28th August, 2020

JURY

Jury Chair

Madhusudan Gopalan
MD & CEO of Indian Subcontinent

Grand Jury

DR. Annurag Batra

Chairman & Editor In Chief

DR. Annurag Batra
Chairman & Editor In Chief, BusinessWorld & exchange4media


Annurag Batra is a serial entrepreneur, media mogul, a journalist and an eternal optimist rolled into one. He is a B. Tech in Computer Sciences, a degree, which he acquired before joining Management Development Institute MDI Gurgaon (Now its Gurugram), one of India's leading Business School. He is a first generation entrepreneur and after acquiring the iconic business media and magazine brand BW Businessworld. a 35 year strong media brand as well as most respected business publication in the country.

Since taking over BW Businessworld Mr. Batra has expanded BW Businessworld into digital, events and BW communities and has taken into its fold www.digitalmarket.asia, a leading website on digital marketing, www.everythingexperiential.com India’s leading experiential marketing website and launch BW Hotelier in partnership with hotelier international. BW Smart Cities an editorial platform in a 360 degree format is to be launched in mid February 2015. Mr. Batra is building the BW Businessworld business aggressively.

Mr. Batra also founded the exchange4media group and he serves as the Chairman and Editor-in-Chief of exchange4media group which includes exchange4media.com – India’s leading media industry website, PITCH – India’s only Advertising, Marketing and Media Magazine, IMPACT – The Marketing Weekly, Franchisee Plus – Business Opportunity Magazine, Realty Plus – India’s leading monthly real estate magazine and samachar4media.com/ – leading media industry website in Hindi.

Mr. Batra is also appointed by Government of India as the Chairman of an industry committee formed to come up with a vocational training framework for the media, communication and entertainment industry. He mentors many budding entrepreneurs and enjoys the process of reverse mentoring as in what he learns from these young entrepreneurs. At BW Businessworld BW Accelerate is an initiative to provide a structured platform to entrepreneurs for mentorship and growth.

Richa Arora

President - Packaged Foods

Richa Arora
President - Packaged Foods, Tata Consumer Products


A leader who believes in leading growth through change, Richa’s guiding principle in life is ‘Tathastu’ - when the mind believes, things happen.

Nurturing businesses at inception, launching & scaling up new products, or energising teams...change for transformation has always been at the core. Along the way, she has essayed various roles in her 30 plus years in industry: from Business Operations to Communications, from Marketing to Strategic Planning.

Prior to joining the Tata Group, Richa had set up Five by Six Consulting - a boutique strategic marketing consulting firm, advising companies like McCain Foods, Britannia and Wipro (Consumer). Before Five by Six, Richa’s stints as Head of Marketing & Innovation at Britannia, and in leadership positions at Balsara and FCB-Ulka, were all during the critical inflexion points in the journey of these organisations.

Richa has been serving on the CII FMCG National Committee, CII National Committee on Nutrition, & the CII Maharashtra Forum on Agriculture & Food Processing for the past three years. She has represented the Tata group as a mentor in Reach Out– a structured leadership development program for senior women leaders, in collaboration with AmEx, Microsoft, PepsiCo and PWC.

Besides business, Richa is passionate about photography; she has had solo exhibitions in India and has also exhibited at one of the editions of the India Art Fair.

A graduate in Economics, and an MBA from IIM Ahmedabad, Richa is a Chevening scholar from the London School of Economics.

Richa joined the Tata Group in 2014 to lead the transformation of the Consumer Products Business of Tata Chemicals. In her current role as President – Packaged Foods, at Tata Consumer Products Ltd, she drives the growth strategy and outcomes, including innovations, for the Packaged Foods category in India.

Anusha Shetty

Chairman & Group CEO

Anusha Shetty
Chairman & Group CEO, Grey Group India


With over 20 years of marketing and advertising experience, and a trans-national career, across India and the Silicon Valley of America, Anusha is the co-founder and CEO of Autumn Worldwide, a hyper-specialized Digital Marketing firm. In Oct of 2018, Grey Group, a WPP company acquired majority stake in Autumn Worldwide. As of Jan 2020, Anusha has been promoted as Chairperson and Group CEO of Grey Group India, which includes both Grey and AutumnGrey.

In her current role, Anusha is responsible for Organizational Growth, Innovations, Planning and Operations. She is on the board of the Mobile Marketing Association of India and a recent winner of the Corporate Excellence Award for Women at Work Leadership, Economic Times Women Ahead award, Pluralsight Digi100 List Social Samosa Superwomen 2019.

Prior to co-founding Autumn Worldwide in 2005, Anusha has held a number of progressive assignments in advertising & marketing and has served for brands like Intel, Titan, Unilever, Honeywell et-cetera and in globally reputed agencies, Lowe and Euro RSCG.

Nandini Dias

CEO

Nandini Dias
CEO, Lodestar UM


Touted as the Most Influential Woman in the advertising and media industry by the prestigious The Economic Times for the last three years,  Nandini has the distinction of launching over 400 brands and has managed communication strategy and investments for over 175 marquee businesses. She has led Lodestar UM to be the Media Agency of the Year title several times, including 2018.  In 2016, 2017, 2018, she was awarded as Agency CEO of the year by different organizations. Besides, in 2018 she was recognized by World Leadership Congress, as Times Power Woman, and Gamechanger of the year. She has won many media awards within the country and at Cannes, Spikes, FOMA on more than one occasion. She is a long-serving jury member at Cannes, Spikes, Festival of Media, Effie’s, Goafest Press Club of India, and many more.

Aditya Ghosh

Member - Board of Directors

Aditya Ghosh
Member - Board of Directors- OYO Hotels and Homess


Business Leader; Board Member; Investor: World Economic Forum-Young Global Leader; Fortune 40 under 40, India 40 under 40 three years in a row; Mentor/Coach to business leaders

Board Experience
  • Currently, Member of the Board of Directors at OYO Hotels & Homes
  • Formerly, Member of the Board of Directors at InterGlobe Aviation Limited (IndiGo)
  • Formerly, Member of the Board of Directors at InterGlobe Technologies
  • Formerly, Member of the Board of Directors at InterGlobe Hotels
  • Currently, Member of the Board of Directors at Nani Palkhivala Arbitration Centre
CEO Experience
  • Former CEO of OYO Hotels and Homes- India & South Asia
  • Former President & Wholetime Director of IndiGo

Aditya Ghosh is a seasoned professional with over 22 years of experience. Aditya is currently a member of the board of director of OYO Hotels & Homes, one of the world’s leading hospitality chain with presence across 80 countries.

Prior to this Aditya has had multiple roles as the CEO of large consumer facing businesses with complex operations including OYO Hotels and Homes and IndiGo.

Most recently he was the CEO at OYO Hotels & Homes- India and South Asia. He was entrusted with the responsibility of overseeing and growing OYO’s business in South Asia; along with driving growth, delivering high-quality customer experience and sustained yields. Under Aditya’s leadership, OYO Hotels & Homes emerged as the largest player in the Indian hospitality market with over 10,000 leased and franchised buildings and more than 200,000 rooms across 300 Indian cities. The revenue from Indian business grew 2.9X YoY, contributing 63.5% to overall revenue of OYO. Aditya led the gross margin to increase from 10.6% in FY18 to 14.7% in FY19 while also reducing the losses by 40%. Aditya is also credited with introducing the first-of-its-kind year-long initiative for fostering a deeper engagement among OYO hotel owners across the country under the OYO Partner Engagement Network (OPEN). OPEN not only aims to drive the growth of thousands of OYO hotel owners but also create world-class benchmarks of quality and consistency across the company’s network of hotels in the region. A strong advocate of philanthropy and giving back to society, Aditya also enabled the launch of OYOReach, the company’s CSR initiative, through which OYO has contributed towards water and environment conservation initiatives, and supported the victims of floods in Odisha, Assam, and Bihar.

Aditya joined OYO Hotels & Homes following an outstanding stint at IndiGo as the President & Wholetime Director of IndiGo, where he was instrumental in turning the airline into the largest and most profitable airline in India, and also one of the fastest-growing low-cost carriers in the world. Aditya was inducted to the Board of Directors of IndiGo in May 2007 and took on the role as its President almost ten years ago in August 2008. As the President of the airline, Aditya headed all operations and management of IndiGo reporting to the Board of Directors. He accepted this role at the age of 33 and turned IndiGo into the largest and most profitable airline in India and one of the fastest-growing low- cost carriers in the world. Under Aditya’s leadership, IndiGo’s fleet grew from 18 to nearly 200 airplanes; connecting over 50 cities in India and overseas; carrying over 50 million customers annually; and revenues grew nearly ten fold to around US$ 3.7 billion. When Aditya announced his decision to leave IndiGo to explore new ventures, the market capitalisation of IndiGo was around US$ 8 billion. IndiGo became the fastest growing airline in India, having flown over 200 million passengers in about 12 years. He redefined the concept of punctuality or as we now say it- IndiGo standard Time. Aditya, not only led the rapid domestic expansion of IndiGo within India, he also launched the international operations of the airline and took to it where it contributed to about 20% of the airline's operations. In 2017, IndiGo also announced its foray into regional flying within India and Aditya led the launch of IndiGo's regional operations in a matter of only 200 days.

In all the 10 years under Aditya’s leadership, IndiGo was awarded Best Companies to Work For in India. IndiGo does not have any unions and is the only airline of its size in the world which is completely non-unionised. IndiGo is often cited as an example of what an organisation's culture should be. ifly – the learning academy of IndiGo and truly a state of the art infrastructure with all the world class facilities, was conceptualized by Aditya as he believed training to be the foundation for building an organization’s culture. To quote Aditya- “ifly is where the spirit of IndiGo gets created”.

During his stint at IndiGo, Aditya was also a strong advocate for diversity and inclusion at IndiGo, which is currently credited to have the maximum number of women pilots and a workforce comprising of 43% women. He has also been part of several CSR programmes like IndiGoReach focusing on women empowerment, children and education, and the environment.

Investor Experience

Aditya is a key supporter of the start-up world, he has made multiple investments in consumer facing businesses in spheres of food and beverages, services and health and wellness.

Through his investment arm Homage Ventures, he has invested in companies such as Blue Tokai, an indigenous coffee roaster; Wholsum Foods, a packaged food company focussing on healthy and affordable products made from super grains; and Caterland UK, a fine dining restaurant in London. Aditya being a fitness enthusiast has also invested in Sarva Yoga, a yoga studio chain and Genepath Diagnostics, a start up in the molecular genetics space.

Homage Ventures has also invested in SpeakIn a first-of-its kind expert platform of Asian expertise; Vsync, a brand and digital consultancy; and Juggernaut, an aspiring world-class Indian publishing company trying to redefine reading and writing for the digital age.

Aditya is also Member of the Advisory Board and an Investor at the Fireside Ventures, a leading Venture Capital firm.

Social Impact

He also sits on the Board of Directors of Nani Palkhivala Arbitration Centre, which aims to transform the delivery of justice, especially in the area of commercial disputes. He is one of the Founders of The Ashoka University and Member Circle of Sponsors where he is actively involved in leading the service excellence aspect. He is also Member of the Board of Advisors at Centre for Creative Leadership contributing to leadership development, an area of special interest to him.

Personal

Aditya never went to business school and is a lawyer by training. Before his business role, Aditya practised law at the prestigious corporate law firm, J. Sagar Associates and then as the General Counsel at InterGlobe Enterprises. Aditya specialized in corporate commercial law with a focus on acquisitions, joint ventures, and cross-border transactions.

Aditya is married with two teenage children and lives in India . He is considered to be one of the fittest business leaders in India. He also has other interests such as the art and culture, sports and travel. He has a keen interest in creating social impact in Diversity & Inclusion, Education, Women led entrepreneurship and leadership development.

Awards and Recognitions

• Aditya has been awarded as ‘Intraprenuer of the Year’ at annual flagship awards by Entrepreneur in 2019.
• Mr Aditya Ghosh was appointed as Chevalier de l’Ordre national du Merite (Knight in the National Order of Merit) by the President of the French Republic in 2015.
• He has been named by the World Economic Forum as one of the Young Global Leaders in 2015.
• In 2012, he was ranked 27th globally, in Fortune Magazine’s elite “40 under 40 list”.
• He received the Low Cost Leadership award at the “World Airline Awards”, London 2011 and 2015.
• He made it to the Fortune India's first '40 Under 40' list and has been an esteemed member of this elite list, three years in a row
• He was nominated for the CNN-IBN Indian of The Year 2013 in the business category
• He received the ‘Young Business Leader 2011’ award at NDTV Profit Business Leadership Awards 2011.
• He was also honoured with the People CEO award at the NHRDN People CEO Conclave in 2016.
• He was also awarded ‘CEO of the year’ award by SABRE in July 2013.
• He is a member of the Main Jury of the St. Gallen Wings of Excellence Award in 2014 at the St Gallen Business School in Switzerland
• He was named “the businessman of the year” at the GQ Men of the Year Awards held in Mumbai, 2013.
• Vogue India awarded Mr. Aditya Ghosh for being an Extraordinary Individual in the ‘BUSINESS’ category.
• For the second year running, he has been selected by GQ’s editorial team as one of the 50 Most Influential Young Indians in 2016
• He was recognized as a Style Icon and was named as one of the most stylish men of 2016 at the sixth edition of the HT Most Stylish awards
• He has also been identified as one of India’s “Hottest Young Executives” by the Business Today magazine in 2011.
• Mr. Aditya Ghosh has been conferred 'Sera Bangali' in the field of Business for the year 2014 by ABP Ananda.

Alok Jalan

Managing Director

Alok Jalan
Managing Director, Laqshya Media Pvt. Ltd.


Alok Jalan, the Managing Director of Laqshya Media Group, is a first-generation Media & Advertising entrepreneur who hails from a respected business family. After two decades of leadership in the Media & Advertising industry, Alok is acknowledged as one of the people who revolutionised the Out of Home eco-system, and as the person who continues to spearhead it by setting up strong practices and initiating some method to the madness. As a Governor of the IOAA, he is respected for his extensive domain knowledge, data-driven approach and business acumen in the fraternity. The younger generation of professionals and entrepreneurs in this ecosystem look up to him as an agent of change.

The radical developments that Alok has led, including Regulatory / Currency / Digitisation / Smart Cities, etc., have brought OOH to the spring board from which it will soon reclaim its rightful place as one of the primary advertising media for the country.

Right from Laqshya Media’s inception in 1998, Alok has led the company with business ethics as primary guiding principle. Over the last few years, Alok has focussed on Technology, Research and Creativity; the basketful of awards and trophies won by Team Laqshya across the three business verticals of OOH, Digital and Experiential Marketing bear testimony to his attention to business opportunities and, critically, to his attention to building up a team of talented managers.

Alok has now trained his sight on Global interactions and opportunities. He is currently pursuing the Owner’s/Presidents Management Programme (OPM) from Harvard University, and still manages to make time to actively contribute to various National and International Boards and Bodies in the Advertising eco system.

Alok believes that ‘great leaders do not set out to be leaders; they set out to make a difference’. It’s never about the role for him, it’s always about the goal. And the goal that Alok Jalan has set for Laqshya Media Group is simple: “To be one of the most respected and admired media brands in India and, indeed, the World”.

Alok Ohrie

President and Managing Director

Alok Ohrie
President and Managing Director, Dell Technologies India


He is responsible for developing and implementing subsidiary’s long-term vision to grow India business while adapting to regional and global business models. He is the architect of Dell’s innovative go-to-market strategy in India.

He is the Chairman for ASSOCHAM’s National Council of Electronics Manufacturing, Member of the Executive Council of NASSCOM and on the board of Data Security Council of India (DSCI).

Amit Syngle

Managing Director & CEO

Amit Syngle
Managing Director & CEO, Asian Paints


Amit Syngle has been working with Asian Paints since the last 30 years in various capacities across Sales, Marketing and Manufacturing.

He is currently working as MD & CEO for Asian Paints overlooking a business of more than Rs. 18900 crores in India. He has been responsible of propelling the Asian Paints brand into a league of its own and has initiated a lot of new initiatives to grow the business over the last decade.

Amit is closely associated with colour and is the so called 'Gamechanger’ for bringing colour into the AP strategy. He is also a member of the Colour Marketing Group (CMG), USA and a keen member of the AP Colour Next Trends group.

Anant Goenka

Managing Director

Anant Goenka
Managing Director, CEAT


Anant Goenka, 38, is the Managing Director of CEAT and a Member of the Management Board at RPG Enterprises. He is also the former Chairman of Automotive Tyre Manufacturers’ Association (ATMA).

Anant has over 15 years of experience during which he has worked in CEAT, KEC International and Hindustan Unilever.

Anant has been recognised by Forbes as the “Next Generation Business Leader of the Year” in 2017 and as “India’s 40 under 40 Business Leaders” by Economic Times-Spencer Stuart. He also led CEAT to win the Deming Prize in 2017, one of the most prestigious global quality awards in the world.

Anant is an MBA from the Kellogg School of Management and a BS (Economics) from the Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania.

Kavinder Singh

MD & CEO

Kavinder Singh
MD & CEO, Mahindra Holidays and Resorts India Ltd


Kavinder Singh joined Mahindra in 2014 as Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of Mahindra Holidays & Resorts India Limited (MHRIL). In April 2015 he was designated as Managing Director & CEO (Mahindra Holidays and Resorts India Ltd.) & President (Leisure & Hospitality Sector), Member of the Group Executive Board. His focus is to help Mahindra Holidays become a world class vacation ownership company, focused on creating differentiated experiences for Club Mahindra members.

Kavinder has over 28 years of extensive consumer experience in the FMCG sector having worked in Asian Paints, ITC Ltd and Pidilite Industries. In his 17 year career at ITC, he spent the last 8 years in setting up and building the ‘Sunfeast’ biscuits business and was heading the Biscuits and Confectionery business prior to joining Pidilite. He also started the ‘Strategic Initiatives Group’ and led transformational Corporate Strategic Initiatives at Pidilite. After a successful stint as Chief Strategy Officer, he became the first CEO of the Consumer Products Business at Pidilite, his most recent role. Kavinder is a Graduate in Mechanical Engineering from the National Institute of Technology, Warangal and has attended the General Management Program at Wharton School of Business.

Kavinder is married to Jeet who is an artist. They have a daughter, Gunjeet, who is studying medicine and a son, Ravneet, who is studying engineering. Kavinder is a voracious reader, a fitness enthusiast and loves to travel and explore new destinations.

Prakash Mallya

VP & MD – Sales, Marketing and Communications Group

Prakash Mallya
VP & MD – Sales, Marketing and Communications Group, Intel India


Prakash Mallya is VP & MD – Sales, Marketing and Communications Group, Intel India

He was most recently the Director for Intel Asia’s Data Center Group and managed the region’s data center strategy for cloud service providers, communications service providers, enterprise and government infrastructure, spanning server, storage, and network solutions.

Prior to that, Prakash was the Managing Director of Southeast Asia at Intel where he led all of Intel’s sales, marketing and the enablement of Intel products across Southeast Asia, one of the world’s most dynamic markets for computing technology. Besides achieving strong business results under his stewardship, the Southeast Asia team also won the Global ECOC Award for exemplary leadership in Ethics and Compliance.

A 19-year veteran of the company, Prakash joined Intel in 2000 as Business Development Manager, responsible for the Financial Services segment in India. Over the years, he has held several regional roles including leading Intel’s Asia Pacific strategy to win in the Manufacturing and Oil & Gas verticals, as well as managing strategic global customer and partner relationships.

Prior to his appointment as Managing Director, SEA, Prakash was Country Manager of Malaysia and Singapore where he led the sales and marketing operations in both countries. In this role, he was responsible for the growth of Intel's business through channel distribution, local original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) and multinationals (MNCs). He also focused on driving strategic partnerships with the Government and ecosystem players to accelerate technology adoption in both countries as well as drive market expansion strategies to grow local consumption.

Prakash holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Electrical and Electronics Engineering, and an MBA in Marketing Management.

Travel, photography, music and fitness are his passions.

Prashant Tripathy

Managing Director & Chief Executive Officer

Prashant Tripathy
Managing Director & Chief Executive Officer, Max Life Insurance


A seasoned professional with over two decades of experience across Finance, Organisational Strategy, Operations, Risk Management and Investor Relations, Prashant Tripathy leads Max Life Insurance as the Managing Director & Chief Executive Officer. Having spent 12 years with the Company, Prashant was earlier the Chief Financial Officer of the Company, spearheading Financial Management and the Corporate Strategy, as well as playing a critical role in managing Investor Relations and Communications for Max Financial Services Ltd., the parent company of Max Life Insurance.

Prashant joined Max Life as Head of Strategy in 2007 and led all organizational strategic initiatives on growth and profitability. In his eight years’ tenure as the CFO, Prashant played a pivotal role in positioning Max Life Insurance as a respected private life insurance company. A keen strategist, he helped navigate the organization through several regulatory changes and corporate actions. Through his years with the company, Prashant has anchored Max Life’s efforts towards expansion, growth and strategic partnerships.

It is during his tenure as CFO, that Max Life gained market share and grew to be the fourth largest private life insurer and the largest non-bank promoted private life insurance company in India. Through this period, margins, Return on Embedded Value (RoEV) and other financial outcomes of Max Life, all witnessed consistent growth.

Prashant is passionate about people, be its customers, partners or employees. He brings with him a strong focus on building a customer- centric culture in the organization, and on delivering “real value” to customers at every moment of truth. His mantra for employees is deep-rooted in his belief in the values of the organization and respect for the uniqueness and diversity each and every employee brings to the organization.

Prior to joining Max Life Insurance, Prashant was associated with GE and Genpact for eight years in India as well as in the UK. During the early days of his distinguished career, Prashant worked with Tata Steel, Jamshedpur where he was responsible for the operations of a steel plant. Prashant holds a degree in Chemical Engineering from IIT Kharagpur and is a Post Graduate in Management from IIM Bangalore.

Raj Nayak

Founder & Managing Director

Raj Nayak
Founder & Managing Director, House of Cheer Networks Private Limited


Raj needs no introduction. He is popularly known and is one of the most respected and well-known name in the Media and entertainment industry.

Raj Nayak started House of Cheer 6 months ago with the thought to Create, Curate & Consult in the area of Media & Entertainment.

Prior to starting House of Cheer, Raj was the Chief Operating Officer of Viacom 18 & the CEO of Colors. He steered the company to a leading position during his 8 years stint.

Raj began his career with Tata Economic Consultancy Services and has since worked in various capacities both in the print & electronic media including STAR TV where he was the Executive Vice President and founding member of the key management team. Went on to launch NDTV Media as its CEO, before setting up his own company Aidem Ventures, which also handled the digital sales for MSN (Microsoft in India).

Raj is known for his creative and business acumen. A media maverick he has a good insight into the changing consumer behavior & combines it with business objectives. He is known to have turned around the fortunes of several media companies in his 30 years career in the Media & Entertainment industry.

Raj has won many awards & accolades, the recent one’s being The Society Achiever of the Year award for his contribution to Media & Branding. The Humanitarian Award by Amity International for his contribution towards social issues.  Giant International Award for his contribution to the Entertainment Industry.  He was awarded the Media Person of the Year 2016 by the International Advertising Association (IC) and was awarded the first “Influencer of the Year Award” the same year by Exchange for Media.

He recently received the ‘Global Champion Award’ at The International Advertising Association at Bucharest.

Raj has been an active participant of many industry bodies. He has been the President of the Advertising Club, The International Advertising Association India (Chapter). He was on the board of Media Research Users Council (MRUC) & The Indian Broadcasting Foundation (IBF).  He is currently the Chair at the PromaxBDA.

The Economic Times named him the second most engaging CEO on social media. Apart from driving such an enormous business, this chief is passionate about food, travel & reading. As someone who believes in spreading cheer and winning hearts, his twitter handle @rajcheerfull reflects his overall personality.

Rajeev Varman

CEO

Rajeev Varman
CEO, Burger King India Private Limited


Mr. Rajeev Varman is the Chief Executive Officer at Burger King India Limited. Prior to this, Rajeev was the Senior Vice-President & General Manager North Western Europe of Burger King Worldwide. He brings over 2 decades of rich and diverse experience in F&B operations to Burger King Corporation.

Rajeev has been associated with Burger King Corporation for 18 years and has held numerous positions in the Canadian and European operations. Most recently, Rajeev was responsible for Burger King’s turnaround in the UK market and was also spearheading the North Western Europe division. Previously, Rajeev held various senior management positions in Canada, where he implemented a ‘Value’ strategy, new product development, led strong franchise growth and improved the operations matrix.

Rajeev holds an MBA from the Golden Gate University, California, and a Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering from Bangalore University.

Sandeep Mahajan

Managing Director

Sandeep Mahajan
Managing Director, Goodyear India


Mr. Sandeep Mahajan is the Managing Director of Goodyear India. He has successfully led Farm, Commercial, OTR and Consumer businesses within Goodyear over the last 8 years and has been instrumental in consolidating the market leadership of the Farm business in India.

Mr. Sandeep Mahajan has over 29 years of experience in working with large and well-known multinational companies. Mr. Sandeep Mahajan started his career with Tata Steel Ltd and has had extensive sales & marketing experience at Hindustan Unilever Ltd and LG Electronics. He brings extensive P&L as well as sales and marketing experience, both in Indian and key global markets. This includes launching new Brands and Categories.

Sandeep holds a Bachelor’s in engineering (Mechanical). He also holds a Post Graduate Diploma in Management from the Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore.

Ridham Desai

Managing Director

Ridham Desai
Managing Director, Morgan Stanley


Ridham Desai is a Managing Director of Morgan Stanley with 23 years at the firm. He heads Morgan Stanley’s Indian Equity Research team which is the top ranked team in the country. He is has been consistently ranked among the best equity market strategist and analyst in the country over his career spanning nearly three decades. He has represented Morgan Stanley in several public debates on the equity market and the economy, is a regular media contributor and authored several insightful reports.

Shivam Puri

CEO

Shivam Puri
CEO, Cipla Health


Shivam Puri brings the edge and discipline of 17 years of sales and marketing experience in the diverse Indian FMCG sector to the world of healthcare. An alumnus of IIT-BHU and IIM-Lucknow, he has had successful stints across leading companies like Jubilant FoodWorks Ltd, Hindustan Unilever and ITC Ltd. Under his able leadership as the Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Cipla Health Limited looks to rapidly scale up and transform healthcare in India by pushing the boundaries to consistently innovate, and offer world-class wellness products to make a difference to the lives of consumers every day. In his spare time, Shivam runs marathons and plays the drums. As a doting dad, he loves spending time with his two boys.

Satish Sharma

President (Asia Pacific, Middle East and Africa) & Wholetime Director

Satish Sharma
President (Asia Pacific, Middle East and Africa) & Wholetime Director, Apollo Tyres


As President of Apollo Tyres, Satish Sharma guides strategy and oversees the implementation of key functions like manufacturing, sales and marketing, customer relations and profitability in Asia Pacific, Middle East and Africa. A member of the company’s Management and Supervisory Board, he is a man who prefers taking challenges head-on. He is credited with Apollo’s steady sales growth, in the last 5 years.

Satish Sharma began his career with JK Tyres, moving very soon to the position of a Manager, where he was responsible for brand and product management, planning and development, advertising and sales promotion, market research and after-sales service.

He joined Apollo Tyres in 1997 as a Product Manager and was gradually promoted to the position of Chief, Marketing. Sharma's eye for new products and market strategies has contributed consistently to the company’s progression. Known for his innovative marketing initiatives and exceptional leadership qualities, he continues to mentor and coach business units within the organisation. Satish took over as the Chief, India Operations for Apollo Tyres in April 2006. In early 2014, he was redesignated as the President for Asia Pacific, Middle East & Africa region, and was inducted to the Board as the Wholetime Director in March 2019.

A Chemical Engineer from the National Institute of Technology, Raipur, Madhya Pradesh, Satish also holds a post-graduate diploma in Business Management from Institute of Management Technology, Ghaziabad. He is a member of the Institute of Engineers, Indian Rubber Institute and All India Management Association (AIMA).

An avid sportsperson, who is extremely passionate about his fitness, Sharma enjoys golf and running. He actively participates in the half- marathons held every year. Apart from sports, he loves challenging crossword puzzles and travelling with his family.

Madhusudan Gopalan
MD & CEO of Indian Subcontinent Procter & Gamble


Mr. Madhusudan Gopalan is Managing Director & CEO of India Sub Continent at Procter & Gamble where he is responsible for developing P&G’s business, organization and corporate reputation. He has more than 18 years of experience working for the company across business units and diverse geographies like India, US and ASEAN countries. Prior to his India role, Madhusudan was leading the P&G business in Indonesia where he has led strong sales growth, share turn around, strong value creation and cash productivity. As a passionate advocate of diversity, he spearheaded the development of local talent in Indonesia and under his leadership, the company recently achieved the milestone of having more than 50% women managers in the workforce. Madhusudan also served as the Chairman of Indonesia Chapter of US ASEAN Business Council and advised the Indonesian government on policy matters.

Madhusudan started his career with P&G in India 1999 as a new hire in the Sales function from Indian Institute of Management, Calcutta and worked in various locations across India including being part of P&G’s first Modern Retail team in India. His first international assignment was to P&G's headquarters in the United States, where he worked with the P&G-Walmart business team. He returned to India as the Head - Market, Strategy & Planning and oversaw the rapid growth of P&G’s business that grew 10 times in the space of a decade. He then moved to Indonesia as Head of Sales where he learnt to speak the local language, Bahasa Indonesia. Madhusudan later assumed the position of ASEAN Commercial Leader based in Bangkok, where he oversaw the commercial category teams across all P&G ASEAN countries and helped set up P&G’s e-commerce business teams in the region. Post this assignment, he returned to Indonesia as the Head of the P&G business before taking over as India CEO.