The Business Standard BFSI Insight Summit, India’s premier financial industry event, returns for a three-day session at Mumbai’s Jio World Convention Centre starting October 26.
State Bank of India Chairman C S Setty will inaugurate the summit and participate in a fireside chat, with Shaktikanta Das, principal secretary 2 to the Prime Minister, attending as chief guest. A prominent regulatory and policy line-up — including Sebi Chairman Tuhin Kanta Pandey, Irdai Chairman Ajay Seth, PFRDA Chairperson S Ramann and RBI Deputy Governor Poonam Gupta — will join corporate titans to debate pressing structural issues, ranging from interest rate cycles and bond market volatility to AI integration, cyber resilience, and crypto regulation.
Sessions will span public and private banking, fintech innovations, mutual funds, insurance, microfinance, and private equity. High-profile panel discussions featuring market stalwarts, prominent economists, and leading treasury heads will tackle critical questions around deposit mobilisation, credit expansion, and GIFT City’s growing role as a global financial hub.
Additionally, a parallel Arena track featuring market commentators like Ankur Warikoo, Devina Mehra, Rachana Ranade and Vijay Kedia will deliver practical, actionable insights curated for retail investors navigating market swings.
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.
Panellist Profiles
Public-sector banks
Debadatta Chand
Bank of Baroda
Debadatta Chand became the managing director (MD) and chief executive officer (CEO) of Bank of Baroda (BoB) on July 1, 2023. Before that, he was executive director at BoB since March 2021 and was overseeing corporate & institutional credit, corporate & institutional banking, treasury & global markets, mid-corporate business, and trade & foreign exchange.
He began his career as an officer at Allahabad Bank and later worked as a manager at Small Industries Development Bank of India.
Ashok Chandra
Punjab National Bank
Ashok Chandra assumed charge as managing director and chief executive officer of Punjab National Bank on January 16, 2025. He has a vast and varied experience in the banking industry, spanning more than 33 years. He was executive director (ED) of Canara Bank from November 21, 2022 to January 15, 2025. As ED, he oversaw various verticals in Canara Bank including digital banking and IT, strategy and planning, marketing and public relations.
Rama Mohan Rao Amara
State Bank of India
Rama Mohan Rao Amara took charge as the managing director of State Bank of India (SBI) in December 2024 and heads the lender’s international banking, global markets and technology wings. Since joining SBI as a probationary officer in August 1991, Amara has risen through various pivotal roles, demonstrating a deep understanding of the banking industry from financial, operational and strategic perspectives.
Binod Kumar
Indian Bank
Binod Kumar assumed charge as the managing director and chief executive officer of Indian Bank in January 2025. Before that, he served as executive director of Punjab National Bank from November 2022 to January 2025, overseeing corporate banking, treasury, international banking, finance, and data analytics & data warehousing divisions.
Asheesh Pandey
Union Bank of India
With over 27 years of banking experience, Asheesh Pandey serves as the managing director and chief executive officer of Union Bank of India.
He started his career with erstwhile Corporation Bank. Before assuming his current role, he worked as an executive director of the Bank of Maharashtra and chief general manager of the Union Bank. Pandey has experience handling diverse portfolios.
Private banks
Rajiv Anand
IndusInd Bank
Rajiv Anand took charge as the managing director (MD) and chief executive officer (CEO) of IndusInd Bank in 2025, after retiring as deputy managing director of Axis Bank. At Axis Bank, he oversaw wholesale banking and digital banking. He joined the Axis Group in 2009 as the founding MD and CEO of Axis Asset Management Company and subsequently joined the bank’s board in 2016. Anand has more than 35 years of experience across banking, capital markets and asset management.
R Subramaniakumar
RBL Bank
R Subramaniakumar took charge as the managing director (MD) and chief executive officer (CEO) of RBL Bank in June 2022. Before joining RBL Bank, he was MD and CEO of Indian Overseas Bank, where he led efforts to improve asset quality, strengthen risk management and restore profitability. He previously served as Executive Director at Indian Bank and Indian Overseas Bank. He began his banking career at Punjab National Bank in 1980 and spent more than three decades there.
V Vaidyanathan
IDFC FIRST Bank
V Vaidyanathan has led IDFC First Bank since December 2018. Before becoming an entrepreneur, he worked at Citibank from 1990 to 2000 and ICICI Bank from 2000 to 2010, where he built and led the retail banking business. He also served as Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of ICICI Prudential Life Insurance. He holds a degree from the Birla Institute of Technology, Mesra, and completed an executive management programme at Harvard Business School.
Treasury
Aditya Bagree
Citi South Asia
As managing director (MD) and head of markets for Citi South Asia, Aditya Bagree is responsible for delivering strategic initiatives and business plans for Citi’s clients across market products and services. He is in charge of senior regulatory and client relationships for markets in the region and establishing a risk management discipline and culture. He is part of the Citi Leadership Team for India as well as the Asia Pacific Markets Operating Committee. Since joining Citi India in 2011, Bagree has held a number of leadership positions. He was the head of Asia local corporate credit trading and global spread products. In that role, Bagree increased franchise revenue and market share.
Arup Rakshit
HDFC Bank
As group head treasury of HDFC Bank, Arup Rakshit is responsible for all asset-liability management functions, customer business for foreign exchange and interest rates, bullion business, bond sales and distribution, foreign exchange and interest rate trading. He is also responsible for the lender’s GIFT City Branch. He joined the bank in 2006 and held leadership roles at treasury sales before taking over as the head of treasury. Rakshit worked as co-head of corporate sales, treasury, with ABN AMRO Bank from 1999 to 2006. He was manager of corporate sales, treasury, with Deutsche Bank from 1994 to 1998.
Shailendra Jhingan
ICICI Bank
Shailendra Jhingan is the head of treasury and economic research at ICICI Bank, and responsible for proprietary trading across asset classes and duration management for the bank’s balance sheet. He has over three decades of experience in financial markets across economic research, fund management and proprietary trading. He has been with ICICI Group for over 17 years. Before that he was the MD and chief executive officer of ICICI Securities Primary Dealership Ltd. He was also the chairman of the Board of Primary Dealers Association of India. He holds a Masters in Management Studies (Finance) from Mumbai University and BA(Hons) in Economics from Delhi University.
Parul Mittal Sinha
Standard Chartered Bank
Parul Mittal Sinha is financial markets head for India and South Asia at Standard Chartered Bank. She is also co-head ASA Macro Trading and joined the bank in July 2019. Sinha has more than a decade of experience in trading financial products in London, Singapore and India markets. She was previously with Deutsche Bank in Mumbai and headed fixed income and currencies. She started her career with Merrill Lynch, London, trading European rates and G-10 cross currency basis swaps. She has traded in local markets in Singapore and India, also with Merrill Lynch (later Bank of America Merrill Lynch), before joining Deutsche Bank in India in 2014.
Microfinance
Vineet Chattree
Svatantra Microfin
Vineet Chattree has over 25 years of experience in operations and management consulting across India and international markets. He leads Svatantra Microfin and is associated with Svatantra Micro Housing Finance. He also serves as chairperson of Microfinance Industry Network, the industry association and self-regulatory organisation for microfinance institutions. Chattree holds a degree in chemical engineering and postgraduate qualifications in business administration and
business law.
Alok Misra
MFIN
Alok Misra, the chief executive officer of MFIN, has around 30 years of experience in rural finance, microfinance, financial inclusion and policy research. He previously served as professor and chairperson of the School of Public Policy and Governance at Management Development Institute, Gurugram. Earlier, he worked with NABARD and international development organisations. He holds a doctorate in development studies from Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand.
Manoj Nambiar
Arohan Financial Services
Manoj Nambiar has over three decades of experience in banking, consumer finance and microfinance in India and West Asia. He has been the managing director of Arohan Financial Services since 2012. Before joining Arohan, he held positions at ANZ Grindlays Bank, ABN Amro Bank and other financial institutions. He holds degrees in mechanical engineering and management.
Venkatesh N
IIFL Samasta Finance
Venkatesh N is the founder and managing director of IIFL Samasta Finance. An entrepreneur with experience in financial services, he previously founded ventures in financial product distribution and wealth management. He has focused on expanding access to formal credit for underserved households through IIFL Samasta’s microfinance operations. He holds a bachelor’s degree in computer science.
Ganesh Narayanan
CreditAccess Grameen
Ganesh Narayanan has over 27 years of experience in banking and financial services. Before joining CreditAccess Grameen in 2020, he worked with ICICI Bank, Fullerton India and YES Bank, where he held senior roles in financial institutions banking. He became the chief executive officer of CreditAccess Grameen in 2023 and has experience across microfinance, rural banking and institutional lending.
Foreign banks India
K Balasubramanian
Citi Bank
K Balasubramanian is Citi’s India chief executive officer and banking head, also serving as head of the Indian subcontinent sub-cluster. He represents the bank’s leadership in India, overseeing its banking franchise and engagement with corporate and institutional clients. He has spent much of his career at Citi, having joined the bank in India in 1996 and progressed through several roles across corporate banking and client coverage.
Rajat Verma
DBS Bank India
Rajat Verma has been the managing director and chief executive officer of DBS Bank India since March 2025 and is a member of the DBS Group Management Committee. He joined DBS in June 2023 as head of institutional banking for India. He has nearly three decades of banking experience across consumer and corporate banking, transaction banking, financial institutions, sustainable finance, and small and medium enterprise banking.
Hitendra Dave
HSBC India
Hitendra Dave became chief executive officer of HSBC India in June 2021. Before that he was managing director and head of global banking and markets at HSBC India — a business covering institutional clients and capital markets, and a significant contributor to the bank’s India earnings. Dave joined HSBC in 2001 in its global markets business and rose through the ranks over two decades. He has nearly three decades of experience in financial markets.
P D Singh
Standard Chartered Bank
P D Singh is the chief executive officer (CEO) for India and South Asia at Standard Chartered Bank.
In this role, he leads the bank’s franchise in India and the wider South Asian region. Singh took charge as chief executive officer of Standard Chartered Bank for India
and South Asia on 1 April 2025. He has three decades of experience in banking and finance, having held
leadership positions at global banks. Before joining Standard Chartered, Singh was chief executive of JPMorgan Chase Bank in India.
NBFCs
Raul Rebello
Mahindra Finance
Raul Rebello is the managing director (MD) and chief executive officer (CEO) of Mahindra Finance. With nearly two decades of experience at Axis Bank, where he last served as Executive Vice President and Head of Rural Lending and Financial Inclusion, he has extensive expertise in rural banking, gold loans, micro, small and medium enterprise lending, tractor and farm equipment finance, and payments. He has led Mahindra Finance’s growth and transformation, leveraging his rural banking expertise to strengthen its lending franchise and expand its reach in rural and semi-urban markets. He joined Mahindra Finance as chief operating officer in September 2021.
Umesh Revankar
Shriram Finance
Umesh Revankar, an industry veteran with over three decades of experience. He is the executive vice-chairman of Shriram Finance, one of India’s leading diversified financial services companies. He has played a pivotal role in shaping the growth and transformation of the Shriram Group’s lending businesses with a mission to bring financial access to the under-served. Under him the firm has expanded its reach markets, becoming a trusted name in vehicle and small business financing. He has done his Master of Business Administration from Mangalore University and Advanced Management Program from Harvard Business School.
Tushar Vikram
Mashreq India
Tushar Vikram has been country head and chief executive officer of Mashreq in India since June 2024. He has around three decades of banking experience. Before joining Mashreq, he was group head of investment banking at HDFC Bank, overseeing project finance, equity, debt capital markets, and mergers and acquisitions. Earlier, he spent 27 years at Citibank in roles spanning commercial banking, investment and structured finance, digitisation, credit processes, and risk management. Mashreq is a leading financial institution and bank focused on West Asia and North Africa. It provides a range of banking services, including corporate and investment banking.
Hitesh Sethia
Jio Financial Services
Hitesh Sethia is the managing director and chief executive officer of Jio Financial Services, which is building a presence across lending, payments, insurance and investment-related financial services. A financial services executive with over two decades of experience across Europe, Asia, including India and Greater China, and North America, he brings expertise spanning credit, retail banking, corporate banking and transaction banking. He has played a key role in building the company’s financial services businesses. He is a fellow member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India and has completed the Advanced Management Programme from Harvard Business School.
Jairam Sridharan
Piramal Finance
Jairam Sridharan is the managing director and chief executive officer of Piramal Finance, part of the Piramal Group’s financial services business. He has over two decades of experience across retail lending,
risk management, and strategy. Before joining Piramal, he was the chief financial officer at Axis Bank. He has spearheaded the transformation of Piramal Finance into a diversified, technology-led retail lender.
He began his career at ICICI Bank. He holds a BTech in chemical engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi, and a postgraduate diploma in management from the Indian Institute of Management, Calcutta.
Small finance banks
Baskar Ramachandran
Suryoday Small Finance Bank
Baskar Babu Ramachandran cofounded Suryoday Micro Finance in 2008 and led its transformation into Suryoday Small Finance Bank, which commenced banking operations in 2017.
He has served as the bank’s managing director and chief executive officer since its launch, focusing on financial inclusion and expanding access to formal banking. Before co-founding Suryoday, he worked at GE Capital Transportation Financial Services. He has a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering. He has worked at GE Capital Transportation Financial Services.
Manoj Singodia
Accenture
Manoj Singodia is Managing Director and Lead for Financial Services at Accenture in India, working with banks and other financial institutions on technology-led transformation, digital banking and customer experience.
India’s microfinance sector plays a pivotal role in driving financial inclusion by delivering collateral-free credit to low-income households and women entrepreneurs. Backed by digital integration and regulatory oversight, it fosters rural entrepreneurship while balancing growth against asset-quality risks.
P N Vasudevan
Equitas Small Finance Bank
P N Vasudevan has led Equitas Small Finance Bank since it began banking operations in 2016. Before joining Equitas, he was managing director of Equitas Holdings and helped build the group’s lending business, with a focus on microfinance and related fields of the sector. He spent around 20 years at Cholamandalam Investment and Finance Company, part of the Murugappa Group, where he rose from management trainee to vice-president and head of vehicle finance. Vasudevan holds a bachelor’s degree in physics from the University of Madras and is a qualified Company Secretary.
Economists
Samiran Chakraborty
Citibank
Samiran Chakraborty is managing director and chief economist for India at Citibank, which he joined in 2015. He follows the Indian economy and its financial markets closely, focusing on where growth, prices and interest rates are heading. He also works with the Economic Affairs sub-committees of the Confederation of Indian Industry and the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce & Industry. Before Citibank, Chakraborty spent six years at Standard Chartered as Head of South Asia Macro Research, and five years before that as Chief Economist at ICICI Bank. Earlier, he taught at the Delhi School of Economics.
Aastha Gudwani
Barclays
Aastha Gudwani is the India chief economist at Barclays. She leads the bank’s views on where India’s growth, prices and interest rates are headed. Her career has moved from asset management to global investment banks, focused on India. Before Barclays, Gudwani spent seven years, from 2017 to 2024, as India Economist at Bank of America Merrill Lynch. Earlier, she was an Economist at Birla Sun Life Asset Management. She completed her Master’s in Economics at the Centre for Economic Studies and Planning, Jawaharlal Nehru University, and her Bachelor’s degree with Honours at Jesus and Mary College, University of Delhi.
Aditi Nayar
Icra
Aditi Nayar is chief economist and head of research and outreach at rating agency Icra. She began her career at the World Bank in 2005 as a research analyst, where she worked until 2007, before joining Icra as principal economist. Nayar attended Bryn Mawr College from 1999 to 2001, studying economics and psychology, before earning a BA in Economics and Psychology from Indiana University Bloomington in 2003. She then went on to obtain an MPhil in Economics from the University of Oxford in 2005.
She is widely recognised in the financial sector for her macroeconomic data analysis.
Sonal Varma
Nomura
Sonal Varma is managing director and chief economist for India and Asia (excluding Japan) at Nomura. She began her career at rating agency Crisil in 2003, moved to ICICI Bank, and later joined Lehman Brothers as India economist. She moved to Nomura in 2008, expanding her responsibilities in 2019 to cover the rest of Asia outside Japan. She co-authored Nomura’s 2012 report introducing its Economic Surprise Index for India and contributed to a government working group on the Index of Industrial Production. Varma has been ranked among India’s top economists in industry surveys.
Life insurance
Mahesh Balasubramanian
Kotak Mahindra Life Insurance
Mahesh Balasubramanian, who has been the managing director (MD) of Kotak Mahindra Life Insurance Company since May 2021, has 30 years of experience in the finance and banking industry. Besides insurance, he has worked in retail assets, liabilities, investments, broking, credit policy, and other fields. In 2000, Mahesh co-founded Apnaloan.com, India’s first online marketplace for credit cards and unsecured loans. He has also served as the founding Chief Executive Officer of Kotak Mahindra General Insurance.
Rushabh Gandhi
IndiaFirst Life Insurance
Rushabh Gandhi took charge as managing director and chief executive officer of IndiaFirst Life Insurance in July 2024, after serving as deputy CEO.
He has nearly three decades of experience in financial services and previously worked with Aviva Life Insurance, Canara HSBC Life Insurance and Birla Sun Life Insurance. His expertise spans sales, marketing, distribution and business strategy. He holds a postgraduate degree in management studies from NMIMS, Mumbai.
Alok Rungta
Generali Central Life Insurance
A lok Rungta is the managing director and chief executive officer of Generali Central Life Insurance, where he drives the company’s growth, with a focus on customer-centricity and digital innovation. He has over 25 years of experience in insurance and financial services across India, Hong Kong and the Philippines. Rungta has held leadership roles at AXA, including Asia Regional Financial Controller . At Generali Central Life Insurance, he has overseen the onboarding of Central Bank of India as a shareholder
Kamlesh Rao
Aditya Birla Sun Life Insurance
Kamlesh Rao, who has been the MD and CEO of Aditya Birla Sun Life Insurance since 2019, has focused on product innovation, expanding agency and bancassurance networks, and scaling
digital transformation. Prior to joining Aditya Birla Sun Life Insurance, he spent nearly two decades at the Kotak Mahindra Group, serving as the CEO and MD of Kotak Securities and holding senior roles across retail banking and credit at Kotak Mahindra Bank. He has also contributed to industry policy.
Agentic payments
Rishi Chhabra
Visa
Rishi Chhabra is the country manager for Visa in India, a role he took up in November 2024. He leads Visa’s India business, owning senior client relationships and its strategic initiatives, with a focus on empowering small businesses through digital payments. Chhabra has more than two decades of experience across the payments ecosystem in the US, India, and Sri Lanka. He joined Visa in 2023 as vice president and head of merchant sales and acquiring for India and South Asia. This was his second stint at the company, having earlier spent over three years in its US small business product team. Earlier, he was managing director and country head for India and Sri Lanka at Fiserv.
Pramod Mulani
Juspay
Pramod Mulani is vice-president of global strategy at Juspay, the Bengaluru-based payments technology company that powers payments for more than 500 enterprise merchants and banks worldwide. Based in Mumbai, he works on the company’s strategy as it expands beyond India into markets across the US, Europe, the Middle East, Asia-Pacific, and Latin America. Founded in 2012, Juspay is a key part of India’s digital payments infrastructure, handling an annualised total payment volume of more than $1 trillion. Earlier in his career, Mulani was senior director and head of digital, innovation, partnerships, and fintech at Visa. He brings deep experience across digital payments, innovation, and fintech.
Nirav Kamdar
Amazon Pay
Nirav Kamdar is Amazon Pay’s vice-president and chief technology officer, payments technology for emerging markets. He has extensive experience in software engineering, digital payments and building technology platforms at scale. At Amazon Pay, he works on advancing payment technology across emerging markets, with a focus on building secure, reliable and seamless experiences for customers. Before joining Amazon, Kamdar held engineering roles at Microsoft, where he contributed to products including Cortana, Bing and Skype for Business.
General insurance
Animesh Das
ACKO General Insurance
Animesh Das was appointed chief executive officer of ACKO General Insurance in 2024. He previously served as the chief underwriting Officer at ACKO, bringing over 10 years of experience in the insurance sector across product design, pricing, market strategy and risk management. He started his career with ICICI Lombard moved to Coverfox and launched the auto category. Das completed his BTech from IIT Kharagpur. Das’s work comes amid India’s general insurance sector undergoing rapid expansion.
Pallavi Malani
Boston Consulting Group
Pallavi Malani leads the Boston Consulting Group (BCG)’s insurance practice in India and the digital growth acceleration practice across Asia-Pacific. Malani has over 13 years of consulting experience. She is a core member of BCG X, which is the firm’s dedicated business-building arm.
Parthanil Ghosh
HDFC ERGO General Insurance
Parthanil Ghosh is the MD & CEO of HDFC ERGO General Insurance. He joined the company in 2016. During his tenure with the insurer, he played a central role in strengthening the retail franchise while driving capabilities across commercial lines, crop insurance, underwriting, claims management and digital transformation.
Hitesh Joshi
General Insurance Corporation of India
Hitesh Joshi is the Chairman and Managing Director (CMD) of General Insurance Corporation of India (GIC Re). Prior to that he served as the Executive Director. At the national reinsurer, he has spearheaded critical portfolios such as international business operations, retrocession and actuarial functions.
Economists
Sajjid Chinoy
JP Morgan
Sajjid Chinoy is head of Asia economic research at JP Morgan, where he has been since 2010. He is also a part-time member of the Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister. In the past, he served on the advisory council of the 15th Finance Commission and on the Reserve Bank of India’s Expert Committee to Revise and Strengthen the Monetary Policy Framework, which recommended that inflation be kept within a set target. In 2016, he served as a consultant to the Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Management Review Committee, which proposed a new fiscal anchor for India.
Soumya Kanti Ghosh
State Bank of India
Soumya Kanti Ghosh is group chief economic advisor at State Bank of India, the country’s largest public sector bank. He is also a part-time member of the Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister and served as a part-time member of the 16th Finance Commission. He co-authored the first study to construct an estimate of payroll employment in India covering both formal and informal workers. His work also fed into PM-KISAN, the income support scheme for farmers, and the Emergency Credit Line Guarantee Scheme that helped small businesses through the pandemic.
Value Investing
Lakshmi Iyer
Bajaj Alternate Investment Management
Lakshmi Iyer’s career spans fixed-income fund management, product development and alternative investments, giving her experience across multiple facets of the financial services industry. She spent over 25 years with the Kotak group in senior roles, including chief investment officer — debt and head of products at Kotak Mahindra Asset Management. She joined Bajaj Finserv in 2025. She now leads Bajaj Alternate Investment Management as managing director and chief executive officer. Iyer holds an MBA in Finance from the Narsee Monjee Institute of Management Studies.
Prashant Jain
3P Investment Managers
Prashant Jain, whose high-conviction bets and long-term approach made him a closely watched figure in the investing industry of the country. He holds the unique distinction of being the first fund manager in the country to oversee more than ₹1 trillion in equity assets when he was chief investment officer (CIO) at HDFC Mutual Fund. After nearly two decades at HDFC Mutual Fund, Jain struck out on his own, setting up 3P Investment Managers, an alternative investment fund where he serves as CIO. An alumnus of Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur and Indian Institute Of Management, Bangalore, Jain has over three decades of fund management experience.
Rajeev Thakkar
PPFAS AMC
Rajeev Thakkar manages the Parag Parikh Flexi Cap Fund, India’s largest actively managed equity scheme, with total assets worth nearly ₹1.5 trillion. The fund and Thakkar have attracted a strong investor following over the years, supported by their consistent performance and long-term, value-oriented investment philosophy. Thakkar joined Parag Parikh Financial Advisory Services in 2001, when it was an investment advisory and stockbroking firm, and went on to manage its Cognito portfolio management service from 2003. He later played a pivotal role in establishing the firm’s mutual fund business and launching its flagship equity scheme in 2013.
Crypto
Vikaas M Sachdeva
BitDelta India
Vikaas M Sachdeva is an industry stalwart with over three decades of experience across asset management, capital markets, and investment platforms. He is the chief executive officer (CEO) of BitDelta India, a security-first, user-centric crypto trading platform designed to give modern investors clarity, control, and confidence in every trade.
Vikaas has held several senior leadership roles across marquee financial services organisations. He was MD at Sundaram Alternates, driving growth across diverse platforms.
S B Seker
Binance
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.
He previously worked in litigation in Australia and as a central banking lawyer for the Monetary Authority of Singapore. Seker has held in-house counsel roles at Rothschild & Co. and served as payments, remittance, digital banking, money markets, structured products, microlending, and blockchain counsel.
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. Tiwari 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. Vimal held positions at Zynga, where he contributed to products including Zynga Poker and FarmVille 2.
Vandana Ahuja
EY India
Vandana Ahuja is a tax partner with EY India, based in Gurgaon, and has been associated with the organisation for 18 years. A chartered accountant with more than two decades of experience, she advises Indian and multinational organisations on a broad range of direct tax and regulatory matters, particularly in the financial services sector.
Her areas of expertise include tax dispute resolution and litigation support, corporate tax and regulatory advisory, tax compliance, transaction consulting and structuring. She has extensive experience managing complex tax matters, including pending litigation, tax deducted at source prosecution, business restructuring and liquidation.
Ahuja has worked with leading organisations across technology, financial technology, back-office services, non-banking financial companies, foreign portfolio investors and asset reconstruction companies. Her experience also includes supporting clients with mutual agreement procedures, advance rulings and dispute-resolution strategies. She was previously part of EY’s knowledge and solutions team.
Health insurance
Amit Roy
PwC India
Amit Roy is a partner and leader of insurance and allied businesses at PwC India, where he advises insurers on business strategy, distribution, customer experience and business transformation. With over three decades of experience across multiple sectors. His expertise spans distribution management, customer relationship management, strategic turnarounds and the development of new business models. He has also contributed to industry discussions on deepening insurance penetration. Before joining PwC, he held leadership roles at Bandhan Life (formerly Aegon Life), Reliance Life Insurance, and Bajaj Life (earlier Bajaj Allianz).
G Srinivasan
Galaxy Health Insurance
G Srinivasan, an industry veteran, is the managing director and chief executive officer of Galaxy Health Insurance, a standalone health insurer promoted by the TVS family and the family of V Jagannathan, founder of Star Health and Allied Insurance. With over four decades of experience in the general insurance industry, he has served as chairman and managing director of two public sector general insurers: New India Assurance from 2012 to 2018 and United India Insurance from 2007 to 2012. He also served as director of the National Insurance Academy. At Galaxy Health Insurance, he is leading the company’s efforts to build its health insurance business.
S Prakash
General Insurance Council
S Prakash is a veteran healthcare and insurance leader who is currently the chief executive officer of the Health Insurance Ecosystem and Strategic Partnerships at the General Insurance Council. In his role, Prakash leads nationwide initiatives aimed at transforming India’s health insurance landscape. With over two decades of combined experience across clinical medicine, insurance operations, and executive leadership—including as the Managing Director at Star Health and Allied Insurance — Prakash brings a deep understanding of both payer and provider dynamics to the industry.
GIFT City
Vijay Krishnamurthy
India International Exchange
Vijay Krishnamurthy has over 20 years of experience in investment research and products across asset classes, with expertise in fixed-income markets. Prior to his role as MD and CEO at India International Exchange (India INX), he headed the debt segment at BSE. He has been instrumental in leading the development and implementation of the Request for Quote platform, security-level valuations, and debt and hybrid indices for Indian markets. He is involved in regulatory and policy discussions.
Praveen Trivedi
IFSCA
Praveen Trivedi is the executive director of the International Financial Services Centres Authority (IFSCA). He leads the department of policy and legal affairs and the department of general Administration. He works with divisions such as legal policy, legal affairs, consumer education and protection, administration and HR. His role at IFSCA involves consumer protection and grievance redressal. He was earlier associated with the Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority and Securities Exchange Board of India.
Suresh Swamy
Price Waterhouse & Co LLP
Suresh Swamy is a partner at Price Waterhouse & Co LLP with over 27 years of experience in direct tax and regulatory advisory, focusing on public markets and foreign portfolio investors. He leads PwC’s Asia-Pacific Asset & Wealth Management Tax practice and heads its GIFT City (IFSC) office in India. His work spans cross-border investment structuring, financing models, and advisory on International Financial Services Centres Authority (IFSCA) regulations for global asset managers, banks, fintechs, and shipping and leasing businesses. He also focuses on cross-border collaboration, mentoring teams, and leveraging generative artificial intelligence in tax and compliance.
V Balasubramaniam
NSE IX
V Balasubramaniam is the managing director and chief executive officer of NSE International Exchange (NSE IX), a subsidiary of the National Stock Exchange operating as a multi-asset international exchange in GIFT-IFSC. He has over three decades of experience in the capital markets, specialising in market microstructure, technology operations, and derivatives markets. Under his leadership, Nifty derivatives traded on the Singapore Exchange were successfully transitioned to GIFT Nifty in GIFT City.
Mutual fund CEOs
Radhika Gupta
Edelweiss MF
Radhika Gupta, managing director (MD) and chief executive officer (CEO) of Edelweiss MF, is one of the most prominent figures in India’s mutual fund industry, known for her strong public presence and forthright views on industry issues and investor welfare. Under her leadership, Edelweiss Mutual Fund’s assets under management grew from ₹6,500 crore to ₹1.7 trillion after she took charge in 2017. A graduate of the Jerome Fisher Program in Management and Technology at the University of Pennsylvania, Gupta is a hedge fund manager, entrepreneur, and author. She is a prominent public speaker and author of two books.
Kalpen Parekh
DSP MF
While ensuring strong growth for DSP Mutual Fund as its MD and CEO in an increasingly competitive industry, Kalpen Parekh built a distinct identity for the fund house by focusing on communicating its investment philosophy and encouraging greater financial awareness among investors. An engineer by training with a MBA in finance, Parekh combines analytical rigour with a deep understanding of investor behaviour. His experience taught him how asset classes move in cycles, how investor preferences shift and how biases often lead investors to underperform market returns. He believes that while investors may behave pro-cyclically, the antidote lies in discipline.
Nimesh Shah
ICICI Prudential AMC
Nimesh Shah is the MD and CEO of ICICI Prudential AMC. For nearly two decades, Shah has steered ICICI Prudential Asset Management Company’s growth in India’s competitive mutual fund industry. Today, it is the country’s most valuable listed asset management company by market capitalisation, managing assets worth around ₹12 trillion. The fund house’s expansion has been supported by a broad product portfolio spanning asset classes and a focus on consistent investment performance. Shah also served as Chairperson of the Association of Mutual Funds in India in 2018.
Sundeep Sikka Nippon Life India AMC
Sundeep Sikka has shaped Nippon India Mutual Fund’s growth over the past two decades, having joined the organisation in 2003 and taken charge as CEO in 2009. One of the youngest chief executive officers in India’s mutual fund industry at the time, he has led the fund house’s rise into a major player. Milestones during his tenure include the strategic partnership with Japan’s Nippon Life Insurance, the acquisition of Goldman Sachs Asset Management’s India business, and the asset management company’s stock market listing.
Mutual fund CIOs
Taher Badshah
Invesco Mutual Fund
Taher Badshah has over three decades of experience in India’s equity markets, having navigated multiple market cycles across research and fund management. As president and chief investment officer (CIO) at Invesco Mutual Fund, he oversees the fund house’s investment function. His career includes stints at ICICI Prudential AMC, Kotak Investment Advisors, and Motilal Oswal AMC, where he headed equities before joining Invesco in 2017. His investment approach spans growth-oriented strategies as well as contrarian and value investing, reflecting the different mandates he oversees at Invesco.
Nimesh Chandan
Bajaj Asset Management
Nimesh Chandan has built his investment approach around the belief that generating alpha requires more than analytical skill — it also calls for understanding investor psychology and market behaviour. With 26 years of experience in Indian capital markets, including 21 years in the mutual fund industry, he has managed investment strategies spanning market capitalisations and themes. As chief investment officer at Bajaj Asset Management, he draws on an investment process that combines informational, analytical and behavioural edges. Chandan has written and spoken on how psychology influences investments.
Harish Krishnan
Aditya Birla Sun Life AMC
Harish Krishnan brings around 21 years of experience in the asset management industry, spanning domestic and international markets. Before joining Aditya Birla Sun Life Asset Management as Co-CIO and Head of Equity, he spent over a decade at Kotak Mutual Fund as a senior fund manager, building expertise in equity investments. He also worked with Kotak Mahindra (UK), managing offshore funds based out of Singapore and Dubai. His experience across markets and investment mandates has shaped his career as an equity investment professional.
R Sivakumar
Axis AMC
R Sivakumar has been associated with Axis Asset Management since its inception in 2009, serving in several leadership roles across investment management, products and strategy. In March 2026, he was elevated to Chief Investment Officer, taking charge of the fund house’s investment strategy, research-led processes and investment teams. He brings over 27 years of experience in India’s asset management industry, including 14 years as head of fixed income at Axis. Before taking on his most recent leadership responsibilities, he also oversaw products, corporate strategy, offshore business, business intelligence and unit-level investments.
Sankaran Naren
ICICI Prudential AMC
Sankaran Naren is among India’s most closely tracked fund managers, having navigated multiple market cycles with an investment approach built around contrarian calls. Known for his pragmatic approach to investing, he oversees mutual fund assets worth over ₹12 trillion. His interviews and investment decisions reflect a preference for seeking opportunities in underperforming sectors and asset classes that have fallen out of favour, while emphasising the importance of patience and risk management. He has also advocated diversification across equity and debt to help investors navigate changing market conditions.
Foreign Brokerages
Sandeep Bhatia
Macquarie
Sandeep Bhatia is the managing director and head of equity at Macquarie. With over 25 years of experience in equity markets, Bhatia is responsible for equity operations, client relationships and strategic growth for Macquarie’s equities business in India. Since joining Macquarie in 2015, Bhatia has played a pivotal role in strengthening the firm’s equities franchise in India. He brings extensive expertise in equity sales, research, and market strategy, ensuring Macquarie delivers innovative and client-focused solutions. Prior to Macquarie, Bhatia was head of equity sales at Kotak Mahindra Bank. He also held leadership roles at UBS Investment Bank for over a decade, serving as managing director and Head of Research and Equities in India, where he gained recognition for his market insights and leadership in institutional equities. Bhatia holds a post graduate diploma in management from the Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore, where he graduated as a gold medalist in Indian economics.
Gautam Chhaochharia
UBS India
Gautam Chhaochharia is the head of global markets, India, at UBS. He was aGautam Chhaochharia is the head of global markets, India, at UBS. He was appointed to this new role in March 2024, relocated to Mumbai in June 2024 and holds a mandate encompassing the expansion of UBS’s footprint across equity and debt markets in India. Prior to his current role, Gautam served as deputy head of Asia-Pacific Research (based in Hong Kong) and head of India Research and Equity Strategy (based in Mumbai). Prior to joining UBS, Gautam was a portfolio manager based in Singapore, where he managed investments for an Asia ex-Japan long-short equity fund. He was also a director in principal finance at Deutsche Bank, where he managed multi-asset positions in equity and high-yield credit.
Bernstein
Venugopal Garre is Bernstein’s head of India research and India strategist, based in Singapore, with more than 25 years of experience across equity and fixed income markets. He leads Bernstein’s India research franchise and is responsible for shaping the firm’s strategic views on the Indian economy, markets, sectors and investment opportunities. Widely regarded as one of the leading voices on Indian markets, he is known for identifying long-term structural themes, market inflection points and actionable investment ideas for global investors. Over the course of his career, he has advised some of the world’s largest asset managers, sovereign wealth funds, pension funds and hedge funds, helping them navigate India’s evolving investment landscape through a combination of rigorous analysis and practical investment insight. Prior to joining Bernstein, Venugopal held senior roles at leading global financial institutions, including Barclays Capital and Credit Suisse. He began his career at Citigroup, gaining broad exposure.
Sanjay Mookim
JP Morgan
Sanjay Mookim is JP Morgan’s Head of India Equity Research. He joined JP Morgan in 2020 and is based in Mumbai. Mookim has more than 20 years of experience in the financial sector.
He started his career as an oil and gas analyst with Credit Suisse and was also the Head of Equity Research at Credit Suisse in Singapore. He was consistently a top-ranked analyst in his category by Institutional Investor.
Before joining JP Morgan, the financial industry veteran and equity research expert was the India strategist and oil and gas analyst at Bank of America in Mumbai. Mookim holds a diploma in business management from the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad, and an engineering degree from Jadavpur University, Kolkata.
Passive and Quant
Vishal Jain
CEO, Zerodha Fund House
Vishal Jain has been a part of India’s passive investing journey for over two decades, helping shape the country’s exchange-traded fund market. He was part of the founding team at Benchmark Asset Management Company, which launched Nifty BeES, India’s first ETF, in 2001, where he worked as a fund manager. He later joined Goldman Sachs AMC India as chief investment officer for passive strategies.
Swarup Anand Mohanty
Mirae Asset Investment Managers (India)
Swarup Anand Mohanty has led Mirae Asset’s India journey since 2011, helping transform a relatively young business into one of the country’s leading mutual fund houses. An alumnus of Stanford University’s Graduate School of Business, Swarup is an active voice in shaping India’s financial landscape through key roles with the Securities and Exchange Board of India, NSE Indices and the Finance Ministry.
Sandeep Tandon
Quant MF
Sandeep Tandon and his Quant Mutual Fund have carved out a distinct identity in India’s asset management industry with a highly active and differentiated investment approach. As the promoter of Quant Group, he has remained closely involved in managing money across its schemes, reflecting his passion for investing. He has developed a data-driven investment approach built around predictive analytics.
Hemen Bhatia,
Aditya Birla Sun Life AMC
Hemen Bhatia has been closely associated with the evolution of passive investing in India over the past two decades. He heads the passive business at Aditya Birla Sun Life AMC. Before joining the fund house, he served as executive director and CEO of Angel One AMC, where he led the development of its passive-focused business. Earlier, he headed the ETF business at Nippon Life India AMC.
Autonomous Banking & Security
Sameer Shetty Axis Bank
Sameer Shetty serves as the group head for digital business and transformation and strategic programmes at Axis Bank. He oversees the bank’s digital business, strategy, investments, mergers and acquisitions, the customer experience program Sparsh, strategic projects, process excellence, artificial intelligence, and subsidiary governance. Before joining Axis Bank in 2019, Shetty was a Partner at McKinsey & Co., specializing in the financial services sector. His experience includes collaboration with banks, non-banking financial companies, and other financial institutions across India, Southeast Asia, and West Asia.
Shetty is a director on the Boards of Freecharge Payment Technologies Private Limited, Freecharge Business and Technology Services Limited, and the Indian Banks’ Digital Infrastructure Company. Additionally, he is a member of the NPCI Innovation Council and the Governing Committee of Sahamati.
Shetty holds a Bachelor of Technology from Indian Institute of Technology Bombay and a postgraduate diploma in management from Indian Institute Management, Bangalore.
Ramesh Lakshminarayanan HDFC Bank
Ramesh Lakshminarayanan is group head, information technology, and chief information officer (CIO) at HDFC Bank. Lakshminarayanan is responsible for taking the bank’s technological transformation journey to the next level. He leads the entire information technology and digital functions of the bank to unify all technology and digital developments and create a more holistic core and customer experience layer. His role cuts across verticals at the Bank. He is responsible for technology strategy, strengthening foundational technology, enhancing digital capabilities and harnessing new age AI/ML technology solutions for the bank. Lakshminarayanan joined the Bank from CRISIL, where he spent three years as Chief Technology and Information Officer. In this role, he was responsible for the transformation of CRISIL’s businesses by leveraging technology, data and analytics. An industry veteran with over 25 years of experience, Lakshminarayanan has held leadership positions with organizations such as Citibank, ABN AMRO Bank, and Kotak Mahindra Group.
Manoj Bhadgaonkar Accenture India
Manoj leads Accenture’s technology services for Accenture’s India business, where he has driven large-scale technology transformation for domestic clients over the past five years. He comes with over 32 years of experience in technology consulting and transformation including 24 years at Accenture. His overall career is deeply rooted in the banking sector, with more than 14 years of experience across top public and private sector banks.
Manoj’s expertise spans enterprise architecture advisory, data transformation, digital banking, and managed services — having served as CXO advisor to multiple large banks on their transformation journeys. He has led impactful programs including digital retail transformation for a leading public sector bank, data-driven organization pivots, lending transformation across NBFCs and banks, and regulatory audit resolution for a large private bank. Based out of Mumbai, Manoj has a Bachelor of Engineering degree in Electrical, Electronics and Communications Engineering.
Nishant Singh BUSINESSNEXT
Nishant Singh is the founder and the global chief executive officer of BUSINESSNEXT (formerly CRMNEXT), a leading autonomous operating platform for international banks, insurance companies and financial institutions. Starting the company on a bootstrap budget, he has led its profitable growth over the last 15 years into a global organization with a presence across five continents and direct offices in 14 countries.
As a pioneer of “Autonomous Banking,” Nishant has been a critical catalyst in India’s banking sector growth story. An engineering alumnus of Birla Institute of Technology, Ranchi, Nishant previously co-founded qMGN Inc., New York, as its Chief Technology Officer. He is also a member of the CII Banking Committee and CII Insurance Committee.
