Akhil Handa

Global Banking Leader

FirstHand

My attempt to chronicle the evolution of digital platforms in banking and adjacent markets—from the inside of a $300B global bank.

Former President & CDO • Led digital transformation serving 200M+ customers •Read my full story →

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Across 118 countries

AI Adoption Index

23.7%

Top 50 financial institutions

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+64%

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+37%

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+82%

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Deep dive into the latest trends shaping the digital banking landscape

The oracle has spoken, spelling out a tragedy for Indian techies

Featured

Global Trends•APR 4, 2026

The oracle has spoken, spelling out a tragedy for Indian techies

As Oracle Corporation slashes 30,000 jobs globally—including 12,000 in India—the layoffs reveal more than a routine restructuring. Beneath the surface lies a strategic pivot toward AI and capital-intensive infrastructure, where human labor is increasingly viewed as expendable. Driven in part by financial pressures tied to Larry Ellison’s high-stakes media ambitions and declining stock collateral, the cuts reflect a broader shift: from workforce-driven growth to margin optimization. For thousands of Indian tech workers, this transition underscores a harsh reality—being essential to legacy systems no longer guarantees relevance in an AI-first corporate future.

By Charles Assisi

Recent Articles

Global Trends, Digital Transformation•JUN 19, 2026

Kicked Upstairs

For two centuries, we’ve relied on a comforting pattern: when machines take our muscle, we climb to the mind. But what happens when the machines start automating thinking itself? We are facing a transition that removes the staircase. As cognition is offloaded to software, we risk being "kicked upstairs"—promoted into a state of "honoured irrelevance," where we are comfortable but sidelined, effectively removed from the steering wheel of our own lives. The danger is that "liberated" and "sidelined" look identical from the inside. We have mistaken economic utility for human dignity, assuming our value is tied to our output. If we are to avoid becoming obsolete in our own world, we must realize that the ultimate, un-automatable task isn't production—it’s the living of a life. The question isn't where we climb next; it is whether we still hold the power to say no. The escape, this time, may not be a higher rung to climb. It may be remembering what the ladder was for.

By Akhil Handa

Digital Transformation, Global Trends•DEC 23, 2025

The Republic of Trust: India’s New Covenant with its Builders

India’s regulatory state did not vanish with liberalisation; it fragmented. What was once a visible apparatus of control evolved into a dispersed web of approvals, filings, inspections, and digital obligations that quietly shape the cost of doing business. Designed originally to manage scarcity and risk, these systems accumulated through inertia rather than intent, weighing most heavily on small and mid-sized enterprises. Recent reforms—from MSME reclassification and labour code consolidation to the rollback of Quality Control Orders and regulatory rationalisation—signal a deeper shift underway: a move from suspicion to trust, from control to scale. The emerging regulatory architecture is not about less governance, but better governance—disciplined, proportionate, and aligned with the tempo of a modern economy.

By Akhil Handa, Tom Hyland

Global Trends, Digital Transformation•NOV 26, 2025

Informal Intelligence

India’s future with AI cannot be understood through a Western lens of rigid job roles and formalized labor. Over 80% of India’s workforce operates in fluid, informal systems where work is constantly reshaped by circumstance, not assigned through structured hierarchies. AI is entering not a neatly organized labor market, but a landscape defined by adaptability. While certain process-driven sectors like IT and BPO will feel pressure, the deeper story is one of mutation, not displacement. India repeatedly reorganizes itself through shocks—from demonetization to digital transitions—and this capacity to reconfigure gives it a unique advantage. AI will shrink some outsourcing categories but also create new “first-pass/second-pass” global workflows in fields like radiology, compliance, and legal services, where human oversight remains essential. As India’s domestic consumption surges and millions gain access to AI-enabled tools in local languages, new forms of entrepreneurship, services, and hybrid human–AI work will multiply. Automation in India will follow its own economic logic: not humanoid robots, but targeted, cost-effective tools that integrate into existing workflows. In a world where careers become episodic and tasks evolve rapidly, India’s greatest strength may be its deeply embedded informal intelligence—the ability to adapt, recombine skills, and navigate unstructured opportunity

By Tom Hyland, Akhil Handa

Fintech Innovation•SEP 29, 2025

Apple Ecosystem Is a USD 100 Billion BFSI Opportunity in India

In Sriperumbudur and Hosur, the factory floors tell a new story. What once produced wires and plastic for local markets now ships iPhones to the world. Apple exported USD 25 billion worth of iPhones in the first half of FY25, and India is on track to hit USD 50 billion by year-end — almost 4% of the MSME economy. Beyond Foxconn and Tata, hundreds of smaller suppliers are scaling up with Apple, employing 350,000 Indians today and potentially 1 million by 2030. This manufacturing boom is also a finance story. Vendor credit, export finance, insurance, EMIs, and employee loans together could unlock a ₹7 trillion BFSI opportunity by 2030. It’s a replay of the Maruti-Suzuki effect in the 1980s — when auto suppliers grew into global giants. Now, Apple is catalysing the same transformation in electronics, but at global scale and speed. Every iPhone exported isn’t just a product. It’s credit, insurance, IPOs, and housing loans in motion. An Apple a day doesn’t just make India happy — it makes Indian BFSI very happy.

By Akhil Handa

AI in Banking, Digital Transformation•AUG 26, 2025

Opinion in Economic Times, Edge Insights: Who's in charge in banking in the age of AI?

Artificial Intelligence promises to make banking faster, smarter, and more consistent—catching fraud, improving credit decisions, and tightening compliance. Yet, its rise complicates the very notion of accountability. Just as boards and regulators already struggle to assign responsibility in complex financial systems, AI introduces another opaque layer where outcomes may be explainable to no one. The danger lies in treating AI as a “hired gun” to blame, while the real solution may require doubling down: AI monitoring AI, embedding it into control frameworks, and redefining accountability architectures altogether. The future of banking governance won’t be about humans versus machines—it will be about building systems where both are inseparably responsible.

By Akhil Handa

AI in Banking, Fintech Innovation•AUG 24, 2025

AI Governance: Guardrails form Runways

AI governance in India’s BFSI sector stands at a critical inflection point. While the RBI’s FREE-AI Report lays a solid foundation with its seven sutras—fairness, transparency, accountability, safety, inclusivity, human oversight, and sustainability—the real challenge lies in translating frameworks into practice. As the sector grapples with balancing innovation and regulation, five key imperatives emerge: regulate outcomes, not technologies; establish guardrails for new AI-enabled activities; leverage AI as a leapfrog moment through regulator-led sandboxes; use AI to strengthen ethics, not just efficiency; and build indigenous AI ethics rooted in Indian values. If executed well, India’s approach could transform governance from a compliance exercise into an instrument of trust—and position the country as a global standard-setter in AI-led financial services.

By Akhil Handa

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Topics I'm Following

These are the areas I'm actively tracking and documenting as they evolve and reshape the financial landscape.

AI in Banking

How artificial intelligence is reshaping financial services

Digital Transformation

Case studies and insights on banking's digital journey

Fintech Innovation

Startups and technologies changing how we bank

Global Trends

International perspectives on banking evolution

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About Me

I'm Akhil Handa, and I've spent the last two decades working in digital banking and financial services. Most recently, I served as President & Chief Digital Officer at Bank of Baroda, where I led digital transformation initiatives across 25 international markets, helping serve over 200 million customers.

I use FirstHand to share what I've learned about the evolution of digital platforms in banking. Having worked at institutions like JPMorgan and contributed to digital finance policy, I try to offer practical insights on where the industry is headed.