Engineering · Systems · Governance

Anivar A. Aravind

Engineering leadership and systems thinking for technology that has to ship commercially, hold up under regulator and board scrutiny, and reach population scale at once.

Twenty-year engineering leader. Global commerce, RBI-regulated FinTech, multilingual public computing. Platforms used by hundreds of millions.

Systems thinker on AI governance, public-sector technology, and the human layer of software.

Engineering executive Board member Systems thinker Independent technologist

About Get in touch

Operating Range

  • Currently
    • Global Head of Engineering, Foodhub2024 –
  • Recent
    • Senior Vice President, Engineering, Kinara Capital2022 – 2024
    • Engineering Head, Kinara Capital2021 – 2024
    • Head of Products & Engineering, Paisool2017 – 2020
  • Earlier
    • ICFOSS · SocialForge · FSFI · NCRC · SAATHII2005 – 2015
  • Standards & policy
    • Observer Member, MLCommons2024 –
    • ICANN Fellow & Contributor2016 –
    • Advisory Board, Software Freedom Law Center, India (SFLC.in)2016 –
    • Mozilla Representative2015 – 2018
    • Google Summer of Code Mentor, Google2007 – 2016

Long-running work

  • Indic Project

    Concluded collective on Indian-language computing.

    Executive Director · 2014 – 2018

    indicproject.org/

  • Moving Republic

    Civic-tech venture.

    Founder & Executive Director · 2006 – 2012

    movingrepublic.org/

  • Swathanthra Malayalam Computing

    Indian-language free software collective.

    Coordinator & Secretary, 2007 – 2014; contributor since 2003 · 2003 –

    smc.org.in/

Independent projects and writing →

Selected Recognition

  • Jury, Just AI Awards — AI Forum of India 2025 –
  • Jury, Just AI Awards — AI Forum of India 2024 –
  • Indian Standard IS 16333 (Part 3) — Bureau of Indian Standards Information technology — Indian script code for information interchange — Enhanced Inscript layout. Co-author. 2017 –
  • ICANN Fellow & Contributor Fellow at ICANN57 (Hyderabad) and ICANN60 (Abu Dhabi). Continuing contributor on Universal Acceptance and the Neo-Brahmi Generation Panel. 2016 –
  • Changemaker — Deccan Herald Recognised for work on Indian-language computing and digital rights. 2014 –

Full chronology → · Press kit →

Now — as of April 30, 2026

  • Foodhub: B2B2C platform evolution across ordering, payments, and POS — multi-region, six markets.
  • Standards & policy: continuing IS 16333 Part 3 follow-on work and Indian DPI commentary.
  • Independent writing on AI governance and small open models; current pieces tracked under /projects/.

More on /now/ →

Contact

ping@anivar.net · LinkedIn · GitHub · Substack · ORCID

Three lanes — media, advisory, research — at /contact/.