MAM
upGrad appoints Ankit Khirwal as VP – marketing
Mumbai: Homegrown ed-tech company upGrad on Saturday announced that Ankit Khirwal has joined the upGrad management team as vice president – marketing.
As part of his new role, Khirwal will lead the end-to-end marketing efforts across the organisation. He will manage all aspects of brand marketing and public relations, performance marketing, CRM marketing, creative and content marketing.
Khirwal was earlier associated at Pepperfry as marketing head. As a part of its senior leadership team, he managed the entire marketing function. In addition to marketing, he has also led various verticals including category management, financial planning & strategy. Prior to Pepperfry, as an analyst at RBS International, he worked on key Debt Capital Market transactions for Indian corporates. An IIM-Bangalore alumnus, he is a CA by qualification and a graduate of the Shri Ram College of Commerce.
Welcoming Khirwal on board, upGrad India, CEO, Arjun Mohan said, “We are thrilled to have Ankit onboard. His proven experience in deepening brand presence, expanding the consumer funnel, and scaling up revenue will be invaluable in helping upGrad maintain its rapid growth to meet the strong demand with the expansion of our footprint in international markets and new verticals.”
Talking about his new role, Khirwal said, “I was the first person in my entire family to pursue studies beyond under-graduation. I understand and value the importance of education in life. It is an exciting time to be part of the global online education revolution and it will be a fulfilling experience to take upGrad’s philosophy of lifelong learning ahead.”
MUMBAI: In India’s fast-moving payments race, Visa has just swiped in a new leader. The company has named Suresh Sethi as its India country head, marking a key leadership shift as it sharpens its focus on digital payments growth in the market. Sethi steps into the role following his recent exit from Protean eGov Technologies, where he served as chief executive officer. He succeeds Sandeep Ghosh, who has moved on after more than four years at Visa to pursue an external opportunity.
The appointment comes at a time when Visa is doubling down on its expansion strategy across India and the wider region, deepening partnerships and accelerating adoption in an increasingly competitive digital payments ecosystem.
Sethi brings with him a broad, cross-market perspective shaped by decades of experience across corporate banking, retail financial services, mobile money and large-scale government technology initiatives. He began his career at Citigroup, where he spent 14 years working across India, Africa, South America and the United States, focusing on transaction banking services within the corporate bank.
His appointment signals a blend of institutional experience and market familiarity qualities that could prove critical as Visa navigates a landscape where fintech innovation, regulatory evolution and consumer adoption are all accelerating at once.
As digital payments in India continue to scale rapidly, the leadership change underscores a simple reality, in a market where every tap, scan and swipe counts, who leads the charge can matter just as much as the technology itself.
