Arun Jain is the Founder of the Polaris Group, Chairman & Managing Director of Intellect Design Arena, and Chief Architect of Purple Fabric. He founded Intellect with the vision of creating world-class IT products and platforms from India for the global financial services industry.

Drawing on more than four decades of leadership experience at Nucleus Software and Polaris Software, Arun combined deep domain expertise with advanced technology capabilities to build Intellect into a leading enterprise FinTech provider. Today, the company serves over 500 global banks and financial institutions across 61 countries. He is widely recognised for architecting enterprise technologies that move innovation beyond experimentation to deliver measurable business impact.

A passionate advocate of Design Thinking, Arun champions it as both a science and a philosophy that enhances individual and organisational performance across industry, academia, government, and the entrepreneurial ecosystem. His leadership philosophy is rooted in First Principles Thinking, guided by the conviction that technology must evolve from capability to consequence — delivering governed, accountable, enterprise-wide outcomes rather than isolated innovation pilots.

In 2023, Arun spearheaded the creation of eMACH.ai, a First Principles Thinking–based composable open finance platform designed to simplify complex technology landscapes for banks and insurers. Extending this vision, he led the development of Purple Fabric, the world’s first Open Business Impact AI platform, engineered to deliver governed, explainable, and measurable business outcomes at enterprise scale. As Chief Architect of Purple Fabric, he conceptualised and leads the Masterclass on Business Impact AI series, which since June 2025 has engaged over 10,000 CXOs and senior leaders globally.

Recognised as an institution builder shaping India’s technology and enterprise landscape, Arun applies the rigour of Design Thinking not only to enterprise systems but also to social impact and human development. In 2025, TIME Magazine named him among the “Growth Architects – Leaders Fueling India’s Rise,” while Outlook Magazine recognised him as one of the “Pillars of Viksit Bharat” for his contributions to technology, entrepreneurship, and nation building.

Beyond corporate leadership, Arun has founded several mission-driven institutions: the School of Design Thinking, which nurtures innovative thinking across disciplines through the Design The Thinking© philosophy; Mission Samriddhi, focused on sustainable and scalable rural development; and Ullas Trust, which promotes academic excellence among students from economically challenged backgrounds.

He is the author of UnMukt: Science and Art of Design Thinking, Digital: The Art of the Possible, and From Teenager to Achiever: The Power of 5 Minds.

A strong proponent of innovation and entrepreneurship, Arun mentors and advises multiple government and industry bodies, including FinBlue, the National Software Product Mission, and STPI Chennai. He previously served as Chairperson of the Board of Governors at IIIT Ranchi. His contributions have been recognised with numerous honours, including the TiECON Chennai Dronacharya Award, the Lifetime Achievement Award from his alma mater Delhi College of Engineering and the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), and the Amity Excellence Award from the Amity Education Group.