Express Computer’s inaugural Digital Native & E-commerce Summit captures how AI, data and commerce are redefining enterprise DNA
The inaugural edition of Express Computer’s Digital Native & E-commerce Summit, held on March 11, 2026 in Bengaluru, captured a defining moment in enterprise evolution, where digital-native organisations were not just scaling rapidly but fundamentally rethinking how businesses are being built in an AI-first, commerce-driven world.
Bringing together leaders from fintech, e-commerce, cloud-native enterprises, and high-growth startups, the summit reflected the momentum of India’s digital economy, powered by over 751 million internet users and a rapidly expanding online commerce market. What emerged across discussions was a clear shift: enterprises were moving beyond isolated digital initiatives toward integrated systems where data, AI, infrastructure, and customer experience operated as a unified whole.
Setting the tone, Akhil Gupta, Co-founder & CTPO, NoBroker, framed the evolution of commerce as both technological and behavioural. “The future of commerce is conversational; voice will be India’s next UPI moment,” he said, highlighting a fundamental shift in user interfaces. At the same time, he emphasised that AI is an enabler of human potential. “AI isn’t here to replace humans; it’s here to make them ten times more capable,” he noted, adding that the real constraint to adoption is imagination, not technology. His larger message was that automation must ultimately enhance customer experience and drive tangible business outcomes.
This balance between ambition and execution was echoed by Kausal Malladi, CTO – Investments, INDMoney, who addressed the foundational requirements of fintech systems. “Scalability and security are not competing priorities; they are twin pillars of a fintech system that must grow and protect at the same time,” he said. He further stressed the importance of building resilience from the outset. “True reliability begins when resilience is built from Day Zero, not when firefighting begins after going live,” he added, reinforcing the need for engineering discipline in high-growth environments.
As the discussion shifted toward infrastructure, Ranganath Sadasiva, CTO, HPE India, highlighted how AI workloads were reshaping enterprise IT strategies. He pointed out that the hybrid cloud was emerging as the dominant model, enabling organisations to align performance, compliance, and cost. Complementing this, Rahul Parekh, Marketing Head, Sheeltron Digital Systems, drew attention to the physical backbone of digital transformation. “Scalable AI infrastructure ultimately depends on foundational capabilities such as power, cooling, and high-speed connectivity,” he noted, underscoring that digital scale is inseparable from physical infrastructure readiness.
The growing centrality of data was further reinforced by Raman Srinivasan, Chief Digital Officer, InMobi, who cautioned against premature AI adoption. “Building scalable AI systems requires a strong digital core, a robust data ecosystem, and a flexible AI platform layer,” he explained, adding that enterprises must anchor AI initiatives to measurable business outcomes rather than experimentation alone. This perspective was extended by Harsh Singla, Regional Sales Director, Confluent, who highlighted the importance of real-time data. “AI delivers real business value only when it is powered by continuous, real-time streams of data,” he said, pointing out that batch-based architectures could not support the responsiveness required in the AI era.
In the context of commerce at scale, Sarat Buddhiraju, Chief Architect, BigBasket, brought a performance-centric lens. He explained that in microservices-driven architectures, even milliseconds of delay could significantly impact user experience and revenue. “Predictable performance during sudden traffic spikes is critical to maintaining a smooth customer experience,” he said, illustrating how infrastructure decisions directly influenced business outcomes in real-time commerce environments.
As AI and data expanded across enterprise systems, the importance of privacy and governance came sharply into focus. Roshmik Saha, Co-founder & CTO, Skyflow, highlighted the growing complexity of managing sensitive data. “Treating sensitive data as a separate architectural layer helps organisations enable innovation while maintaining strong privacy controls,” he said, reflecting a broader shift driven by the DPDP Act. His perspective positioned privacy not as a compliance afterthought, but as a core architectural principle in AI-driven enterprises.
The human and operational dimensions of digital transformation were brought out by Vaibhav Tewari, Co-founder & CEO, Portea, who discussed the challenges of building a digital-native healthcare platform. He noted that technology must ultimately serve a clear purpose. “Technology and AI must ultimately serve a clear purpose, improving patient outcomes while making healthcare delivery more efficient,” he said, highlighting the need to balance innovation with real-world impact.
As organisations scaled, the importance of architectural clarity became more evident. Harish Rama Rao, SVP Engineering, ACKO, pointed out that companies that succeeded at scale adopted a platform-first mindset early on. “A scalable digital architecture requires three clear layers—a platform, products built on top of it, and growth pods that accelerate business outcomes,” he explained, reinforcing the importance of building strong foundations rather than relying on incremental fixes.
The evolution of commerce itself was explored by Ramesh Gururaja, SVP – Consumer Products and Growth, Flipkart, who highlighted a shift towards more intuitive and content-driven experiences. “As conversational interfaces become the new entry point to commerce, platforms must balance intelligence, latency, and cost to scale effectively,” he said, pointing to the increasing complexity of designing seamless customer journeys. This was complemented by Lakshminarayan Swaminathan, Head of Product Management & Design, Myntra, who reflected on AI’s role in shaping user experiences. “In fashion commerce, AI should enhance inspiration and visualisation, helping users see complete looks rather than just individual product recommendations,” he noted, emphasising that innovation must align with user behaviour.
Security, meanwhile, emerged as a business-critical function. In a fireside chat, Shravan Koti, CISO, Zerodha, underscored that security must be embedded from the start, not treated as an afterthought. He highlighted the importance of zero-trust models and disciplined security practices in protecting customer trust. Extending this view, Eva Saiwal, Head of Cyber Risk and Insurance, Policybazaar for Business, brought attention to the human element in cybersecurity. She noted that many breaches stem from human errors, making awareness and organisational culture essential to reducing risk.
The importance of governance in enabling sustainable growth was highlighted in the panel discussion featuring Dr Saurabh Kumar, CIO, Captain Fresh; Anand Mahalingam, Vice President – Data Science, Go Digit General Insurance; and Rajeev Koul, Vice President, CtrlS. The discussion underscored that governance frameworks must evolve alongside scale to maintain trust, compliance, and operational efficiency in rapidly growing organisations.
Equally significant was the role of collaboration in driving innovation. In the panel on collaborative ecosystems, Vivek Agarwal, Co-founder & CTO, Square Yards, noted how AI was accelerating development cycles and enabling faster experimentation. Anand Jain, Director of Engineering, Meesho, emphasised the importance of ecosystem partnerships in scaling digital marketplaces, while Mayank Juneja of Cashfree Payments highlighted the need to focus on core strengths rather than building everything in-house. Pranjal Singh, Staff Data Scientist, Udaan, pointed out that AI was shifting engineering roles toward system-level thinking, and Chidambaran Subramanian, Director of Technology, InCred noted that faster development cycles were raising customer expectations. Adding to this, Niladri Das, Managing Director, Niladvantage Technologies, highlighted how collaboration with emerging startups could unlock faster innovation.
The inaugural edition of Express Computer’s Digital Native & E-commerce Summit ultimately underscored a clear inflection point. Across fintech, commerce, healthcare, and platform businesses, a common blueprint emerged, one where AI was embedded into workflows, data flowed in real time, infrastructure was designed for performance and resilience, and trust was built into the system by design. As digital-native enterprises continue to evolve, they are not just adapting to change; they are actively redefining how modern enterprises are built, scaled, and experienced in an increasingly AI-driven world.