MAM
Equitas brings in Balaji Nuthalapadi to hardwire its digital backbone
MUMBAI: India’s second-largest small finance bank just added some serious tech muscle. Equitas Small Finance Bank has appointed Balaji Nuthalapadi as executive director – technology and operations, signalling a sharp push towards tech-led transformation, seamless customer journeys and operational muscle.
The appointment, effective 29 March 2025, has received the green light from both the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and the Bank’s Board. With this move, Equitas is throwing down the digital gauntlet, placing a proven transformation leader at the heart of its operations.
“We are delighted to welcome Balaji Nuthalapadi to our leadership team. His vast experience in banking operations, technology and digital transformation will be a valuable asset as we continue to enhance our operational efficiency and drive innovation. His passion for digital banking, financial inclusion and social impact aligns seamlessly with the values and mission of Equitas Small Finance Bank,” said Equitas Small Finance Bank MD & CEO Vasudevan P N.
Nuthalapadi joins the Chennai-based bank with a CV that reads like a fintech playbook. At Citi Bank, he served as MD & head of centralised controls testing execution. There, he built a 1,100-member India team—one of the largest in global banking—to oversee international controls testing.
Previously, as MD & head of operations and technology for Citi south Asia, he helmed functions across India and southeast Asia, playing a crucial role in expanding Citi’s global hubs in India. An IIM Ahmedabad alumnus, he brings over two decades of hands-on expertise across operations, digital banking, and wealth management.
Now, Equitas is counting on that arsenal of experience to turbocharge its already impressive growth story. With a stronghold in financial inclusion and digital-first banking, the bank sees Balaji as the lynchpin of its future tech playbook.
The question now: how fast can he turn transformation into traction?
AD Agencies
Abhay Duggal joins JioStar as director of Hindi GEC ad sales
The streaming giant brings in a seasoned revenue hand as the battle for Hindi television advertising heats up
MUMBAI: Abhay Duggal has a new desk, and JioStar has a new weapon. The media and entertainment veteran has joined JioStar as director of entertainment ad sales for Hindi general entertainment channels, adding 17 years of hard-won revenue experience to one of India’s most powerful broadcasting operations.
Duggal is no stranger to big portfolios or bruising markets. Before joining JioStar, he spent a brief stint at Republic World as deputy general manager and north regional head for ad sales. Before that, he put in three years at Enterr10 Television, where he ran the north region for Dangal TV and Dangal 2, two of India’s leading free-to-air Hindi channels. The north alone accounted for more than 50 per cent of total channel revenue on his watch, a number that tends to get attention in any sales meeting.
His longest stint was at Zee Entertainment Enterprises, where he spent over six years rising to associate director of sales. There he commanded the Hindi movies cluster across seven channels, owned more than half of north India’s revenue across flagship properties including Zee TV and &TV, and closed marquee sponsorships across the Indian Premier League, Zee Rishtey Awards and Dance India Dance. He also handled monetisation for the English movies and entertainment cluster and the global news channel WION, a portfolio that would stretch most sales teams twice his size.
Earlier in his career Duggal closed what was then a Rs 3 crore single deal at Reliance Broadcast Network, one of the largest in Indian radio at the time, before that he helped launch and monetise JAINHITS, India’s first HITS-based cable and satellite platform.
His edge, by his own account, lies in marrying data and instinct: translating audience trends, inventory signals and client demands into long-term partnerships built on cost-per-rating-point discipline rather than short-term deal chasing. In a media landscape being reshaped by streaming, fragmented attention and AI-driven advertising, that kind of rigour is increasingly rare and increasingly valuable.
JioStar, which blends the scale of Reliance’s Jio platform with the content firepower of Star, is doubling down on its advertising business at precisely the moment the Hindi GEC market is getting more competitive. Bringing in someone who has spent nearly two decades doing exactly this, across some of India’s most watched channels, is a pointed statement of intent. Duggal has spent his career turning audiences into revenue. JioStar is clearly betting he can do it again, and bigger.
