Rajkumar Punna Appointed as Chief Information Security Officer atVistaar Financial Services Strengthening Cyber Resilience, Regulatory Governance & Cloud-First Security Leadership
In a strategic leadership move within India’s fast-growing financial services ecosystem, Rajkumar Punna has been appointed Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) at Vistaar Financial Services Pvt. Ltd., based in Bengaluru. His appointment reflects Vistaar’s commitment to building a resilient, compliant, and future-ready security posture as digital scale, regulatory expectations, and cyber risk continue to intensify across the lending and NBFC landscape.
With more than a decade of experience spanning information security, IT infrastructure, cloud security, governance, risk & compliance (GRC), and enterprise service delivery, Rajkumar brings a rare blend of operational depth and strategic security leadership to the CISO role.
Stepping Into the CISO Role at Vistaar Financial Services
As Chief Information Security Officer, Rajkumar is responsible for defining and executing the enterprise-wide information security strategy–closely aligned with business objectives, regulatory mandates, and digital growth initiatives.
His leadership charter includes:
- Designing and executing the enterprise information security roadmap
- Governing AWS cloud and infrastructure security, including CSPM, IAM, KMS, Security Hub, Inspector, and DC/DR strategies
- Overseeing application, database, and infrastructure security across cloud and on-prem environments
- Leading SOC operations, VAPT, DLP, MDM, IDS/IPS, XDR, and web security programs
- Ensuring regulatory and compliance alignment with RBI, CERT-In, ISO, SOC2, NIST, and ITGC frameworks
- Driving security awareness through phishing simulations, training, brand monitoring, and dark-web intelligence
- Strengthening service assurance, resilience, SLA governance, and business continuity
- Leading security budgeting, cost optimization, vendor governance, and risk assessments
- Building and mentoring high-performance InfoSec teams while engaging closely with CXOs and auditors
His mandate positions security not as a control function–but as a business enabler supporting scale, trust, and regulatory confidence.
From Head of Information Security to Enterprise CISO
Prior to his CISO appointment, Rajkumar served as Head – Information Security at Vistaar, where he laid the strategic and operational foundations for enterprise-grade cyber resilience.
In this role, he:
- Established cloud-first security governance across AWS infrastructure
- Integrated security operations across applications, databases, endpoints, and networks
- Strengthened audit readiness and regulatory compliance across RBI and industry frameworks
- Embedded security culture through organization-wide awareness initiatives
- Improved resilience, SLA adherence, and risk visibility across IT services
This progression reflects a leadership trajectory built on execution credibility and strategic trust.
Kinara Capital: Scaling IT Infrastructure & Security Leadership
Before Vistaar, Rajkumar spent over five years at Kinara Capital, progressing through increasingly senior leadership roles within IT Infrastructure and Security.
Divisional Head – IT Infra & Security
As Divisional Head, he led:
- Enterprise IT infrastructure and cybersecurity operations
- IT GRC, compliance, and audit programs
- Vendor management, budgeting, and project delivery
- High-performance, cross-functional technology teams
Assistant Divisional Head & Functional Manager Roles
Across earlier roles, Rajkumar:
- Led cloud operations and infrastructure security
- Managed AWS environments (EC2, RDS, S3) with a focus on scalability and cost optimization
- Directed endpoint, email, network, and enterprise communication security
- Owned IT risk management, audits, VAPT, and RBI compliance initiatives
- Governed vendor contracts, SLAs, procurement, and service assurance
His tenure at Kinara Capital reflects a hands-on leader who scaled systems, teams, and controls alongside business growth.
NTT Ltd.: Global IT Service Delivery at Scale
At NTT Ltd., Rajkumar served as IT Service Delivery Manager, handling global and PAN-India IT service delivery for organizations across:
- Pharma & Life Sciences
- Financial Services
- Automotive
- Retail & Textiles
Key highlights include:
- Managing end-to-end IT service delivery across multiple countries
- Acting as the primary interface for CIOs, VPs, and IT leadership teams
- Leading global operations across the US, UK, Australia, Singapore, and Kenya
- Ensuring SLA compliance across incident, problem, change, and release management
- Managing large, multi-geography teams and full people-management lifecycles
This role strengthened his ability to operate in complex, multi-stakeholder enterprise environments.
Manappuram Finance: Regional IT Leadership & Operational Excellence
Earlier in his career, Rajkumar spent nearly five years at Manappuram Finance Limited as Regional IT Lead, overseeing infrastructure and application operations across 500+ branch locations.
His responsibilities included:
- End-to-end IT infrastructure and application rollouts
- SLA governance and vendor management with IBM, HP, TATA, and Airtel
- Regional service uptime of 99.9%
- IT asset lifecycle management and audit readiness
- Supporting mission-critical financial applications and branch operations
This phase built his deep understanding of distributed IT environments and business-critical operations.
Leadership Philosophy: Security as a Business Enabler
Across roles and organizations, Rajkumar Punna’s leadership philosophy is consistent:
- Security must scale with business growth
- Cloud, compliance, and resilience are inseparable
- Governance succeeds when paired with operational excellence
- Strong teams and culture are the first line of defense
He blends technical depth, regulatory discipline, and executive engagement–an essential combination for modern CISO leadership in financial services.
CXO Gateway Reflection
At CXO Gateway, we see Rajkumar Punna’s appointment as CISO at Vistaar Financial Services as a reflection of how security leadership is evolving–from reactive controls to strategic risk stewardship and digital trust enablement.
From regional IT operations to enterprise cloud security and regulatory governance, Rajkumar’s journey highlights the making of a modern CISO:
one who understands systems end-to-end, leads with accountability, and builds security frameworks that support growth–not restrict it.
In an era where financial institutions are defined by trust, resilience, and compliance, leaders like Rajkumar don’t just protect systems–they strengthen institutions.