Eminent CIO's Of India 2026

Strengthening Governance, Security and Digital Inclusion

 

Manikant Singh
Senior Vice President & Chief Information Security Officer
DMI Finance

 

The digital lending financial services company's technology and governance approach focuses on enabling sustainable growth, strengthening resilience, and expanding secure digital access. By aligning with Reserve Bank of India guidelines, national priorities such as Digital India, and recognized standards including ISO 27001 and NIST, the company is building a secure, scalable, and inclusive digital foundation that supports business growth while maintaining trust, compliance, and operational continuity.

 

Enhancing IT Governance
We are improving IT governance by adopting a risk-based, metrics-driven approach aligned with RBI guidelines and standards like ISO 27001 and NIST. We track measurable outcomes through KPIs and KRIs such as MTTD, MTTR, patch compliance, and audit closure rates. Governance is strengthened via board-level reporting, automated GRC tools, and continuous control monitoring. Regular cyber drills, audits, and third-party assessments ensure accountability, resilience, and continuous improvement in governance effectiveness.

 

IT strategy aligned with Digital India and Financial Inclusion
IT strategy enables growth by building secure, scalable digital platforms that support rapid lending, API integrations, and cloud adoption. We embed security-by-design to accelerate innovation without increasing risk. The strategy aligns with national priorities like Digital India and financial inclusion by delivering secure, accessible services to underserved and rural segments.

We ensure compliance with RBI regulations and data protection requirements while maintaining high availability and resilience. Our IT strategy directly contributes to sustainable business growth and broader economic development objectives.

 

Promoting Digital Inclusion without compromising on Security
We strengthen security and privacy through encryption, zero-trust access, and privacy-by-design aligned with RBI guidelines. Regular VAPT, monitoring, and third-party risk management enhance resilience. We promote digital inclusion by designing secure, simple, and accessible platforms for rural and underserved customers without compromising protection.

 

Secure-by-Design and Built-in Resilience
We ensure IT investments maximize value through risk-based prioritization aligned to business impact and RBI regulations. We adopt secure-by-design principles, embed resilience via redundancy and zero-trust, and track ROI using KRIs/KPIs. Continuous monitoring, audits, and resilience testing ensure sustained value and operational continuity.