MAM
Sanjeev Bikhchandani appointed to MakeMyTrip.com board
Bangalore, February 24, 2006: MakeMyTrip.com, India’s leading online
travel company and among the most successful Internet companies in the country, today announced the appointment of Mr. Sanjeev Bikhchandani as an independent member of the board of directors of MakeMyTrip.com.
Sanjeev Bhikchandani, CEO of Naukri.com is a veteran in the online industry and has established some of the most successful internet companies in India.
Sanjeev holds a Bachelor’s degree in Economics from St. Stephen’s College and is a management graduate from Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad. Sanjeev has vast experience across industries having worked with companies like Lintas India Ltd. and SmithKline Beecham among others. He was the Editor of Avenues – the careers supplement of The Pioneer and has also co-authored two books on job hunting and careers.
Mr Deep Kalra, Founder and CEO, MakeMyTrip.com, welcomed Sanjeev Bikhchandani recruitment to the board. He said, “MakeMyTrip has witnessed phenomenal growth since its launch in September 2005 and we are delighted to have Sanjeev on our board at this time. We are selling over 1000 tickets and 100 room nights daily and have more aggressive plans for 2006. With Sanjeev joining the board, we are confident his rich experience and understanding of the online industry will give strategic direction to our growth plans.”
Commenting on his appointment to the board, Sanjeev Bikhchandani said,
“When it comes to buying travel, MakeMyTrip has changed the way travel is bought today. Earlier, the travel agent was the one who was deciding for us whereas today we have all the information to plan on our own. This shift in decision making will revolutionise the way travel is bought in India and I am pleased to be a part of it.”
About MMT
MakeMyTrip was launched in 2000 as an online travel company catering to the USA to India market. The company registered sales of over Rs 100 crores in the fiscal year ending March 2005. For the current year, MakeMyTrip is on track to achieve sales of Rs 200 crores.
Headquartered at New Delhi, MakeMyTrip has served over 40,000 Indian customers and about 45,000 customers for the US – India operations. With a registered database of 130,000 NRI’s the US market has witnessed an impressive year-on-year customer renewal rate of 30%.
Brands
Zscaler, Airtel launch India AI Cyber Research Centre
New hub to boost cyber resilience and trusted AI use
NEW DELHI: As India’s digital engine roars ahead, so do the risks riding shotgun. In response, Zscaler, Inc. and Bharti Airtel have joined hands to launch the AI and Cyber Threat Research Center – India, a national initiative aimed at strengthening the country’s cyber defences and accelerating responsible AI adoption.
The centre is designed as a multi stakeholder platform that brings together industry, government and academia. Its mission is clear: protect critical sectors such as telecom, banking and energy, shield everyday digital users, and future proof India’s fast expanding online ecosystem.
India has long been a major innovation hub for Zscaler, with a substantial portion of its cyber research talent based here. With this new centre, that footprint evolves into a national collaboration engine. The idea is simple but ambitious, build in India, for India, and help power the country’s journey towards a secure and digitally self reliant future.
The timing is telling. India is building digital systems at population scale, not just enterprise scale. That scale has widened the attack surface dramatically. At the same time, cyber criminals and nation state actors are deploying AI to scan, probe and exploit vulnerabilities in minutes.
Zscaler’s research arm, ThreatLabz India, reports millions of infiltration attempts every month. These include espionage campaigns linked to regional geopolitical tensions, 1.2 million intrusion attempts from 20,000 sources targeting 58 Indian digital entities, and a rise in zero day exploit attempts across multiple industries.
In such an environment, perimeter based security models are struggling to keep pace. The new centre aims to push a shift towards secure by design systems and Zero Trust architecture.
Its strategy rests on four pillars: protect through real time intelligence, remediate by working directly with government agencies, facilitate adoption of AI driven security and Zero Trust frameworks, and build a stronger cybersecurity talent pipeline through specialised certifications.
As founding members, Zscaler and Airtel will combine global threat intelligence with local network visibility. Zscaler will deploy a dedicated India focused research team and draw insights from its Zero Trust Exchange platform, which processes over 500 billion daily transactions worldwide. Airtel, meanwhile, will contribute deep visibility into IoT and mobile traffic, helping detect suspicious activity faster and coordinate response across the ecosystem.
Bharti Airtel executive vice chairman Gopal Vittal, said the partnership extends Airtel’s commitment to safeguarding customers and the nation’s digital fabric. He added that the collaboration would address challenges unique to the Indian market and encourage secure and confident digital engagement.
Zscaler chief executive, chairman and founder Jay Chaudhry, said India’s digital ambition cannot be secured with legacy firewalls and VPNs. He noted that a modern Zero Trust architecture is essential for a hyper connected world and that the new centre would harness the scale of Zscaler’s global security cloud while empowering a new generation of Indian cyber defenders.
Additional members from critical public and private sectors are expected to join the initiative in the coming months, expanding its scope and deepening collaboration.
In a world where threats travel at machine speed, India’s answer is to think faster, collaborate wider and build smarter.
