Piramal Group CIO Viral Gandhi outlines the transformation of Piramal Pharma through “Project Catalyst NxGen,” a flagship ERP and AI initiative.
Piramal Pharma’s Catalyst NxGen, a flagship ERP initiative, is complemented by targeted automation, advanced analytics, and infrastructure modernisation programmes, collectively driving business impact and operational excellence. The emphasis today is on building a future-ready, data & AI-driven and scalable technology ecosystem that directly supports the organisation’s long-range ambition of doubling revenue and tripling profitability by FY2030, says Viral Gandhi, president & Group CIO, Piramal Group. In this interview with Sudhir Chowdhary, he discusses some of the tech initiatives and business outcomes so far. Excerpts:
How would you describe Piramal Pharma’s current stage of digital transformation?
Piramal Pharma is currently in the scale and institutional phase of its digital transformation journey. Over the past few years, the focus has moved from foundational digitisation to enterprise wide transformation anchored in measurable business outcomes. With Project Catalyst, the organisation has systematically upgraded its legacy systems, automated processes, and embedded intelligence across operations. The emphasis today is on building a future ready, data & AI driven and scalable technology ecosystem that directly supports the organisation’s long-range ambition of doubling revenue and tripling profitability by FY2030.
Project Catalyst NxGen is central to Piramal Pharma’s FY2030 growth ambitions. How is the ERP and digital transformation driving measurable business impact beyond efficiency gains?
Catalyst NxGen is not a technology upgrade but a core business transformation programme. The ERP-led transformation is enabling process excellence, transparency, and consistency across manufacturing, quality, finance, supply chain, and shared services.
Beyond efficiency gains, the programme is driving tangible business outcomes such as reduced improved on-time in-full (OTIF) and first-time right performance, unplanned downtime through smart automation, faster batch release cycles enabled by digital batch manufacturing records, higher employee productivity, stronger collaborations with partners and tighter working capital discipline through integrated planning and execution. Most importantly, it creates a single source of truth that enables faster and more accurate decision making at scale, which is critical to supporting revenue growth and profitability expansion.
How are AI and analytics being scaled across R&D, manufacturing, quality and supply chain to improve decision making?
AI and analytics are being scaled through a structured, outcome focused approach rather than isolated pilots. In research and development, data-driven insights are being leveraged to enhance process understanding and decision making. In manufacturing, AI-driven automation and sensor-based intelligence are improving equipment reliability, reducing deviations, breakdowns and unplanned downtimes, and enhancing throughput. Digital batch manufacturing records are enabling better quality oversight and faster cycle times.
Across quality, AI-enabled investigation reports are accelerating root-cause analysis, improving deviation and corrective action and preventive action (CAPA) effectiveness, and ensuring consistent, compliant decision-making. In supply chain and planning, advanced analytics are improving demand forecasting, inventory optimisation and responsiveness and optimizing working capital. The overarching objective is to embed intelligence into workflows so that decisions are proactive and accurate.
What safeguards are embedded within Project Catalyst for data security and compliance?
Data protection, governance, and compliance are foundational pillars of Project Catalyst. The transformation is being built on secure, scalable cloud-enabled infrastructure with strong access controls, role-based permissions, and robust data governance frameworks. A comprehensive master data management approach ensures accuracy, consistency, lineage and accountability across systems while security-by-design and privacy-by-design principles are embedded across the solution landscape. This includes data classification, encryption at rest and in transit, controlled data access, and privacy controls to ensure personal and sensitive data is collected, processed, and retained in line with applicable global data-privacy regulations.
At Piramal Pharma, we adopt zero trust security frameworks, continuous monitoring, and proactive cyber risk management to detect and respond to threats in real time. Together, these governance and technology safeguards ensure ongoing compliance with evolving global regulations while protecting sensitive data, intellectual property, and operational integrity across geographies.
How are you driving cultural adoption of digital and AI tools within the organisation?
Cultural adoption is being driven through strong leadership ownership & accountability, clear linkage between digital & AI initiatives and business outcomes, and sustained capability building. Leaders are actively involved in shaping priorities, reinforcing accountability, contributing to problem solving and achieving outcomes. At the team level, continuous learning, adoption of newer ways of working, seamless collaboration & structured organisational change management are ensuring that digital & AI tools become part of their day-to-day working rather than peripheral systems. The focus is on creating ownership, building confidence, and fostering a mindset where technology is seen as an enabler of performance and growth and becomes a default way of working.
Looking ahead, which emerging technologies will play a vital role in strengthening Piramal Pharma’s competitive advantage?
The convergence of advanced analytics, AI, digital twins and agentic AI will play a defining role. Agentic AI in particular represents a shift from insight generation to autonomous, context aware decision making across processes. The focus will remain on technologies that deliver measurable business value rather than novelty. Combined with deeper automation, interoperable digital platforms, and stronger data foundations, these technologies will help Piramal Pharma stay patient and customer centric, scale efficiently, improve speed to market, enhance quality, and remain resilient in an increasingly complex global environment.
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