Business Standard’s BFSI Insight Summit, one of India’s premier annual gatherings for the banking, financial services and insurance sector, returns for its fifth edition at the Jio World Convention Centre, Mumbai. Bringing together top policymakers, regulators, industry titans, and financial experts, the summit offers a high-impact platform to unpack the opportunities and disruptions reshaping India’s financial landscape.
This year’s edition introduces the Smart Investor (SI) Arena, a dynamic space crafted to empower retail and next-gen investors to make sharper financial moves. Featuring top-tier financial planning and advisory brands, the Arena brings visitors face-to-face with veteran market strategists, wealth managers and financial educators.
Through live, interactive masterclasses, visitors can dive into everything from stock-market investing and portfolio strategy to wealth creation and emerging asset classes. The initiative bridges the gap between investors seeking clarity and the experts qualified to deliver it — catering to absolute beginners and seasoned wealth-builders alike.
The stellar line-up features prominent market voices, including Ashish Singhal, founder and chief executive officer of CoinSwitch, Devina Mehra of First Global, Deven Choksey of DRChoksey FinServ, Jyotivardhan Jaipuria of Valentis Advisors, Rajesh Saluja, co-founder, CEO and managing director of ASK Private Wealth, Rishi Kohli, CIO of Jio BlackRock Mutual Fund, S B Seker, head of Asia-Pacific at Binance, and Shankar Sharma, founder of GQuant Investech
Ambareesh Baliga,
Independent market analyst
Ambareesh Baliga has over 35 years of experience across various facets of the market. He is widely acknowledged for his acumen and understanding of stock markets. A cost accountant by training, Baliga began his financial career with Price Waterhouse, Kolkata. Since then, he has worked with reputed firms such as Kotak, Karvy, Way2Wealth, and Edelweiss, heading businesses across wealth management, portfolio management, corporate advisory, investment banking, retail finance and stockbroking.
Over the last two decades, he has been a regular guest on broadcast channels and regularly contributes articles on stock markets to Business Standard and other publications.
U R Bhat,
Alphaniti Fintech
U R Bhat is one of India’s well-known investment managers, having managed foreign institutional investments in Indian equities for more than two decades. He was the chief investment officer of Jardine Fleming in India — which subsequently became part of JPMorgan — advising the India-dedicated funds of the Fleming group. In 2005, he joined the UK-based Dalton group to lead its entry into India as the managing pirector of Dalton Capital Advisors.
He cofounded Alphaniti Fintech, an investment advisory company offering tech-enabled investment products. He holds an MSc from the Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur, and is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Bankers, London.
Deven Choksey,
DRChoksey FinServ
Deven R Choksey has been a distinguished presence in Indian capital markets for over three decades. With an academic background in commerce and accountancy and professional qualification as a chartered accountant, he has further strengthened his expertise through advanced management education.
At DRChoksey FinServ, he has shaped the organisation’s research-led wealth management philosophy.
He has contributed to the development of capital market frameworks, including participation in stock exchange committees during the digitisation of the trading systems and dematerialisation processes.
Vishal Dhawan,
Plan Ahead Wealth Advisors
Vishal Dhawan is a certified financial planner and cofounder of Plan Ahead Wealth Advisors, a Sebi-registered investment advisory firm that works with resident and NRI investors to help them achieve their life goals by helping families “add meaning to finances”.
Dhawan is an economics graduate and holds an MBA in finance; following his studies, he worked at ICICI Bank and ABN AMRO Bank before co-founding Plan Ahead Wealth Advisors in 2003. With 28 years of industry experience, he writes columns, hosts radio shows, and appears on television across multiple general interest and business formats. Dhawan was also a founder director of Association of Registered Investment Advisors.
Jyotivardhan Jaipuria,
Valentis Advisors
Jyotivardhan Jaipuria is the founder and chief executive officer of Valentis Advisors, a boutique portfolio management service that specialises in a private equity style of investing. Its buy-and-hold strategy has delivered many multi-baggers and created a sizeable alpha for investors. Valentis’ philosophy is influenced by pioneering and cutting-edge research such as the 3U framework and Macro-to-Micro process. Jaipuria is a financial markets veteran with 40 years of experience in the Indian capital market, including 21 years at DSP Merrill Lynch and eight years at ICICI.
He was head of research and strategist for India at DSP Merrill Lynch. As a highly regarded strategist, Jaipuria is known for his bold and contrarian calls.
Sakchi Jain,
Content creator
A chartered accountant and content creator, Sakchi Jain focuses on simplifying complex financial concepts for the Gen Z. Her content covers areas such as investing and taxation, money management, financial independence and finance strategies for personal and professional growth.
She is committed to supporting aspiring chartered accountancy students by sharing tips and study strategies that helped her excel during her own training. From preparation techniques to productivity habits, she aims to provide guidance that makes the chartered accountancy journey more manageable.
Rishi Kohli,
Jio Blackrock MF
Rishi Kohli is chief investment officer (CIO) at JioBlackRock Asset Management, where he leads the investment team and brings more than 25 years of experience across Indian capital markets. A pioneer in India’s quantitative and systematic investing space since 2007, he has built a career spanning institutional research and hedge fund management. Before joining JioBlackRock, Kohli served as managing partner and CIO for the hedge fund strategies business at InCred.
He pioneered options strategies and managed futures research during his institutional broking career. He subsequently launched and managed India’s first quantitative hedge fund in 2007 and Asia’s first systematic managed futures fund in 2011 at ProAlpha, a subsidiary of Monsoon Capital.
Sanjay Kathuria,
Finance coach & creator
Sanjay Kathuria is a seasoned finance professional and a passionate advocate for financial literacy and financial independence. An experienced options trading expert, he is the founder of ProfitsFirst, an organisation dedicated to empowering individuals with tailored investment strategies for passive income, as well as offering financial content and coaching to help clients achieve their financial goals.
His career began with an engineering background, followed by an MBA in finance, and culminated in earning the chartered financial analyst credential. Through ProfitsFirst, Kathuria seeks to demystify the complexities of business.
Vijay Kedia,
Investor
Vijay Kedia realised his passion for the stock market when he was 14 and started trading at 19, initially without success. In 2004 and 2005, he identified and invested in three stocks — Atul Auto, Aegis Logistics and Cera Sanitaryware — which appreciated more than 100 times over the following 10 to 12 years. In early 2012, he correctly predicted that India was at the beginning of a structural bull run.
In 2016, Kedia was ranked 13th on the BW Businessworld list of successful investors in India. Kedia strictly adheres to “SMILE” as an investing principle: Small in size, medium in experience, large in aspiration, and extra-large in market potential.
Anant Ladha,
Financial educator & creator
Anant Ladha is a financial educator, author and content creator. He is a chartered accountant, chartered financial analyst and certified financial planner. He also holds certifications from the Financial Planning Standards Board as an investment, retirement, insurance, and estate planner. Ladha is the founder of the financial education platform Invest Aaj For Kal, one of India’s most-watched stock market channels. His channel was ranked as the most-viewed stock market YouTube channel in India in 2022 and the second most-viewed in 2023.
Devina Mehra,
First Global
Devina Mehra, founder, chairperson and managing director of First Global, is one of the most respected in global investing and research, with over 30 years of industry experience. After setting up a leading Indian securities and research firm in the 1990s, she spearheaded its global foray from 1999–2000 onwards, making First Global the first Asian (excluding Japan) member of the London Stock Exchange and the National Association of Securities Dealers. She holds an MBA from the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad, where she was a gold medallist, and a bachelor’s degree in mathematics, statistics, and English from Lucknow University, where she won eight gold medals.
Financial educator & creator
Neha Nagar is one of India’s pioneering finance influencers, educating over five million followers. With more than eight years of experience in the finance industry, she began her career at IIFL Wealth and Policybazaar before transitioning into full-time content creation and entrepreneurship. Recognised by the government as a cultural ambassador in 2023, Nagar was featured on the cover of Forbes in 2022 and listed in Hurun India’s top women founders.
Her work has been cited by media platforms such as CNBC-TV18, NDTV, TEDx, and Josh Talks.
Edul Patel,
Mudrex
Edul Patel is the chief executive officer of Mudrex and Saber Money. He has over a decade of experience in finance, entrepreneurship and building tech-driven applications. Patel graduated in 2011 from the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Bombay. Upon graduating, he joined Deutsche Bank as a Senior Business Analyst. During his tenure, he worked on the FX Risk and Margining desk and led the product management and business development wings of a real-time risk management portfolio. After working for two years, Patel embarked on his dream of becoming an entrepreneur and cofounded Niffler. Niffler, a platform that notified users about the latest deals.
Harsh Roongta,
Fee-Only Investment Advisors
Harsh Roongta is the founder and principal officer of Fee-Only Investment Advisers LLP, a Sebi-registered investment advisory firm that provides financial planning, investment advisory, tax, and cross-border advisory services. A Chartered Accountant by qualification, Roongta qualified in 1983. He began his career in tax practice and subsequently worked in leasing and investment banking at ICICI. After returning to ICICI in 1998, he helped establish the institution’s retail lending business. Roongta obtained his individual registered investment adviser licence in 2013 and became active in advisory practice. As of August 2026, he has held a registered investment adviser licence for about 13 years.
Rachana Ranade,
Stock market & finance educator
Rachana Ranade qualified as a chartered accountant on her first attempt and chose teaching as a career at a young age, educating Master of Business Administration and Chartered Accountancy students for a decade. She launched her YouTube journey in 2019 and is now one of India’s leading finance educators. Within seven years, she reached over 5.4 million subscribers on her English YouTube channel and 1.2 million followers on Instagram. She offers eight courses related to the stock market and personal finance on her website, serving more than 300,000 registered users, with a combined social media reach exceeding 9.5 million followers across platforms. Her focus is teaching stock market fundamentals.
Suresh Sadagopan
Vikas Satija
Shriram Wealth
Vikas Satija is the managing director and chief executive officer of Shriram Wealth. A seasoned finance professional with over 29 years of experience across banking, wealth management, and asset management, Vikas has played a pivotal role in building and leading key financial businesses in India. He was an integral part of the team that set up Kotak Mahindra Bank’s private banking and affluent businesses, where he served for 19 years. Prior to that, he contributed to launching asset management businesses at both Reliance Mutual Fund and HDFC Asset Management Company. Vikas holds an MBA in finance and has completed executive leadership programmes at Indian School of Business, Hyderabad.
Srikanth Subramanian
Srikanth Subramanian began his entrepreneurial journey with Ionic Wealth to build a technology-led wealth platform catering to India’s emerging affluent, high-net-worth individual, and ultra-high-net-worth individual segments. He has over two decades of experience in the banking and financial services sector.
Ankur Warikoo
Ankur Warikoo is a serial entrepreneur, bestselling author, public speaker, and content creator. He currently runs WebVeda, an online school for young professionals, and works as an angel investor while mentoring startup founders.
S B Seker
S B Seker is the head of Asia Pacific at Binance. He leads Binance’s strategic growth and regulatory engagement in the region, driving the company’s commitment to responsible expansion within dynamic markets.
Shankar Sharma
Vimal Sagar Tiwari
CoinSwitch Vimal Sagar Tiwari is the cofounder of CoinSwitch, an Indian crypto platform serving over 25 million users, and Lemonn, a stockbroking platform, with over 2 million users. An engineer by training and entrepreneur by instinct, Vimal has spent the last decade building technology products that help millions of Indians participate in emerging asset classes and financial markets. In 2017, he cofounded CoinSwitch alongside Ashish Singhal and Govind Soni. Before founding CoinSwitch and Lemonn, Vimal held positions at Zynga, where he contributed to products including Zynga Poker and FarmVille 2.
