Sunil Kumar, Chief Executive Officer of the DataFlow Group, spoke at The Times Group’s ET NOW Global Business Summit (GBS) 2026, held on 13–14 February in New Delhi, India.
Kumar joined the summit’s Transformation Stage as part of the CEO panel discussion “CEO’s Vision 2026: The Trust Economy – CEOs in the Age of Data,” which explored how business leaders are navigating trust, data governance, and AI-driven transformation.
About the Summit
The ET NOW Global Business Summit is one of Asia’s most prominent leadership forums, convening heads of state, CEOs, policymakers, and industry leaders. Themed “A Decade of Disruption. A Century of Change,” GBS 2026 was addressed by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, alongside union ministers, chief ministers, and senior global figures.
Across its history, the summit has hosted over 2,200 speakers from more than 55 countries, with participation from over 225 ministers and policymakers.
The Transformation Stage brought together senior leaders and domain experts to examine how capital, infrastructure, technology, and policy must align to remain relevant in a rapidly shifting global landscape.
Trust as the Foundation of AI-Driven Decision Making
The CEO panel examined critical questions facing business leaders today, including how to build trust when technology is moving faster than regulation, how to balance personalization with privacy, and what “customer-first” leadership means in practice.
Kumar addressed the growing role of artificial intelligence in decision-making, emphasizing that the effectiveness of AI depends entirely on the quality and integrity of the data underpinning it.
“Whether we like it or not, AI models are advancing at an extraordinary pace, and a significant share of decision-making processes will increasingly be executed by AI. However, as this shift accelerates, the foundation must be trust and data integrity. The effectiveness of AI is only as strong as the quality, authenticity and governance of the data it is built upon.
Organisations must therefore prioritise robust data validation, transparency and ethical safeguards to ensure that automated decisions are accurate, fair and accountable. In a world where machines are making critical decisions, trust will not be optional. It will be the defining currency of digital transformation.”
— Sunil Kumar, Chief Executive Officer, DataFlow Group
Kumar’s remarks reflect DataFlow’s position at the intersection of trust, technology, and global talent mobility. As organisations worldwide increasingly rely on AI for hiring, licensing, and compliance decisions, the integrity of the underlying credential data becomes a critical concern.
DataFlow’s Primary Source Verification (PSV) services, which validate professional credentials directly with issuing authorities, provide the kind of authenticated data infrastructure that AI-driven systems require.
Since joining DataFlow in 2015, Kumar has led the organisation’s evolution from a verification services provider into a strategic enabler of cross-border migration and credential integrity. Today, the company partners with governments, regulators, and employers across more than 150 countries, supporting fair, transparent, and scalable talent movement.
