Quantum computing company IonQ has appointed Kanishka Agiwal as its Country Head and Managing Director for India, strengthening its focus on expanding its presence in one of the world’s fastest-growing deep technology markets. In his new role, Agiwal will lead IonQ’s India operations, drive the deployment of the company’s quantum computing, networking, sensing and security solutions, and build a local team to support enterprises, government organisations and research institutions adopting quantum technologies.
Announcing his appointment, Agiwal said the conversation around quantum computing in India has shifted significantly over the past few years. “A few years ago, most of my conversations about quantum computing in India ended with a polite version of the same question: when will this actually be ready? That question has quietly disappeared. Institutions here stopped asking whether and started asking how much, how soon, and for which use cases,” he said.
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He added that India is now ready to move beyond discussions and towards deployment. “This week I joined IonQ as Country Head and Managing Director for India. IonQ builds the full stack, from computing to networking to sensing, and it is already being deployed at national scale in other markets. India is ready for that conversation now. My job is to put IonQ systems into Indian institutions and enterprises, to build the team that supports them, and to make sure the hard questions this market asks get honest answers rather than a brochure,” Agiwal said.
He also noted that over the coming months, he plans to engage with organisations looking to deploy quantum technologies rather than simply explore them. Agiwal brings more than 23 years of experience across cloud computing, artificial intelligence, quantum computing, analytics and emerging technologies. Before joining IonQ, he headed sales, marketing and partnerships at QpiAI, where he led the commercial sale of what he described as India’s first quantum computer deployments.
Earlier, he served as Head of AWS Service Lines for India and South Asia, leading cloud transformation, migration and modernisation initiatives across sectors including public sector, healthcare, education and transportation. Prior to AWS, he held leadership positions at IBM, where he led the company’s Cognitive and AI solutions business for the travel and transportation industry globally and also headed IBM’s travel and transportation business for India and South Asia.
Over the course of his career, Agiwal has contributed to several large-scale digital public initiatives, including DigiYatra, CoWIN, Aarogya Setu, the National COVID Data Platform, the MeitY Quantum Lab, the NITI Aayog Cloud Innovation Center, and the EkStep Cloud Innovation Center. He is currently pursuing a PhD at IIIT Dharwad, focusing on quantum computing policy and supply chains.
Beyond his corporate responsibilities, Agiwal is actively involved in India’s AI and quantum ecosystem. He is a founding board member of QETCI, Co-Chair of FICCI’s AI and Digital Transformation Committee, a member of CII’s AI Committee, a mentor at the Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology (CCMB), and a governing board member at C-DAC Mohali. His appointment comes at a time when India is accelerating investments in quantum technologies through government initiatives and growing enterprise interest, with organisations increasingly evaluating real-world deployment opportunities beyond research and pilot projects.
