K. Phaneendra Kumar

Phaneendra Kumar is a technology leader with more than two decades of senior experience in global banking and financial services.

He began his international career as a Technology Consultant at Barclays Bank, London, where he spent about seven years on enterprise banking platforms, regulatory technology and cross-border payment infrastructure — gaining deep exposure to how world-class institutions approach fraud detection, compliance and risk.

He then spent sixteen years at Bank of America, rising to Senior Vice President. There he led large technology programmes across digital banking, fraud-risk systems, regulatory reporting and platform modernisation — and saw first-hand how financial crime evolves, and how slow institutional responses let criminals stay ahead of victims.

Returning to India, he saw a stark contrast: global banks had sophisticated fraud-response infrastructure, while Indian citizens — especially in regional-language communities — had almost no real-time defence. Victims had to call, explain and wait, while money moved through mule accounts within minutes.

He founded DigiKavach to close that gap: an AI-powered platform that acts in seconds, helps victims file complaints and freeze requests within the Golden Hour, and prepares evidence in the language the victim actually speaks. He also leads ventures in healthcare technology (VitalEdge), logistics (WareLink India) and revenue cycle management (ClaimIQ) — all built on the same idea: use technology to solve problems that matter to ordinary Indians.