Harsh Vardhan, Global Head of Digital Innovation, AI, Industry 4.0, and Innovation Culture at Apollo Tyres, first encountered artificial intelligence during his engineering studies at NIT. Back then, it was little more than an academic concept confined to textbooks. His interests at the time lay in coding and large mainframe systems rather than in machines that could mimic human thought.After graduation, he began his career in IT within the banking and financial services sector. Expecting to work on transactional systems using COBOL and JCL, he instead joined Compute Credit, a fintech credit card provider, where he was introduced to data warehousing, mining, and business intelligence. Analysing vast datasets to identify patterns and behaviours, he helped to build solutions for subprime and non-prime customers. Early analytics and machine learning techniques were applied to drive financial inclusion — a practical, real-world use of AI that would shape his professional outlook.What began as a detour from his plan became the foundation of his career in analytics. He saw firsthand how data-driven insights and pattern recognition could reshape decision-making and customer experience. AI had moved from theory to impact — and he was hooked.Today, with over two decades of experience, Vardhan leads Apollo Tyres’… Read MoreYourStory RSS Feed
