Biocon Limited has appointed Mandar Ghatnekar as its new Chief Technology Officer in an internal elevation. Ghatnekar, who previously served as Global Head of IT & Digital Transformation at Biocon Biologics since April 2023, will now lead enterprise wide technology strategy, digital innovation, and AI initiatives across the Bengaluru headquartered biopharmaceutical company.
Glimpse:
The appointment, announced in early April 2026, positions Ghatnekar to drive Biocon’s healthtech convergence efforts, including faster R&D timelines, Industry 4.0 implementations, hybrid cloud models, and data driven decision-making. With over 20 years of experience in digital transformation and life sciences technology, he brings expertise from prior roles at Accenture and Johnson & Johnson to strengthen Biocon’s global biosimilars pipeline and operational efficiency.
Biocon, a leading global biopharmaceutical company, has elevated Mandar Ghatnekar to the position of Chief Technology Officer to spearhead its enterprise technology and digital innovation agenda. This internal move comes as the company seeks to harness advanced technologies amid the rapid convergence of biotechnology and healthtech in India. Ghatnekar will oversee the unification of Biocon’s IT ecosystem, focusing on scalable systems that support accelerated drug development, regulatory compliance, and personalized therapies in a market expected to grow significantly in the coming years.
Ghatnekar joined Biocon Biologics in April 2023 as Global Head of IT & Digital Transformation. In that role, he successfully managed post merger IT integration, promoted widespread adoption of artificial intelligence, cloud computing, and automation, and optimized supply chain and procurement processes. These efforts contributed to improved operational efficiency and better patient outcomes in biosimilars development. His new responsibilities as CTO will expand across the entire Biocon group, aligning technology investments with the company’s strategic goals of building robust digital platforms and modern infrastructure.
With more than two decades of experience in enterprise architecture, cybersecurity, data analytics, and AI/ML applications, Ghatnekar has a strong background in life sciences technology. Before Biocon, he held senior leadership positions at Accenture, where he guided digital strategy for pharmaceutical clients and introduced predictive analytics in manufacturing, and at Johnson & Johnson, where he developed global data platforms and compliance-focused technology solutions that delivered cost savings and innovation in drug delivery.
This leadership change reflects Biocon’s commitment to leveraging digital tools like digital twins and advanced analytics to shorten R&D cycles and enhance competitiveness. Ghatnekar’s appointment is expected to play a key role in scaling AI initiatives across procurement, research, and operations, supporting the company’s long term vision in the global biosimilars space.
“We are already past that decade of digitisation for competitive advantage... We are in the process of getting ourselves modernised and ready for the next wave of revolution that is happening... and that is around AI.”
By
HB Team
