Mr. Sudhir Jayram Nikam - Indian Institute of Technology Bombay

Mr. Sudhir Jayram Nikam

B.Tech, Chemical Engineering, 1993

Mr. Sudhir Jayram Nikam currently works as a Software Support Director in the Banking Products Division of Oracle Financial Services Software Limited (OFSS), a listed company majorly owned by Oracle Inc. USA. He leads a team of 25 and supervises the Support Operations for the company’s flagship core banking product, FLEXCUBE (the World’s No. 1 Core Banking Solution) across financial institutes in India.

For the first three years after graduating from IIT Bombay in 1993, he worked in Reliance Industries for the Jamnagar Refinery Project (the world’s single largest grass-root project of vast complexity). This stint in the process industry gave him an insight into how mammoth projects are planned, engineered, and managed. After that, he shifted to the software industry and joined CITIL (Citicorp’s Financial Software Company) and continued for 27 years, working extensively in programming, product implementation, production support, QA, and pre-sales acquiring experience in all lifecycle stages of projects. He was able to use his learnings from the Refinery Project for core banking implementation as the fundamentals remained same. However, his expertise is mainly in the Retail Banking domain. He had the opportunity to visit 20+ countries where he worked at client locations across multiple geographies, experiencing varied cultures, peoples, traditions, arts, and cuisine. These travels enriched his maturity and widened his thoughts. He has lived in West Africa, the West Indies, South Africa, the Middle East, and across South East Asia as part of his project stints.

Among his most cherished memories associated with the Institute are, “The late declaration of JEE Results delayed the start of the first semester of our batch. Our first day in the hostel was the second day of the mid-semester exam for seniors. We were pleasantly surprised as we were walking like free birds, unaware of the tormenting tales we heard about fresher’s first night at IITB. Seniors were walking by like harmless strangers with cold stares and some with mischievous smiles. We had a nice sleep that night, it was a cakewalk. The next day the mid-sems got over and that night was dreadful. After coming from the labs in the evening, none of the freshers reached the room before 4 am the next day.’’

His contribution to the Institute includes handling the communication duties for 9+ months as a part of the core team of his batch’s SJRU. He handled various media for the same (WA, e-mail, presentations), coordinated with IITBAA’s team and previous batches, and documented and shared their learnings with the next 3-4 batches. He collaborated with the sponsors of SINE, FAP, Student Wellness, and DRF to identify needs and shortlist the legacy projects by batch preferences. He was part of the team that led to the review, finalization, and signing of the MoU with IIT Bombay.

He also served IITBAA as a board member for two terms, 3 years of which were as its treasurer. He is currently the convener of the FAP Committee where he takes care of strategic planning, operations, new initiatives, and funding for the project. He spearheaded the implementation of effective automation and MIS system for FAP. He actively participated in looking after accounting, audit, and financials for the H-5 renovation project as well as preparing the initial framework for the accounting of Project Evergreen. He is also an active participant in several of the Institute’s programs including as an evaluator and panel member of the Invention Factory, DSSE Entrepreneurship Symposium, etc.

His hobbies include a passion for freelance writing, which he plans to pursue actively at a later stage in life. Listening to old Hindi, and Marathi songs and classical music relaxes him. He also loves watching and analysing light classic movies – mostly human interest and real-life drama sans violence.

Motivation towards contribution to IIT Bombay

“I was a brilliant student but a shy, inept, novice person coming from a lower middle-class family having studied in vernacular medium. IIT Bombay gave me the priceless opportunity to catapult into a confident individual and take on the challenges in the professional world. It is here I made friends across many regions of India, speaking different languages, and having varied cultures, skills, and thought processes. This diversity of interaction and opportunity in the hostel, and campus helped me widen my perspective to look at the world with maturity. IIT Bombay’s education gave me respect and identity in my career and social circle. Like our parents who render these values in a selfless manner, my other mother (alma mater), IITBombay has passed me this as an inheritance, so why not I give back to the IIT Bombay community? When I started working for the Alumni Association, I closely connected with our senior alumni, some even 30-40 years senior to me, contributing in terms of time, talent, and treasure that really impressed me and motivated me to actively pursue it. Looking at their profound love for the Institute, energetic participation in spite of being professionally busy, and the altruistic nature of their service to their alma mater, I felt I have a connect with that, and I need to emulate and take the baton in my hand.”