Top 30 Indian Women CTOs

In recent years India’s technology landscape has begun a quiet yet powerful transformation. Where once leadership in tech, especially in roles such as Chief Technology Officer (CTO), was almost exclusively male, a rising cohort of women is reshaping the narrative. These women are not simply occupying senior technical roles; they are driving major business and digital transformations, founding companies, piloting innovations, and redefining what it means to lead technology in India. Their journeys involve long hours, resilience in environments that still often underestimate them, and a constant balancing act between cutting-edge technology and strategic business thinking. This article celebrates thirty such women, each of whom stands out for her technical leadership, impact on her organization and promise for the future. As India accelerates into new domains, artificial intelligence, cloud computing, fintech, deeptech , the presence of strong woman CTOs matters not only for diversity, justice and role-modelling, but for building robust, inclusive technology ecosystems that can keep pace with global competition.

1. Puneet Kaur Kohli

With over 25 years of global experience, Puneet has led strategic IT transformations including cloud migration, e-KYC digitisation and analytics initiatives across telecom and finance. Her global tenure spans the US, UK, Canada and APAC markets and she now serves as Group CTO at Manappuram Finance. Her deep experience in systems architecture and risk management gives her a strong backbone for steering large scale tech change. 

2. Sandhya Arun

Appointed as CTO at Wipro Limited, Sandhya brings insight from longstanding experience at Wipro and her leadership marks a continued shift toward women occupying major technical roles in large Indian IT firms. She now steers Wipro’s technology roadmap as the company navigates a fast-changing digital landscape. 

3. Kirti Patil

Serving as Joint President – IT & CTO at Kotak Mahindra Group Life Insurance, Kirti Patil has driven major data-centre virtualisation and cybersecurity programmes. Her expertise spans manufacturing, BFSI and vendor management which gives her a holistic view of both business and IT. 

4. Madhu Malhotra

As Chief Technology Officer at Zuno General Insurance (formerly Edelweiss General Insurance), Madhu Malhotra brings more than two decades of experience in fintech and telecom domains. She spearheaded digital insurance and financial-inclusion initiatives, marking her as a key figure in India’s insurtech evolution. 

5. Jyothirlatha B

As CTO/CIO at Godrej Capital, Jyothirlatha is focused on transforming the firm into a “TechFin” organisation, emphasising agility, customer-centricity and technology-driven growth. Her work is illustrative of how financial firms are becoming technology firms at their core. 

6. Priya Kanduri

Recognised at the NASSCOM Women in Tech Awards, Priya serves as CTO at Happiest Minds Technologies Ltd. Her leadership in digital, cloud and AI initiatives positions her as a key figure among emerging technical women leaders in India. 

7. Valli Bollavaram

Currently CTO at Swiss Re Solutions India, Valli was also a finalist in the NASSCOM Women in Tech programme. Her role involves driving innovation, insurtech and back-end platforms for global insurance operations. 

8. Suma M N

Recognized at the NASSCOM awards, Suma heads Technology at GE Aerospace (India) in the power and research domain. Her work shows how women CTOs are emerging even in deep infrastructure and industrial tech sectors. 

9. Dr Rohini Srivathsa

Named among the top Women CTOs from India, Rohini specialises in R&D, inclusive technology solutions for South Asia and sustainable growth models. Her career reflects how women technologists are leading in both research and business operations. 

10. Geena Malhotra

Featured in the “Top 10 Women CTOs from India – 2024”, Geena brings leadership in manufacturing product-development, drug-delivery systems, team management and integrated operations—a reminder that CTO roles aren’t confined to digital firms alone. 

11. Hemlata Tiwari

A co-founder and CTO featured in leading rankings, Hemlata highlights how early-stage tech companies are being led by women in strategic technology roles, combining startup agility with deep domain expertise. 

12. Jijy Oommen

With experience in retail, BFSI and fintech, Jijy Oommen holds a CTO position and is known for leading high-impact digital transformation programmes in India’s fast-moving enterprises.

13. Lawaljit Bhatia

Recognised for steering innovation in the education-technology space, Lawaljit’s role as CTO shows how technology leadership is expanding into domains beyond pure software or services.

14. Lily Prasad

As a CTO credited with big data analytics, data visualisation and software programme management, Lily showcases how modern CTOs must bridge technology and business intelligence.

15. Mary Shylaja

With a strong background in software development lifecycle, strategic planning and leadership, Mary Shylaja’s role as CTO emphasises the importance of technical foundations underpinning business growth. 

16. Puja Srivastava

As co-founder & CTO in a technology enterprise, Puja’s journey reflects how women are founding and leading tech firms in India, combining entrepreneurship with deep technical ownership.

17. Shreya Ghosh

18. Annapurna Kuchibhatla

Annapurna has been a steady force in enterprise technology leadership, known for her expertise in IT governance, security and large system rollouts.

19. Annapurna Vishwanathan

Annapurna is recognized for her work in digital strategy and IT transformation across manufacturing and FMCG sectors. She brings a cross-industry perspective that helps large organizations align technology investments with business outcomes.

20. Annie John Mathew

Annie John Mathew combines deep operational IT experience with supply-chain technology expertise. Her achievements include major ERP and retail technology implementations that improved forecasting and point-of-sale operations.

21. Aparajita Mukherjee Rajput

Aparajita is a seasoned technology executive with expertise in large scale enterprise transformations in the FMCG space. Her work centers on data engineering, analytics and building resilient digital platforms that support regional operations.

22. Aparna Kumar

Aparna leads IT for one of India’s largest public sector banks and has overseen massive infrastructure, digital banking and security programs.

23. Falguni Desai

Falguni has built her reputation by driving product and engineering excellence across payments, government services and B2B platforms. Her leadership blends hands-on code and architecture review with product strategy, and she is a frequent advocate for women in engineering.

24. Hemangini Thakkar

Hemangini is known for her strengths in security, compliance and operations within financial services. She has led information security transformation programs and established risk frameworks for asset management and banking environments.

25. Kopal Sarin Raj

Kopal is a technology leader who has been awarded multiple industry recognitions for driving digital transformation across manufacturing and financial services.

26. Reema Jain

Reema is a seasoned digital officer known for integrating cloud, AI, and analytics into automotive and manufacturing ecosystems. She leads cross-discipline teams to deliver product and platform modernization and has a strong track record in creating digital business lines.

27. Subha Tatavarti

Subha is a veteran product and technology leader at large IT services firms, focusing on product engineering and enterprise transformation. Her leadership spans R&D build, platform engineering and large client engagements.

28. Geeta Gurnani

Geeta serves in a senior role as a field technology leader for a major global systems company, working at the intersection of cloud, AI and enterprise adoption.

29. Saritha Devpunje

Saritha is an entrepreneur and CTO who has led AI and digital health initiatives and founded tech ventures focused on real-world solutions.

30. Rachana Kumar

Rachana is an engineering leader with strong product and data experience, known for building technology for education and public science initiatives. Her background includes program leadership at institutions that bridge technology and public impact and she often speaks about building inclusive tech teams.

The presence of women in CTO roles in India is no longer an anomaly, it is becoming a critical part of how modern enterprises are organised and led. While the tech world still has far to go in achieving full gender equity, the women highlighted here are proof that technical leadership is evolving. They bring not only deep engineering expertise but also strategic business insight, innovation mindset, and a commitment to building inclusive cultures.

As India’s technology journey speeds ahead into AI, cloud native, metaverse, fintech and beyond , having diverse leadership will not merely be a ‘nice to have’ ; it will be a competitive imperative. These thirty women CTOs are not only role-models but also signals of change that ripple across teams, companies and industries. For young women engineers, aspiring technologists and startup founders they show that the “top tech job” is eminently reachable. And for organisations, they underscore the fact that when you open the doors to outstanding talent regardless of gender, everyone wins.