastructure. The adoption of cloud technology, development of artificial intelligence workloads and the increasing number of countries proposing localisation legislation to control how information is stored and protected. The creation of modern, safe and secure data center facilities allows businesses and governments to create trust around digital information through maintaining location of data within controls and resilience against human error.
The Indian regulatory environment in the future must have businesses developing future focused solutions that combine technical innovation and privacy. Purpose-built, safe, secure data centre systems are available to provide businesses and governments the ability to keep sensitive data secure while providing modern innovative digital services. The responsibility for how to develop digital trust and maintain governance of that trust will be reliant on strong leadership from the public and private sector and the quality of the infrastructure developed in support of them.”
Mr. Sanjay Agrawal, CTO and Head of Presales, India and SAARC, Hitachi Vantara.
“As Indian enterprises scale AI and operate across hybrid and multi-cloud environments, data privacy has become a core business resilience and trust priority, not just a compliance requirement. Industry research indicates that over half of Indian IT leaders see data security gaps as the biggest barrier to scaling AI, while a significant proportion remain concerned about AI-enabled data breaches. With India’s data protection framework now in force, organizations must move beyond perimeter-based controls to protection by design, where privacy, security, availability and governance are built directly into the data infrastructure.
In this environment, outages, ransomware incidents, and data loss events can carry the same regulatory and reputational impact as traditional data breaches. Recent report shows that the average cost of a data breach in India has reached ₹220 million, reinforcing that resilience failures are now a material business risk.
As India advances its digital and AI agenda, the sustained focus should be on building privacy-aware, intelligence-led data architectures that combine immutable protection, real-time threat detection, and strong data governance. Enterprises that embed privacy into the core of their data strategy will be best positioned to scale AI responsibly, meet evolving regulations and sustain long-term customer trust.”
Mr. Prakash Ravindran, CEO & Director, InstiFi
“Data privacy has become a critical pillar of the digital payments ecosystem. With increasing reliance on online transactions, the responsibility to protect sensitive financial and business data has never been greater. For fintech platforms, privacy-by-design and compliance-driven frameworks are essential to maintaining trust and minimising operational risk. Strong data protection practices enable merchants and users to engage confidently with digital systems. At InstiFi, data security is embedded across our technology and processes, reflecting the expectations of a maturing digital economy. As adoption continues to grow, consistent focus on privacy and accountability will shape how digital payments earn and sustain trust going forward.”
Mr. Rizwan Patel, Global Head of Cloud, InfoSec, and Emerging Technologies at Altimetrik
“Enterprise data privacy has become a board-level priority as digital platforms, cloud adoption, and AI-driven operating models reshape how value is created. Data sits at the core of revenue growth, ecosystem partnerships, and business resilience, making privacy by design a strategic requirement rather than a technical afterthought. Trust now functions as a business currency, determined by how responsibly organisations govern data across its lifecycle.
India’s data-centric digital economy further elevates the stakes. Platforms built on India Stack and rapid enterprise AI adoption expand the attack surface and intensify exposure to misuse, leakage, and systemic risk. The Digital Personal Data Protection Act reinforces fiduciary accountability, consent discipline, and breach readiness, setting a higher bar for enterprises operating at scale.
Compliance alone does not deliver confidence or differentiation. Market leaders are embedding privacy engineering into product development (PDLC) and software delivery (SDLC) lifecycles, supported by identity controls spanning human, machine, and emerging agentic identities. At Altimetrik, we integrate automation-driven governance, threat detection, identity and access management, observability, and responsible AI practices into core architectures. This enables organizations to protect data rights, sustain innovation velocity, and strengthen trust in an environment where technology amplifies both opportunity and risk.”
Mr. Pravir Dahiya, Chief Technology Officer, Tata Teleservices
“On Data Privacy Day, we are reminded that data protection is more than a compliance requirement, it’s a strategic responsibility. As data becomes the backbone of modern business and society, resilience against breaches and misuse must be embedded into the very core of how organisations operate. True data security demands strong governance, continuous vigilance, and a culture of shared accountability where every stakeholder, from leadership to end users, plays a role. Only by elevating both protection and awareness, can we ensure trust and integrity in the digital systems that power our economy and daily lives.”
Mr. Aditya Kinra, Vice-President, Tata Teleservices
“On Data Privacy Day, we reflect on the essential role that data protection plays in supporting digital trust and economic resilience. In a landscape where information moves at the speed of innovation, security can no longer be an afterthought. It must be a shared commitment, embedded into technology, processes and the mindset of every individual. Strengthening our defenses, fostering awareness, and investing in responsible practices are key to safeguarding people and enterprises alike. Only through collective diligence and ethical stewardship can we ensure that the digital ecosystem remains secure, robust, and worthy of confidence.”
Covered By: NCN MAGAZINE / Data Privacy
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