Axis Bank AI Head Balaji N Moves On, Joins IndusInd Bank as Chief Data Officer

Balaji Narayanamurthy, President & Head- Enterprise Artificial Intelligence (AI) Group, Axis Bank has moved on. After serving the Bank for more than 15 years in various senior positions in the Business Intelligence (BI) Unit, he has joined IndusInd Bank as Chief Data Officer (CDO), according to an exchange filing by the IndusInd Bank. Balaji N was also serving as a member of the board of directors of Freecharge, mentions his Linkedin profile. Freecharge is a payment app and a 100 percent subsidiary of Axis Bank. 

The exchange filing by IndusInd Bank said, “Mr. Balaji Narayanamurthy has joined the Bank w.e.f. from today, December 1, 2025, as Chief Data Officer and part of Senior Management Personnel (SMP) of the Bank.”

‘Setting up Strong Data Practice From Scratch’

Expressing his ‘sadness’ on leaving Axis Bank after 15+ years, Balaji N also felt ‘satisfied’ at what he accomplished with his team, over the years. He said in a Linkedin note, “Together, we set up a strong data practice from scratch. We pioneered pre-qualified credit programs and scorecard driven retail credit underwriting long before they became industry standard. Data lakehouse, Hyper- personalization, Pricing, AI centers of excellence and many more.”

Balaji Narayanamurthy brings over two and half decades of experience in Banking, Analytics, Data science, Technology and Artificial intelligence.  

Prior to his association with the Indian Banking sector, Balaji Narayanamurthy spent close to 10 years in the USA credit card business. He has worked with Barclay Card US as Group Director of Analytics and also held various leadership roles in Analytics and Credit policy at Capital One. He started his career as a Management Associate at Citi Bank, India. 

Balaji Narayanamurthy holds a Bachelor’s degree in Electronics and Communication Engineering from IIT Chennai and a Post Graduate Diploma in Management from IIM Lucknow. 

IndusInd Bank’s MD & CEO, Rajiv Anand, appointed on August 25, 2025 for a three-year term, brings over 16 years of prior experience from Axis Bank.