NIIT appoints Pankaj Jathar as CEO

Skills and talent development company NIIT said Pankaj Jathar has taken over as its chief executive officer with effect from Monday.

Jathar takes over from Sapnesh Lalla, who will continue as a non-executive director at the company while remaining CEO of NIIT Learning Systems.

Jathar has experience in consumer-focused businesses, spanning e-commerce, startups and D2C ventures. He will be responsible for capitalising on new opportunities through the integration of GenAI to drive innovation and growth, the company said in a statement.


Jathar began his career as a management trainee at NIIT, followed by a four-year stint at Tata Interactive Systems in London. He later joined Accenture as a solution architect, building IT solutions in the banking and finance sector for five years.

"We are excited to welcome Pankaj back to the NIIT family,” said Rajendra Pawar, chairman and co-founder of NIIT. "His experience and knowledge of technology-driven industries make him the perfect leader for NIIT. With his leadership, we are committed to building talent for the nation and driving forward our vision of excellence at NIIT."

Jathar was part of the launch team for Amazon India, managed the FMCG division at Cloudtail and ascended to the role of CEO of Prione (Amazon's joint venture with Catamaran) in 2020.

"I look forward to working closely with the talented team to build on our strengths, leverage emerging opportunities, and help to realise the true potential of our learners and partners," said Jathar.

NIIT delivers a diverse range of learning and talent development programmes to millions of individual and corporate learners in futuristic domains through its various businesses including NIIT Digital, StackRoute, RPS Consulting, Institute of Finance Banking & Insurance (IFBI), TPaaS and Sales & Service Excellence (SSE).