Sahil Aneja

About Sahil Aneja

Vertical Head - Data Science & Analytics | Vice President – HDFC BankOver the past 13+ years, I’ve been fortunate to work at the intersection of AI, business strategy, and financial services, where every model deployed has a direct impact on customer trust, compliance strength, and business growth.At HDFC Bank, I’ve led the design and deployment of 80+ enterprise AI/ML solutions across fraud detection, credit risk, compliance, and customer personalization. These initiatives span everything from real-time fraud interdiction at scale to GenAI-powered document intelligence, delivering measurable value - fraud losses prevented, credit risk reduced, and revenue unlocked.What excites me most is building systems that are not only technically advanced but also scalable, explainable, and aligned with regulatory and customer expectations.CORE EXPERTISE: • Business Applications: Fraud Detection, Risk Categorization, Customer Retention, Recommendation Systems, Cross-Sell/Up-Sell, Attrition Modeling, Digital Personalization, Collections Analytics. • AI/ML Techniques: Predictive Modeling, Deep Learning, Graph Networks, Sequence Models, NLP, Anomaly Detection, Generative AI. • MLOps & Engineering: MLOps (Model Monitoring, MLflow, LangChain), Feature Stores, Vector DBs, Streaming Analytics (PySpark, Airflow), Cloud (Azure, Databricks); expertise in streaming analytics and feature store–driven ML pipelines. • GenAI & NLP: RAG, LLM Fine-Tuning, Prompt Engineering, Knowledge Graphs, Doc Intelligence, Voice-to-Text, Summarization, delivering measurable CX uplift and cost reduction. Impact Highlights:• Built AI based money mule detection systems capturing 1.8 lacs money mules operating in ecosystem. • Next Best Action (NBA) AI recommender system for sales channel;+37% lead conversions with 25% lower spend; featured in Analytics India Magazine.• Reduced credit losses by ₹1,350 Cr with predictive early warning models.• Delivered ₹2,640 Cr incremental loan disbursals via an AI-powered insights engine.• Launched GenAI labs for RAG-based enterprise search and workflow automation. Recognition & Impact:• MD Honors Award - Money Mule Detection System (1.8 lakh accounts blocked)• Minsky Award - Risk Categorization (250+ AML scenarios, 18+ systems)• EFMA Top 9 Global Innovation - AI Trigger Framework for cash loan detection• Altair Future AI Leader - Applied AI innovation in BFSIThese awards are a testament to the team’s hard work, but the real satisfaction lies in seeing AI move from pilot to production - powering the bank’s daily decisions at scale.

Experience

1. Vice President Vertical Head - Data Science & Analytics

   HDFC Bank

   Nov 2016 — Present · Mumbai, IN

   Driving the design and deployment of intelligent AI systems that prevent frauds, cut credit losses, and unlock new revenue streams; powering personalization, decisioning, and risk intelligence across digital platforms. • Money Mule Detection System: Built near real-time AI system leveraging ensemble model of deep learning, graph networks, and isolation forests to identify and blocked 1.8 lakh mule accounts, earning the MD Honors Award – FY25 • AI Based Early Warning System: Developed an ML-based framework to predict high-risk default cards, reducing credit losses by 12%(~₹1350 Cr). • NPA / Willful Default Prediction: Enhanced the NPA stamping process with an advanced ML model to accurately predict customer who are high likely to defaults within 30 days, achieving 84% recall, Prioritized collections on high-risk segment. Won Minskey Award at Cypher’24 • Real-Time AI based Trigger Framework analyzing transaction signals, balances, bureau data, digital footprints, and CRM interactions to detect instant cash needs, contributing to 18% of loan cross sell and ranked Top 9 Global AI Innovations (EFMA). • Compliance & Risk Intelligence: Built Risk Rules + AI/ML model integrating 250+ AML scenarios and txns from 18+ systems into a unified customer risk view, enabling dynamic risk categorization (H/M/L), and automating STR alerts to strengthen compliance. Won Minskey Award at Cypher’25

Education

• Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad

  Post Graduate Diploma (PGD), Marketing & Operation Analytics

• SVKM's Narsee Monjee Institute of Management Studies (NMIMS)

  Master of Business Administration (MBA), Technology Management & Analytics

  2011 — 2013

Skills

• C
• Marketing Strategy
• Business Analysis
• Negotiation
• Business Planning
• Team Leadership
• Business Strategy
• Analysis
• Html
• Management Consulting
• Process Improvement
• Project Planning
• Business Intelligence