Former Vice President, Kyndryl. Four decades of leadership across IBM, HCL and global markets. Author of seven books on the Bhagavad-Gita.
“You have a right to your work alone, never to its fruits. Do your duty with excellence, without attachment to the outcome.”
The Bhagavad-Gita, 2.47 · his guiding verse for 44 years
Open to consulting, advisory and board conversations across M&A and integration, security and resiliency, business transformation and global operations, and always glad to explore opportunities where four decades of experience and a truly global perspective can add value.
Rajiv Sachdev
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About
Rajiv Sachdev has spent his life at the cross-section of technology, business and timeless ideas.
He retired as Vice President of the Security and Resiliency Practice at Kyndryl, where he led the Center of Competency for Strategic Markets: more than fifty countries across Asia Pacific, Europe and Latin America. Before that came a long and distinguished innings at IBM, where he helped establish the company’s services business in India from its very first sale, ran businesses across Asia Pacific, served as Chief Operating Officer in Singapore, and led the global integration of a multi-country acquisition.
The story begins simply: an Electronics and Communication Engineer from Regional Engineering College, Kurukshetra, who joined HCL as a Customer Engineer in 1982 and earned eight promotions in nine years. What followed was four decades of building things that lasted, in India, in Singapore, and around the world.
Alongside this career runs a quieter, deeper one: a devotion to the Bhagavad-Gita of forty-four years, which has taken shape as seven published books that draw out its essence for modern readers.
Today he combines both worlds: a writer with an executive’s discipline, and an advisor with a philosopher’s patience, open to consulting engagements, advisory roles and interesting new work.
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Advisory & Consulting
Available for consulting engagements, advisory roles and board positions, bringing four decades of global technology leadership to organisations navigating change.
M&A and Integration
Global Integration Executive for a multi-country acquisition: end-to-end experience integrating people, business and operations across four countries.
Security and Resiliency
Led security and resiliency strategy for 50+ countries at Kyndryl, a board-level concern for banks, financial institutions and healthcare.
Global Operations and P&L
Ran business units and services hubs across India, Singapore and Asia Pacific with full responsibility for sales, delivery and performance.
Building New Businesses
Launched service lines from zero to hundreds of millions, from IBM’s services business in India to Emerging Technologies across Asia Pacific.
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Books
Beneath the executive and the author is, first, a man of quiet faith. A strong follower of Guruji and Lord Krishna, Rajiv has leaned on that devotion through every patch of ambiguity and uncertainty in a long career; it is the force that has kept him steady, grounded and generous through it all.
That faith, written down, became seven books on the essence and teachings of the Bhagavad-Gita, each one a step further on the same path.
The Author
A Journey Through Seven Books
Fourteen years of writing, from Secrets of Living in 2011 to Sampada in 2025, in English and in Hindi, each book carrying the Gita a little further into everyday life.
The author, in the company of his life’s work.Fourteen years of writing, gathered on one shelf.
The Collected Works
The Shelf
Published by Sterling Publishers · Available on Amazon Seven books · 2011–2025
Coming Soon
The Eternal Journey of the Soul
His next book, and his most personal one: on how spiritual sampada and karma accompany the soul through life and beyond.
Forewords by Dr. Karan Singh, with Mary Pat Fisher and Vinod Aggarwal on the early titles.
The People Behind the Books
The co-authors who wrote alongside him.
Dr. Karan SinghThe statesman and scholar who wrote the forewords, receiving Bhagavad-Gita: A Fresh Approach.
Neeraj GuptaCo-author across the series, from the first book to the latest.Karan AhujaCo-author of Bhagavad-Gita: A Fresh Approach.
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The Journey
1982–1991
HCL Limited
Joined as a Customer Engineer straight out of engineering college; rose to Senior Regional Manager through eight promotions in nine years.
1991–1993
IDM Limited, Head of Services
Led the services business across fifty mainframe installations in India and Nepal, heading a team of one hundred professionals, a position next to the Managing Director.
1993–2000
Building the India business
Established IBM’s services business in India from its first sale, then led the Networking business unit on full P&L, growing it to the number three position in the country by 1999.
2001–2011
Asia Pacific and global roles
Launched the Emerging Technologies service line for Asia Pacific and grew it past $300M; led Linux and Open Source services worldwide past $400M; headed the country technical organisation for a billion-dollar-a-year business.
2012–2017
Singapore: Technical Leader and COO
Asia Pacific Technical Solution Leader, then Director and Chief Operating Officer of the Services Integration Hub covering Asia Pacific, Greater China, Japan, the Middle East and Africa.
2017–2021
Global Integration Executive
Led the global integration of the Sanovi acquisition across India, Singapore, UAE and the USA: hands-on M&A leadership across HR, finance, sales, legal, development and business, rated Excellent on performance.
2021–2023
Vice President, Security and Resiliency
Led the Center of Competency for Security and Resiliency for Strategic Markets: more than fifty countries across Asia Pacific, Europe and Latin America. Having travelled and worked across 50+ countries, he brings the global perspective, judgement and leadership that only the road can teach.
2023–today
The author’s chapter
Writing, publishing and speaking, with an eye on the next interesting engagement.
From the Album
A record of excellence, from the very beginning.
School days: an early habit of collecting prizes.Another year, another award, another handshake.Back in the day: with a friend in Singapore, the IBM years.
Milestones
Honours & Recognition
As Chief Guest, conferring medals at the College of Engineering, Roorkee convocation, 2011.Welcomed at Graphic Era University, Dehradun, as Chief Guest, 2012.
Best of IBM Award2015 · IBM’s highest recognition of its finest performers.
Corporate Award on InnovationIBM · With a patent in High Performance Computing.
CornellUniversity
Executive LeadershipCornell University · Alongside IBM’s Global Leadership School, Armonk, 2000.
Speaker, DSCIData Security Council of India, under NASSCOM.
Chief Guest, ConvocationCollege of Engineering, Roorkee · 2011.
Chief Guest, ConvocationGraphic Era University, Dehradun · 2012.
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Rewind to the Golden Era
The voices and faces of an era
Somewhere between the boardrooms and the flights, the year has always been 1960. Start Rajiv on Guide and you may as well cancel the next meeting: he will go from scene to song to the story behind the song without pausing for breath, and he will enjoy every minute more than you do.
It is not nostalgia so much as loyalty. The voices of Mohammed Rafi, Lata Mangeshkar and Kishore Kumar, and the films of Dev Anand and Shammi Kapoor, with Sadhna and Nanda on the marquee, have travelled with him across fifty countries and six decades. The records changed to cassettes, the cassettes to streaming; the songs never changed at all.
Now Showing
Scene 01 · Take 1965 · Lights, Camera, Action
Dev Anand · The Evergreen StarThe timeless classics
From the gramophone to the car stereo, the same songs, decades on.
Yeh Hai Bombay Meri JaanC.I.D. · 1956 · Rafi & Geeta DuttListen
Yeh Duniya Agar Mil Bhi Jaye ToPyaasa · 1957 · Mohammed RafiListen
Dekhi Zamaane Ki YaariKaagaz Ke Phool · 1959 · Mohammed RafiListen
Waqt Ne Kiya Kya Haseen SitamKaagaz Ke Phool · 1959 · Geeta DuttListen
Main Zindagi Ka Saath Nibhata Chala GayaHum Dono · 1961 · Mohammed RafiListen
Yahan Main Ajnabee HoonJab Jab Phool Khile · 1965 · Mohammed RafiListen
Zindagi Kaisi Hai PaheliAnand · 1971 · Manna DeyListen
Evergreen melodies
Manzil milegi, bhatak kar hi sahi. Gumarah to wo hain, jo ghar se nikle hi nahin.
Mirza Ghalib
Between the Reels, Ghalib
When the songs pause, the poetry begins.
A lifelong love for Mirza Ghalib: couplets memorised decades ago and recited still, with the timing of a man who knows exactly where the wisdom lands. The couplet here is a favourite: the destination will come, even to those who wander; truly lost are only those who never set out.
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The Traveller
I have worked in boardrooms across the world. But my favourite meetings have always been with the mountains.
Forty visits to Japan. More than fifty to Singapore, home for five years. The USA, Australia, the UK, France, Hong Kong, Southeast Asia, Nepal, and every corner of India. His favourite places, if pressed: Singapore and Bombay. And between all of it, always, the hills: for the quiet, the pines, and the long unhurried evenings that no calendar can schedule.
Shimla, Full Circle
“I used to bring my parents to Shimla. This time, my son brought me.”
Some roads you walk twice: once holding a hand, and once being held. The same Mall Road, the same evening sun, a generation later.
“Shimla at dusk. The whole hill switches on like a festival.”“Old buildings, lit with new light. That is how I like my history.”“A quiet lake at sunset asks nothing of you. That is its gift.”“Sunlight through the pines. No meeting ever ended this well.”“A crescent moon over the valley. Worth stopping the car for.”“I still love a railway platform. Every journey should begin with one.”
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Moments
Before the titles and after them, there is family. It is the constant of Rajiv’s life: the reason behind the work, and the company for every journey.
Hill roads and pilgrimages, old albums and new selfies. A life measured not in roles held, but in people held close.
Swipe through →
From the family album: a day at the beach, years ago.“With my son in Kasauli. A time of peace.”With his wife, his companion on every road.A selfie among the pines: laughter travels with them.Three generations on one road trip.On a pilgrimage together: the hills, the family, the faith.With his wife, the valley for a backdrop.A sunny halt on the way up the mountains.With his son and his nephew’s little one: love that needs no occasion.By rail, with family: the oldest kind of adventure.Tea, a bench, and good company.Matching caps, matching laughter.Old bonds, green gardens.
Get in Touch
Four decades of building businesses. Seven books on the Gita. Fifty countries of experience, and the patience to share it.
If your organisation is navigating an acquisition, a transformation, or a question of resilience, or if his books have found their way to you, Rajiv would be glad to hear from you. For consulting enquiries, advisory and board roles, speaking, or simply a good conversation: write to him.
Speaker, DSCIData Security Council of India, under NASSCOM.
Chief Guest, ConvocationCollege of Engineering, Roorkee · 2011.
Chief Guest, ConvocationGraphic Era University, Dehradun · 2012.
