Galaxy Surfactants Appoints Ex-Lupin Digital Head Narendra Saini as Chief Digital Officer

Galaxy Surfactants, a global manufacturer of ingredients for the home and personal care industry, has announced the appointment of its maiden chief digital officer (CDO). Narendra Saini, after serving Lupin as the chief digital and data officer for over five years, joined the company from March 2. Saini will lead the digital agenda at Galaxy Surfactants, including driving artificial intelligence initiatives in line with the company’s Vision 2030. He will report to Managing Director K. Natarajan. 

The company said in an exchange filing, “We wish to inform that Mr. Narendra Saini has been appointed as Chief Digital Officer (Senior Management Personnel) w.e.f. March 02, 2026.”

Mandate and Reporting Structure

When asked about his role at the company, Saini speaking with FE FUTECH said, “My focus will be on advancing Galaxy Surfactants’ digital agenda in line with the company’s Vision 2030 and strengthening digital capabilities across the organization. I will work on building stronger IT and digital teams and ensuring that technology supports business processes more effectively. This will include introducing Artificial Intelligence and machine learning capabilities where they can add value, as well as implementing automation in complex processes to improve efficiency and decision-making across functions.”

Saini will report directly to the MD, “I will be reporting to Mr. K. Natarajan, Managing Director, Galaxy Surfactants. In this role, I will work closely with him and the leadership team to ensure that the company’s digital initiatives support business priorities and strengthen operational efficiency across the organisation.

Key achievements at Lupin

At Lupin, where Saini served as Chief Digital & Data Officer, he worked on strengthening the company’s data and digital capabilities across several functions. “A significant part of my role involved building a strong data foundation so that teams could rely more on data for decision-making. We also expanded the use of analytics and AI across different business areas and upgraded the technology environment through cloud platforms and connected manufacturing systems. These efforts helped create real-time visibility across operations and supported several initiatives around efficiency and quality."

Notably, with expertise in Generative and Agentic AI, Saini has also been involved in initiatives around establishing a Generative AI Center of Excellence (GenAI CoE) and advancing enterprise-wide data governance programmes.

Narendra Saini is an alumnus of IIT Roorkee and MTech. from IIT Delhi with more than 25 years of experience. He brings deep expertise in leading enterprise BI, robotic process automation (RPA), data engineering and platforms, IoT & manufacturing digitization, data science, and business cross functional teams. He was also recognised as one of FICCI and DST’s Top 50 Innovators in India for work in this space.