Top 10 Leading Department Heads

CEOInsightsIndia Team
Subject Matter Experts Defining Business Excellence

In today’s rapidly evolving corporate landscape, the roles of the Head of Tax and the Head of AI have emerged as two of the most strategic and influential positions within modern enterprises. As organizations navigate global market expansion, digital transformation, and intensifying regulatory scrutiny, these leaders play a pivotal role in shaping both financial governance and technological competitiveness. Their combined expertise enables companies to operate with precision, compliance, and forward-looking innovation.
The Head of Tax oversees complex tax frameworks, cross border regulations, compliance mandates, and evolving fiscal policies. This role demands deep analytical capabilities and a strong grasp of domestic and international tax structures. By optimizing tax planning, mitigating risks, and supporting strategic transactions, the Head of Tax ensures that organizations remain compliant while maximizing financial efficiency. In an era marked by global tax reforms, digital taxation, and heightened transparency expectations, this role is central to maintaining corporate integrity and sustainable growth.

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Top 10 Leading Department Heads - 2025

In today’s rapidly evolving corporate landscape, the roles of the Head of Tax and the Head of AI have emerged as two of the most strategic and influential positions within modern enterprises. As organizations navigate global market expansion, digital transformation, and intensifying regulatory scrutiny, these leaders play a pivotal role in shaping both financial governance and technological competitiveness. Their combined expertise enables companies to operate with precision, compliance, and forward-looking innovation.

The Head of Tax oversees complex tax frameworks, cross border regulations, compliance mandates, and evolving fiscal policies. This role demands deep analytical capabilities and a strong grasp of domestic and international tax structures. By optimizing tax planning, mitigating risks, and supporting strategic transactions, the Head of Tax ensures that organizations remain compliant while maximizing financial efficiency. In an era marked by global tax reforms, digital taxation, and heightened transparency expectations, this role is central to maintaining corporate integrity and sustainable growth.

"Together, these leadership roles represent the intersection of financial stewardship and technological advancement. Their collaborative impact enables organizations to make smarter decisions, leverage emerging technologies responsibly, and navigate both regulatory and digital disruption with confidence and agility"

Complementing this, the Head of AI leads the development and integration of artificial intelligence strategies across business functions. From automation and data analytics to predictive modeling and intelligent operations, this role drives digital capability and competitive differentiation. The Head of AI not only advances technology adoption but also ensures ethical governance, robust data security, and responsible innovation.

Together, these leadership roles represent the intersection of financial stewardship and technological advancement. Their collaborative impact enables organizations to make smarter decisions, leverage emerging technologies responsibly, and navigate both regulatory and digital disruption with confidence and agility.

CEO Insights in this issue presents a list of ‘Top 10 Leading Department Heads - 2025' who have leveraged their extensive industry expertise and experience in offering effective skills to the market. The following list has been prepared after being closely scrutinized by a distinguished panel of judges including CXOs, analysts and our editorial board. We recognize their valuable contribution to the ever expanding and competitive market and their ability to sustain themselves and emerge as top contestants through their reliable knowledge.

Top 10 Leading Department Heads - 2025

Company Management	Company Name	Company Description
Abhinav Sogani,Head - Taxation	Tata Consumer Products	An experienced professional with a background in FMCG, automotive, and IT industries, he handles strategic tax and customs matters and is skilled in tax strategy and management, international tax, and more
Dr Ajay Singh,Global Director & Head - AI	HCL Technologies	With over 20 years of experience in emerging technologies, he brings a strong foundation in cloud development and IT program management
Alok Srivastava,Head – AI & ML	Groww	An AI/ML leader with more than 15 years of experience, his role involves end-to-end leadership, defining AI strategy, crafting solutions for complex business challenges, driving execution, and more
Amit Gupta,Head - Tax	Legrand	A professional with 21 years of experience in taxation across multiple geographies, adept at developing tax strategies and innovations aligned with business objectives to improve the company’s financial efficiency
Chandrika Choudhry ,Regional Head - Taxation	Intertek	A detail-oriented strategist, her expertise in taxation across geographies has helped navigate complex tax regulations to ensure compliance and build tax efficiency
Debdoot Mukherjee,Chief Data Scientist, Head - AI & Demand Engineering	Meesho	He specializes in recommender systems, information retrieval, user modeling, personalization, information extraction, machine learning, social graph mining, conversational modeling, and more
Milind Joglekar,Head - Taxation & Customs	Škoda Auto Volkswagen India	He has more than two decades of industry experience, with a specialization in taxation and over 15 years of leading the function across various organizations, including large MNCs
Sunil Badala,Partner & National Head - Tax	KMPG India	He specializes in cross-border taxation, structured finance, due diligence, joint ventures, capital structuring, regulatory approvals, and representation before tax and regulatory authorities
Surendranath Reddy Jillella , Head - AI	QApilot	He brings together deep technical ownership and cross-industry experience to build AI-native testing systems that deliver reliable, autonomous mobile app quality at scale
Dr Vikram Singh,Head - AI	Mahindra Group	A global AI and data science strategist with over a decade of experience transforming enterprises through generative AI, predictive analytics, and enterprise scale AI strategies