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Citi names Ankur Khurana as head of commercial banking in India
New leader to steer mid-market growth as Citi doubles down on India
MUMBAI: Citi has appointed Ankur Khurana as the new head of its commercial banking business in India, effective 9 February 2026, signalling a sharper focus on the segment as a key growth engine in Asia.
Khurana will report to Gunjan Kalra, head of Citi commercial bank for Japan, Asia North and Australia, as well as Asia South, with a matrix reporting line to K Balasubramanian, CEO and banking head for Citi India and the Indian Subcontinent.
In her new role, she will be responsible for driving the strategy, growth and overall performance of the commercial banking franchise in the country. Her remit includes revenue, portfolio quality, capital returns and operating efficiency, along with strengthening cross-border opportunities for clients.
She will work closely with teams across banking, markets, services and wealth to ensure mid-sized and emerging corporates have access to Citi’s global suite of solutions, from cash management and trade finance to foreign exchange and capital markets. The role will also see her partner with investment banking teams to identify joint opportunities and support clients looking at capital market moves or strategic acquisitions.
Commercial banking is central to Citi’s global playbook, catering to mid-sized companies with international ambitions. In India, the franchise has built strong links with the start-up ecosystem and already banks nearly half of the country’s unicorns.
Gunjan Kalra said the segment continues to be a vital growth driver for the bank, adding that India remains one of Citi’s most strategic markets. She noted that Khurana’s experience in building high-performing franchises and her strong client and risk orientation would help deepen regional connectivity and strengthen the India business.
K Balasubramanian said India’s mid-market and emerging corporate space is entering a phase of rapid expansion, with more companies tapping capital markets and exploring overseas growth. He added that Khurana’s client relationships and disciplined financial approach would be crucial as the bank scales up in this segment.
Khurana brings more than two decades of global banking experience across corporate and investment banking, client coverage, financing, markets and transaction banking. Most recently, she was managing director and co-head of client coverage for India and South Asia at Standard Chartered. Her career has also included senior roles at Credit Suisse, JPMorgan and ICICI Bank.
She holds an MBA in finance and marketing from XLRI Jamshedpur, where she was a double gold medallist, and a Bachelor of Commerce degree from the University of Delhi.
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IICT partners with Gativedhi to bring studio production tools to students
New MoU lets students explore AI-driven production pipelines for AVGC-XR
MUMBAI: The Indian Institute of Creative Technologies (IICT) has teamed up with Gativedhi Technologies to give students a front-row seat to modern studio production. The collaboration will integrate Gativedhi’s AI-powered production intelligence platform, Shotrack, into academic programmes, letting students experience the workflow systems used by animation, VFX and gaming studios.
Under the MoU, faculty, students and researchers will get hands-on access to Shotrack through beta programmes, pilot deployments and academic evaluations. This will allow them to explore simulated production pipelines, understand asset management, track tasks and monitor schedules, essentially seeing how complex projects come together behind the scenes.
Shotrack is designed to tackle a key industry challenge: when multiple studios work on the same project, differing internal systems often create bottlenecks, slow approvals and complicate version control. The platform provides a unified production environment, enabling smoother collaboration across distributed teams while generating operational insights and predictive analytics to optimise crew allocation, forecast schedule risks and manage costs.
The collaboration also opens doors to Gativedhi’s wider ecosystem. Upcoming tools include StudioTrack, for studio operations management covering budgeting, recruitment and IT infrastructure, and WorkTrack, which measures workflow efficiency and team productivity across industries.
IICT plans to embed these tools into programmes covering animation pipelines, VFX workflows, gaming production and media project management. Students will also benefit from guest lectures, masterclasses, workshops, internships and research projects that connect academic learning with real-world studio practices.
IICT CEO Vishwas Deoskar, said the partnership provides “An environment where production pipeline tools can be explored, tested and refined while students gain insight into how large-scale productions are organised.”
Gativedhi Technologies founder & CEO Senthil Kumar added, “This collaboration introduces students to real-world studio management tools and helps us improve our platform with academic feedback.”
With Shotrack in classrooms, India’s future animators, VFX artists and gaming producers will get a taste of studio life long before they step into one.
