Shri Piyush Goyal

Piyush Goyal (57) is the Minister of Commerce & Industry (2019-present), Consumer Affairs, Food & Public Distribution (2020-present), Textiles (2021-present), and Leader of the Rajya Sabha (2021-present). He was earlier the Minister of Railways (2017-21). He has also held the additional charge of Minister of Finance and Corporate Affairs twice in 2018 and 2019. His previous portfolios include- Minister of Coal (2014-19), Minister of State (I/C) for Power, New & Renewable Energy (2014-17), and Mines (2016-17). As Minister of Railways, over the last two years of his tenure Railways achieved its best ever safety record of zero passenger deaths in accidents. This was achieved through holistic measures such as elimination of Unmanned Level Crossings (UMLCs) from the broad gauge network, production of safer coaches etc. Additionally, Mr Goyal oversaw the launch of the first indigenous semi-high speed train Vande Bharat Express between Delhi and Varanasi. The Power, Coal and New & Renewable Energy ministries led transformational changes in India’s power sector including the fast tracking of electrification of the nearly 18,000 unelectrified villages in some of the remotest and inaccessible parts of the country, the roll out of the most comprehensive power sector reform ever (UDAY), the success of the world’s largest LED bulb distribution programme (UJALA) for energy efficiency, and massive proliferation of renewable energy through the world’s largest renewable energy expansion programme. Other achievements include the elimination of coal shortages to improve the energy security of India and successful conduct of transparent e-auctions of coal blocks. He also received the 4th Annual Carnot Prize in 2018 recognising the pathbreaking transformations in India’s energy sector. During his 35 year long political career, Mr Goyal has held several important positions at different levels in the world’s largest political party, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and is in its National Executive. He has been the National Treasurer of the Party. In the 2019 Indian General Elections, he was a member of the Manifesto and Publicity Committees. He also headed the BJP’s Information Communication Campaign Committee for the Indian General Elections 2014. Mr Goyal has had a brilliant academic record – all-India second rank holder Chartered Accountant and second rank holder in Law in Mumbai University. He was a well-known investment banker and has advised top corporates on management strategy and growth. He also served on the Board of India’s largest commercial bank, the State Bank of India and Bank of Baroda. He was also nominated by the Government of India to the Task Force for Interlinking of Rivers in 2002. His father, Late Vedprakash Goyal was Union Minister of Shipping, and the National Treasurer of the BJP for over two decades. His mother Chandrakanta Goyal was elected thrice to the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly from Mumbai. He is married to Seema, an active social worker, and has two children – Dhruv and Radhika, who have both graduated from Harvard University, USA.

Shri Rajeev Chandrasekhar

Shri Rajeev Chandrasekhar

Minister of State in the Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship; and Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology

Profile

Educational Qualifications

• B.E. (Electrical Engineering)- MIT, Manipal Distinguished Alumni Award, 2013
• M.S. (Computer Science)- Illinois Institute of Technology, Chicago Recipient of IIT Global Alumni Award, 2007
• Short Management Programmes- Harvard University, Boston, USA
• Various other Technology programmes - Stanford University, Intel University
• Doctor of Science- Visvesvaraya Technological University

Professional History

Intel at Silicon Valley. California, USA

Senior Design Engineer and then CPU Architect at Intel’s Microprocessor team Was on the Intel 80486 Design team and then on the Architecture team of the path-breaking Pentium team. Worked under legendary Vin Dham and current Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger.

Entrepreneur and builder of India’s Cellular Sector

BPL Mobile 1994 – 2005

In 1991, he returned to India and founded BPL Mobile in 1994 was one of pioneers to invest in and build the Indian Telecom sector. Over those 12 years Rajeev has been a widely recognized and key active participant/contributor in the development of the Indian Telecom sector from a government monopoly dominated one to a vibrant success in the Indian infrastructure sector.

He built India’s then-largest Cellular network and being the first to and simultaneously deliver this Technology to Mumbai, Kerala, Puducherry, Goa, Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra when almost all others were doing so in one or two small markets.

He was a significant contributor to the creation of Independent regulator TRAI and the New Telecom Policy NTP’99 that led to dramatic growth and success of the Cellular Sector.

He was a significant contributor to the creation of Independent regulator TRAI and the New Telecom Policy NTP’99 that led to dramatic growth and success of the Cellular Sector. He remained invested and active in the sector and was the only one not to be embroiled in any of the scams and corruption that gripped the sector. Exited the sector when he saw the advent of Raja Raj in 2006.

Investor and Entrepreneur

Jupiter Capital

Founded Jupiter Capital as a private equity investor in 2006 and was Chairman till 2014.

Has invested and created many successful brands and franchises in Media, Technology, Infrastructure

Vivekananda International Foundation

Vice Chairman, Center for Economic Studies: 2019- Present

Political: 15 years of Rajeev Chandrasekhar as MP

• Rajeev Chandrasekhar was elected to the Rajya Sabha in May 2006, as a Member of Parliament representing Karnataka. He is currently a 3rd term MP
• Active MP in Parliament and in Constituency
• He also serves as the National Spokesperson of BJP.
• Vision 2025 Committee Convenor 2010, NDA Kerala Vice Chairman 2016 Elections, Media and Communication in Charge 2018 Karnataka Elections, 2019 National Elections, Manifesto Committee 2019 Elections, co-in charge of 2021 Puducherry elections.
• Member of Parliamentary Standing Committee on Finance, Member of Public Accounts Committee (PAC), Member of the Joint Committee on Data Protection Bill, 2019 and Member of the Consultative Committee on MoE & IT, Ministry of Communications, Member of the Indian Council for World Affairs.
• Served as the youngest president of FICCI-Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry
• Convenor National Coalition to Protect Our Children, NCPOC
• Currently Vice-Chairman of Vivekananda International Foundation, Center for Economic Studies

Opposition MP From 2006- 2012

2G- In 2007 was the first to raise 2G Scam issue in Parliament. At great personal risk, he was the only person to push back against the heavy lobbying and pressure of Telcos including big names on the issue of Spectrum Auction. He was single-handedly responsible to ensure the 3G auction despite a concerted campaign in Media and in Parliament. The resulting 3G auction served to expose the value of free 2G spectrum being given away and the Country today generates lakhs of Crores from these auctions which otherwise would have accrued in value to these Telcos. Fighting the 2G scam was done as Independent MP at great personal risk and cost.

PIL for Section 66A- He was first to raise it in Parliament and oppose UPA’s misuse of draconian Sec 66A of IT Act. Raised it repeatedly in Parliament and got media awareness on this. Was active petitioner in the PIL in the Supreme Court that struck down Sec 66A. Was nominated for Index Freedom of Expression award for year.

Petitioner for Right to Privacy- Leadership on the issue of Privacy started way back in 2010 with his Pvt Member’s Bill- Right to Privacy Bill, 2010 and he consistently fought for the Right to Privacy despite much opposition to it in the Media and was a petitioner and supporter of the PIL that created the landmark Right to Privacy judgement.

Free and Open Internet, Net neutrality

On two critical issues, opposed the UPA governments move to restrict and change the nature of the Internet. On-Net neutrality, opposed the UPA governments efforts to allow Telcos to control and regulate access to the Internet and ensuring that the TRAI and Government reversed the Telco inspired move – in Parliament and through a mass public campaign outside Parliament.

Also single-handedly created awareness about and stopped the Manmohan Singh Government’s efforts to back China’s attempt to move Global Internet regulation to a United Nation Bureaucratic organization UN-CIRP. It took Narendra Modi Government to finally reverse this position and continue to allow the Internet to be a free and open global network without Government control.

Aadhaar

From 2009 was the sole voice in and outside Parliament to oppose the UPAs Aadhaar architecture and design – including lack of legislative backing, lack of Privacy protection, lack of integration with National Population Register and its very dangerously lax verification process. All of which were finally addressed only after PM Narendra Modi became PM.

Public sector Bank NPAs- In 2010 he was the first to raise NPA issue and Crony lending by PSBs lending to favourite UPA Corporates till 2014. Written and spoken extensively about reforms in the banking sector in particular, financial sector expansion and the role of RBI.

OROP- Since 2006, Single-handedly pushed the OROP issue in and outside Parliament, including piloting a Parliament Petitions Committee Report that found in favour of OROP.

Voting Rights for the Indian Armed Forces - After repeated efforts with EC and then Government failed, approached the Supreme Court via a PIL and ensured he got voting rights for armed forces and families. He also pushed EC to ensure remote units could vote. Voter turnout of armed forces has increased in state elections in Uttarakhand and UP.

National War Memorial- From 2007 as MP kept urging Government to set up National War Memorial and this dream became a reality when Narendra Modi became PM. As the then Congress Government was blocking this, initiated a National Military Memorial in Bengaluru.

Kargil Vijay Diwas – In 2009 raised the issue of Kargil Vijay Diwas and ensured that the Government agreed to start celebrating that formally.

Supporting Bravehearts and their families- Repaired and reconstructed CQMH Abdul Hamid’s memorial when the then Government failed to intervene and protect PVC Braveheart’s memorial. Through Flags of Honor Foundation, has helped countless scores of Veteran and Braveheart families all over the country.

Honoured by Army’s Western Command GOC-in Commendation for his work for the Armed Forces and Veterans.

Karnataka Floods: In 2009 Conceived and executed with the Government of Karnataka, an unprecedented public-private initiative ‘Aasare’ – to help rebuild the thousands of destroyed homes and villages in the Floods. He succeeded in roping more than 50 corporates who committed to build 80,000 houses for the flood-affected families. He personally adopted three villages and build several hundred homes.

Plan Bengaluru- in 2009-2010 who worked for a vision for Bangalore and a long-term integrated plan for the development of the city. As the Convenor of the Agenda for Bengaluru Infrastructure and Development (ABIDe) Task Force, he authored PlanBengaluru2020 - a Vision Document and a blueprint for the development of the city to make Bengaluru a world-class metropolis. This remains the first and only such plan for Bengaluru or any other city in the country. Through his NGO NBF, has done many initiatives for Bengaluru including reclaiming encroached lakes and land from builders, Protecting Residential neighbourhoods, Environment, Fighting City corruption, Rewarding Good citizen Organizations and Public servants etc.

Treasury MP From 2014- 2018

RERA- Served on Select Committee of RERA Act and pushed actively to protect home buyer rights as per the vision of the PM, despite huge lobbying by real estate lobby to scuttle or weaken the bill. Also responsible for the draft rules to be created along with citizens interaction with ministry

GST- Served on a select committee of GST and also in financial and regular media advocacy for these reforms and positioned it as a reformer for the long term which will increase tax compliance.

Economic Policy Advocacy- Actively spoke in parliament on each budget from 2006- 2021. Have spoken about 5 Trillion Dollar Economy roadmap and initiatives required in Parliament, in committees and in various Articles. Participated in almost every Budget discussion and has consistently advocated Investment and Economic growth as the main answer to transforming the lives of Indians poor and Vulnerable.

Aadhar- Made many suggestions to this government to improve Aadhar so that it can be used to fulfill PM’s vision. Even had meetings with Aadhar to explain the safeguards required.

Digital Consumer Rights, Call Drops, Net Neutrality- Consumer Protection and Rights- he was first to raise in Parliament and mobilize public opinion. He has pursued the cause of the consumer relentlessly till the current situation where TRAI and the government are fully supporting his consumer position. He has personally responded in detail to every major TRAI consultation with his suggestions in an open and transparent manner.

Cryptocurrencies- Flagged in 2016 the emerging challenges of regulating Cryptocurrencies.

Digital India (New Digital Communication Policy)- strongest advocate for the government’s digital India program. Contributed in large part to the proposed draft digital communication policy on the 25th anniversary of Telecom liberalization.

Big Tech Regulation Was the earliest MP to recognize the power of Social Media and Tech Platforms and start a debate in and outside parliament about the need to regulate them, Policy advocates in and outside Parliament on all issues relating to Technology, including the need to regulate Big Tech.

Dr. Krishnamurthy V Subramanian

Krishnamurthy Venkata Subramanian (born May 5, 1971) is an Indian economist and the current Chief Economic Adviser to the Government of India (CEA), officially being appointed to the position on 7 December 2018. The post of CEA was vacant for over five months since the 16th CEA, Arvind Subramanian, left due to personal reasons in June 2018, having occupied the position for a few months more than the usual term of three years. 

Subramanian is also a Professor at the Indian School of Business (ISB). He was awarded "Professor of the Year" by ISB for elective courses that he taught for the Class of 2019. 

He was born in Bhilai, Chhattisgarh in a Tamil family. He did his schooling at senior secondary school sector 10, Bhilai. Subramanian holds a Master of Business Administration and Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) in financial economics from University of Chicago Booth School of Business. His PhD was completed under the supervision of Luigi Zingales and Raghuram Rajan. He is also an alumnus of the Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur where he studied electrical engineering, as well as the Indian Institute of Management, Calcutta, where he was awarded an Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation Dissertation Fellowship in 2005. 

Subramanian has worked in expert committees for Securities and Exchange Board of India and the Reserve Bank of India, being part of major economic and corporate reforms in India. He has worked with JPMorgan Chase, ICICI Bank and Tata Consultancy Services. He was a board member in Bandhan Bank, the National Institute of Bank Management and the Reserve Bank of India Academy, and has academically been a part of the finance faculty at Goizueta Business School at Emory University in the United States of America.

Subramanian is also currently a tenured Professor at the Indian School of Business, and earlier worked as an executive assistant to the chairperson of the Fixed Income Money Markets and Derivatives Association of India. 

In articles published in The Times of India and Livemint titled, "Will Black Be Back? Why demonetisation will be revolutionary in India’s fight against corruption", and "Demonetisation: Are the poor really suffering?", respectively, Subramanian supported the Government of India's banknote demonetisation policy in 2016.

Subramanian was inducted into the Fifteenth Finance Commission's advisory council in May 2019.

Mr. Tobias Adrian

Mr Tobias Adrian is the Financial Counsellor of the International Monetary Fund and its Director of the Monetary and Capital Markets Department. The Monetary and Capital Markets Department encompasses capital markets, monetary policy and central bank operations, financial crises and resolution, financial sector assessments, technical assistance, supervision and regulation, and monetary and financial stability policy.

Prior to joining the International Monetary Fund, Tobias Adrian was a Senior Vice President of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York and the Associate Director of the Research and Statistics Group. Tobias Adrian holds a PhD from MIT, an MSc from LSE, and a Masters degree from Goethe University of Frankfurt and Dauphine University of Paris.

Tobias has taught at Princeton University and NYU and has published in economics and finance journals including the American Economic Review and the Journal of Finance.

Shri T. Rabi Sankar

Shri T. Rabi Sankar, a career central banker joined the Bank in 1990 and has worked in various positions in the Reserve Bank of India.

His current areas of responsibility include reserves management, public debt management, payment systems, IT infrastructure, currency management and foreign exchange management.

Shri Sankar has served as an IMF Consultant (2005-11) on developing Government bond markets and debt management.

He has represented RBI on international forums like Bank for International Settlements and various internal and external expert committees and working groups.

Shri Sankar has a Master of Philosophy in Economics from the Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi.

Mr. G Mahalingam

Mr Gurumoorthy Mahalingam is a Whole Time Member (Executive Board Member) of the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) looking after the Market Regulation Department, Commodity Derivatives Market Regulation Department, Foreign Portfolio Investors, Investigations Departments and the Office of Investor Assistance and Education. He is also at present a Member of the Board of Governors of the National Institute of Securities Market (NISM).

Prior to the current assignment, Mr Mahalingam was an Executive Director in the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) looking after the Market operations, both Rupee liquidity and FX operations. In his stint of 34 years with RBI, he has taken on varied roles like Chief Forex Dealer, Chief Investment Dealer for Forex Reserves Management, Head of Debt Management. He has also been actively involved in the regulation and development of Money, Bond and Foreign Exchange and Derivative markets in India.  His prior assignments in RBI include Bank Examiner as also a Member of Teaching Faculty in RBI's Officers' Training College. 

He is a Masters Degree holder in Statistics and Operations Research from the Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur and M.B.A in International Banking and Finance from the Birmingham Business School, UK. 

Mr. Sopnendu Mohanty

Sopnendu Mohanty is the Chief Fintech Officer of the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS). He joined MAS in August 2015 responsible for creating development strategies, public infrastructure and regulatory policies around technology innovation. Since 2015, Singapore has become one of the top global fintech hubs covering a wide range of financial asset classes including adjacent technology innovations in areas like insurance, digital assets, blockchain, artificial intelligence, reg-tech and green-finance.

Before MAS, Sopnendu spent over 20 years in various leadership roles in technology, finance and innovation with most of his career in Citigroup. Sopnendu is a member of multiple advisory committees of multilateral global agencies, associations, universities, and governments. He is an avid speaker, global thought leader in FinTech, and advocate of accelerated transformation to a digital economy for solving financial inclusion and sustainability challenges.

Shri P. Vasudevan

Vasudevan currently heads the payments and settlement systems function in RBI. This involves regulating, supervising, facilitating innovation and playing a catalytic role in the payments space, encompassing many bank and non-bank payment system operators; and includes handling fintech-related activities in RBI. He has led and successfully implemented many large payment system projects in RBI.

A career central banker with over 27 years of experience, he also has extensive experience in the banking and non-banking supervision space and has handled technology audits of large institutions as part of this role.

He represents the RBI on the CPMI, the SAARC Payments Council and the SEACEN Payments Group. He is also the Vice-Chair of the Legal Entity Identifier Regulatory Oversight Committee.

He is a cost and management accountant with masters in finance and certifications in information systems audit and information security management. He is also an alumnus of the Wharton School. He loves travelling and listening to film songs.

Shri GP Garg

Mr. Garg has handled several important assignments in SEBI since joining in January 1994. He has been closely associated with SEBI and Government of India’s initiatives on Financial Literacy and Investor Education in the country. He was instrumental in launching of SEBI Complaints Redress System (SCORES), Toll Free Helpline and Financial Education through Resource Persons.

Mr. Garg played crucial role in establishment of National Institute of Securities Markets (NISM)  NISM is now one of the largest certification institute in the country with more than 2,50,000 candidates taking certification examination or attending Continuous Professional Education Programs every year. Mr. Garg has headed departments like Treasury and Accounts, General Services, Office of Investor Assistance and Education and office of Central Public Information Officer. Mr. Garg’s current portfolio includes Office of Investor Assistance and Education, Information Technology Department, General Services Department.

Mr. Garg is SEBI’s nominee on the Board of Investor Education and Protection Fund Authority (IEPFA) . 

Mr. Garg is Chair of the Board of National Centre for Financial Education (NCFE), a joint initiative of Financial Sector Regulators comprising of RBI, SEBI, IRDAI and PFRDA.

Mr. Garg holds degree in Engineering, Law and Management.

Mr. Prashant Kumar

A career banker, Prashant Kumar has over 37 years of experience across various functions in the Banking and Financial Services sector. Prior to YES BANK, Mr. Kumar held the position of Deputy MD and CFO at the State Bank of India.

Ms. Preeti Sinha

Ms Sinha is a globally experienced investment and development banker with a 30-year track record associated with raising and managing institutional public and private development capital. She served as CEO & President of FFD Financing for Development LLC, a specialist development finance firm focused on financing the UN SDGs. 

Ms Sinha managed the YES Global Institute, a practising think-tank for socio-economic development and SDGs in New Delhi. She served in senior resource mobilization roles at the African Development Bank including managing the ADF-13 Replenishment. She was a pioneering Global Leadership Fellow at the World Economic Forum bringing public and private capital together. She was an investment banker at HSBC, Rabobank, Lehman Brothers and JP Morgan in London, Hong Kong, Mumbai and New York.

Ms. Sinha is a Harvard Kennedy School of Government Executive Education alumna in Public Financial Management. She has a Masters in Global Leadership from the World Economic Forum and a Masters in Public and Private Management (MPPM)/MBA from the Yale School of Management (SOM). She graduated from Dartmouth College with a Bachelor of Arts in Economics and Computer Science.

Ms. Anna Roy

An Economist by training, Anna is a post-graduate from Delhi School of Economics and an Economics (Hon) from SRCC. She worked as a Lecturer in Delhi University and Research Associate in TERI before joining the Indian Economic Services (IES), Government of India. Within the Government, she has worked in various senior capacities in the Ministry of Finance and Ministry of Civil Aviation. She is currently working as a Senior Advisor and Head of Department (Data Management & Analysis) in NITI Aayog. She heads the Women Entrepreneurship Platform launched by NITI Aayog on March 8, 2018. She also leads the Artificial Intelligence (AI), Blockchain initiative of NITI Aayog. She has experience in wide range of subjects in Infrastructure, PPPs and Banking sector, etc.   

Lord Mayor William Russell

Alderman William Russell took office as the 692nd Lord Mayor of the City of London in November 2019. In September 2020 William was elected to serve a further year in office, to provide continuity of civic governance during the Coronavirus emergency. 

His mayoral theme for his time in office is “Global UK – The New Future”, supporting businesses through the COVID19 crisis, speeding the recovery and seizing the opportunities of the new future.

William has over thirty years experience in the financial and business City including holding senior positions in the national and international banking sector.”

Dr Christopher Sier

Dr Christopher Sier is the Fintech Envoy for England for the UK HM Treasury and Chairman of Fintech North, the innovation community for the North of England. He also Chaired the UK Financial Conduct Authority's panel investigating costs, fees and transparency in institutional investment, wrote the LGPS cost transparency standard and has worked with the World Bank, EIOPA, the Committee on Workers Capital and institutional investors around the world on the same subject. Combining these two worlds he is CEO and Co-Founder of ClearGlass, a technology platform that sits between asset managers and pension funds and operates a near-zero price model for the collection and analysis of pension fund cost data. ClearGlass is based in London but also operates in Bangalore where the CTO and Dev team are based. In addition, Chris is Visiting Professor of Financial Technology at the University of Leeds, a Professor of Practice and Newcastle University, an Honorary Professor at Durham University and in the distant past he was a police officer in Edinburgh.

Mr. Kunal Shah

Kunal Shah is a serial entrepreneur, investor, and innovator in financial services. He founded one of India’s earliest fintech firms - FreeCharge - which pioneered online payments and delivered the largest exit of its time in 2015. Kunal’s latest venture, CRED, founded in 2018, is a platform that brings the benefits of high-trust communities to creditworthy individuals, brands, and financial institutions.

In two years, CRED has emerged as a leading community of India's most trustworthy users, commanding over 20% market share in its category. Kunal is an advocate of India’s startup ecosystem with 100+ angel investments, several of which are in fintech. He has been an advisor to the board of Bennett Coleman & Co. Ltd., the Chairman of the Internet and Mobile Association of Indian and an advisor to Sequoia Capital India.

Kunal partners founders at various stages of the entrepreneurship journey, sharing insights, sparking connections, and seeking knowledge. As an ardent believer in the role of financial well-being in catalysing progress, Kunal actively promotes and participates in financial literacy and female workforce participation initiatives. His ventures have been built from studying fundamental human behaviour and using technology to shape that behaviour for the benefit of people and communities.

Mr. Rajiv Anand

Rajiv Anand, 55 years, joined the Bank on 1st May 2013 from its asset management arm, Axis Asset Management Co. Ltd., where he was the Managing Director & CEO. 

 Rajiv Anand is a Commerce graduate and a Chartered Accountant by qualification.

 He was appointed as the President (Retail Banking) and was thereafter elevated as the Group Executive (Retail Banking) in 2014. He was appointed as a Director of the Bank on 12th May 2016 and thereafter as the Executive Director (Retail Banking) of the Bank, w.e.f. 4th August 2016. Subsequently, he took over as the Executive Director (Wholesale Banking) of the Bank, with effect from 21st December 2018.

 Over a career spanning more than 30 years, Rajiv Anand has focused on various facets of the financial services industry having held key management positions at leading global financial institutions. He is widely recognized for his strengths in capital markets and successfully building new businesses to scale. He has led an award-winning investment management team at the erstwhile Standard Chartered AMC. He was Business Standard Debt Fund Manager of the year in 2004.

Ms. Zarin Daruwala

Zarin Daruwala is Cluster Chief Executive Officer, India and South Asia markets (Bangladesh, Nepal and Sri Lanka). In a career spanning over 31 years, she has worked across all areas of banking ranging from wholesale banking, agri-finance, corporate finance, corporate planning, investment banking and credit. 

She was selected as one of the Top 30 most powerful women in Indian business by Business Today seven times and features in the coveted “BT Hall of Fame” for being a consistent performer. She was also named the 13th most powerful woman in business by Fortune India in 2020. Business World has listed her among the 50 Most Influential Women in India. She has also been recognised for “Outstanding Contribution toward Banking and Financial Services” for 2017-18 by the Ladies’ wing of IMC Chamber of Commerce and Industry. Zarin features in “Top 100 Most Influential BFSI Leaders” released by the World BFSI Congress and Awards.

A rank holder in Chartered Accountancy, Zarin has also won the President's gold medal, topping the all India Company Secretary exams. She has also been conferred the CA Business Achiever award by the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India. Prior to Standard Chartered, Zarin worked at ICICI Bank, where she spent 26 years of her career, starting out as a management trainee, eventually becoming President and Head of the Wholesale Banking business. She has also served on the Board of Directors of key ICICI group companies, ICICI Lombard General Insurance and ICICI Securities; and was also on the board of JSW Steel for almost eight years.

Dr. Ram Sewak Sharma

He is an IAS officer of the 1978 batch, with a distinguished career in the Government of India and State Governments, leading reforms and leveraging IT to simplify administrative processes. In the process, he has contributed to shaping India's Policies in Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs). He combines planning and execution skills to ensure that policies work on the ground.

Has been involved in policies related to the financing of big infrastructure projects in Railways, Ports, Airports and Highways.

Dr Sharma is presently serving as the Chief Executive Officer of the National Health Authority responsible for managing the Ayushman Bharat Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (AB PM-JAY) and the National Digital Health Mission. Also, he serves as the Chairperson of the Empowered Group on Vaccine Administration for COVID-19.

Previously, Dr Sharma headed the TRAI from August 2015 to September 2020, in which period he brought consumer focus to reaching the telecom and broadcasting services to all pockets of the country. And where the regulatory action may have been insufficient, he advocated policy changes to the government.

He provided thought leadership through initiatives, for example, in adopting net neutrality principles in India, use of crowdsourced data to measure service quality, and leveraging blockchain to achieve regulatory outcomes.

He pushed for the development of indigenous technologies, keeping the country's needs in mind, e.g. to establish a grid of Wi-Fi hotspots or to make interoperable set-top boxes for television broadcast.

He represented India at various international fora and contributed to the policy space in communication technologies and broadcasting. Before joining the TRAI, Dr Sharma worked as Secretary, Department of Electronics and Information Technology, Government of India, where he spearheaded the Digital India program to develop India into a digitally empowered society and a knowledge economy.

He brought in policies related to open source, open standards, and open APIs in all government projects and shaped eGovernance space by converting silo applications in various sectors to modern, multi-tenanted enterprise systems.

Dr. Sharma supported the development and adoption of several digital products in governance and citizen services, such as eKYC, Digital Locker, eSign, Online Reservation System (ORS) in the hospitals, Digital Attendance, Jeevan Pramaan (a system for issuing Digital Life Certificate for the pensioners) and the Digital Consent Artefact. Importantly, he crafted policies for digital payments that led to the creation of the phenomenally successful UPI payment system in India.

Before joining the Government of India as Secretary, Dr Sharma worked for one year in 2013-14 as Chief Secretary in the Government of Bihar and Jharkhand, where he provided leadership to the entire administrative system of the State. He dealt with law and order, administration of the criminal justice system, revenue system and all other aspects of the work, for which a State Government is responsible under the Constitution. While there, he modernized governance and public service delivery systems using technology in several areas, such as land and property registration systems, municipal governance, Public Distribution System (PDS) and taxation systems.

Dr Sharma is best known for the role he played as Director General & Mission Director of the Unique Identification Authority of India in the years 2009 – 2013.

Working closely with Mr Nandan Nilekani in the overall design and implementation of Aadhaar, he brought to fruition the Government of India’s ambitious project to provide a unique identity to all its residents. Today it is the world’s largest identity system, capable of biometrically authenticating every individual resident in the country.

He conceptualized (and later implemented) several services that leveraged the authentication infrastructure for better governance and for bringing in cost-effectiveness in both government and private enterprise.

In his other assignments, he has worked as District Magistrate in several districts in Bihar, Director of Treasuries, Secretary in different departments in the State and as Joint Secretary in the Ministry of Finance, Govt. of India.

In September 2020 Rupa Publications brought out his book The Making of Aadhaar: World's Largest Identity Platform (ISBN-13: 978-9390356126), which has been very well received.

Dr Sharma holds a PhD from the Indian Institute of Technology, New Delhi; a Master’s in Computer Sciences from the University of California, USA; and a Master’s in Mathematics from the Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur.

Mr. Rajeev Chalisgaonkar

Rajeev Chalisgaonkar has more than 28 years of experience in Corporate, Commercial and SME Banking across diverse geographies including Europe, the Middle East, Africa and India. Rajeev is currently the Global Head of Business Banking Segments & Products for Standard Chartered Bank since April 2014.

He joined Standard Chartered in September 2011 as the General Manager of SME Banking, India & South Asia. In his previous assignment, Rajeev was Head of Corporate Banking with Barclays Bank India and before that led SME Banking for Barclays Emerging Markets across 14 countries in Asia, Middle East and Africa. Prior to joining Barclays, Rajeev worked for Citibank in Central Europe for over 10 years, holding leadership positions in Commercial Banking, Retail Banking and Transaction Banking. He started his banking career with the Export-Import Bank of India and served as their Regional Representative to Central Europe for three years.

Rajeev completed his MBA at IIM Calcutta. His academic achievements also include a Bachelor of Engineering (Metallurgical Engineering) from Malaviya National Institute of Technology, India. Rajeev is married to Manisha and has two daughters.

Dr. Saurabh Garg

Dr. Garg took charge as the CEO, Unique Identification Authority of India in April, 2021.

Dr. Garg is an IAS officer of Odisha Cadre and has over 30 years of experience at different levels of Government – District, State and the Central Government as well as in the Private Sector and the World Bank.

He has worked on areas like digitalizing agriculture, direct income transfer scheme for farmers, formation of the National Investment and Infrastructure Fund (NIIF); improving the Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) policies; preparing the framework for digital payments; revamping of the gold sector policies and has led negotiations for the Bilateral Investment Treaties (BITs). He has also worked in the areas of developing urban and industrial infrastructure.

Dr. Garg is an alumnus of Johns Hopkins University, USA; IIM, Ahmedabad and IIT Delhi.

Prof Campbell R Harvey

Campbell R. Harvey is a Professor of Finance at Duke University in Durham, North Carolina and a Research Associate of the National Bureau of Economic Research in Cambridge, Massachusetts. He served as President of the American Finance Association in 2016 and as Editor of the Journal of Finance from 2006-2021. Harvey has also been a visiting scholar at the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System. He has published over 150 scholarly articles on topics spanning investment finance, emerging markets, corporate finance, behavioural finance, financial econometrics and computer science. He was recently named 2020 Quant of the Year and #1 LinkedIn Global Top Voice in 2020 for finance and the economy. Over the past seven years, Professor Harvey has taught Innovation and Cryptoventures which focuses on decentralized finance and blockchain technology. His book DeFi and the Future of Finance will be published in August 2021 by John Wiley and Sons. He will be launching a four-course learning experience under the same name that will be offered by Coursera in Fall 2021.

DeFi and the Future of Finance https://www.amazon.com/DeFi-Future-Finance-Campbell-Harvey/dp/1119836018/ref=sr_1_3 (pre-order)

Mr. G Padmanabhan

Padmanabhan, a post-graduate in Economics from Kerala University and a Masters in Business Administration from the Birmingham Business School holds extensive experience and expertise in bank regulation and supervision, development of foreign exchange/securities markets in India, information technology and payment systems, with more than 35 years of experience with the RBI in various capacities i.e. recommending and implementing policies, systems, guidelines and regulations relating to the banking, financial services and securities sector of the country.

 On superannuating while holding the position of Executive Director from the RBI, Padmanabhan was appointed as Non-Executive Chairman of Bank of India in Aug 2015. He held this position for 5 years till Aug 2020. Padmanabhan is a Senior Consultant with AZB Partners. He also advises several firms on banking/ foreign exchange and payment systems and other regulatory issues. He currently holds Board positions in Axis Bank, Aditya Birla Sunlife AMC  Trustee Board and Haldyn Glass.

Shri K. A. P. Sinha

Prior to joining his current assignment in department of Finance, he was holding the charge of Principal Secretary of Departments of Food and Civil Supplies, General administration and Parliamentary Affairs, Higher Education, Environment, Science and Technology Government of Punjab right since the month of October 2014. He has served in different capacities both in Government of Punjab and Government of India including Joint Secretary in the Department of Atomic Energy, Ministry of External Affairs and Ministry of Commerce & Industry. He has attended many national and international Conferences while being in these departments and Ministries. He has been heading several delegations to foreign countries to finalise negotiations from Indian side. He, as joint secretary to GOI, in the department of Atomic Energy, was India representative to European Centre for Nuclear Research (CERN) at Geneva, Switzerland. He has been closely associated in the development of our Higher Education sector. He has served as Member “Senate”, “Syndicate” and also “Board of Finance” of the Panjab University Chandigarh. He has been on the Board of the Institute of Nano Sciences and Technology Mohali. Before this, he was on the Board and Council of the National Institute of Science Education and Research (NISER) and Institute of Physics (IOP) both located at Bhubaneshwar. He has served as ex-officio Director of the Board of Electronics Corporation of India Ltd at Hyderabad, an expert member on the council of Atomic Mineral Directorate at Hyderabad and Controller of National Institution “Global Centre for Nuclear Energy Partnership (GCNEP)” at District Jhajjar in Haryana. Prior to his deputation to the Government of India, he has served as Secretary of the then Punjab State Electricity Board at Patiala, Joint Secretary Finance in Union Territory of Chandigarh, Deputy Commissioner of two districts viz. Bathinda and Gurdaspur in Punjab.

Mr. Ankur Mehrotra

Ankur Mehrotra is Managing Director, Lending, Grab Financial Group (GFG) where he leads and oversees the strategic direction and development of GFG’s lending business across Southeast Asia.

He joined Grab in 2016 and held various roles before assuming his current position. Most recently, he was Managing Director, Corporate Finance of Grab, where he focused on debt and equity raising for Grab. He also led the end-to-end creation of joint ventures for GFG.

Ankur has over 16 years of experience in the finance and banking industries. He started his career at the IMF in Washington D.C. in 2002, and moved to Asia in 2008 with Standard Chartered Bank where he worked in the Origination, Structured Finance & Structured Product sales teams. In 2012, he launched his own start-up, which was based in Singapore and later expanded to Indonesia.

He holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Physics from Wittenberg University, a Master’s Degree in Applied Economics from Johns Hopkins University, and a Master’s Degree in Finance from the London Business School.

Mr. Rajan Anandan

As part of the leadership team at Sequoia Capital, Rajan is focusing on developing Surge into the world's top scale-up program for startups by acting as an investment advisor and mentor to the programme's founders. Surge aims to engineer rapid early progress for startups, by enabling disproportionate access to capital, talent, network and decades of company-building knowledge. Rajan's deep understanding of technology, operating expertise and a track record of growing tech businesses across the region will help Surge's founders scale and build the businesses of tomorrow.

Prior to Sequoia, as the VP of Google India and Southeast Asia, Rajan played a key role in expanding the regions internet ecosystem while accelerating Google's innovation and growth in the region. He is also a prolific angel investor who has backed a large number of successful startups at very early stages. Rajan also led Microsoft and Dell in India, worked for Michael Dell the founder of Dell and was earlier a Partner at McKinsey & Company in Chicago.

Shri Akhil Handa

Akhil Handa is a Digital Strategist, Startup mentor and thinks about re/positioning BFSI to compete adequately in the fast changing digitised world. Akhil is responsible for the strategic digital direction of Bank of Baroda as a Member of the Corporate Leadership Team at Bank of Baroda. BOB is the 3rd largest bank of India with over 160mn customers and 114 years of rich heritage. As the Chief Digital Officer, Akhil is responsible for digital transformation across the lines of businesses of the bank - which is spread across the length and breadth of the country and has presence in 20 countries internationally. He oversees the digital payments business, digital platforms (Retail, SME, Agri), digital product engineering, digital channels (Mobile Banking, Internet Banking, Tablet Banking, WhatsApp Banking, ATMs/CRs), AI/Innovation and Fintech Partnerships. 

Akhil is a well-recognized digital influencer and is recognized amongst the top voices of the fintech industry in India. 

Akhil has many firsts to his credit - from the setup of a digital bank within a bank, first fintech vertical at a PSB, setup of the first-of-its-kind Innovation Centre in collaboration with IIT Mumbai focusing on Fintech. (BOB-IIT B Innovation Centre), fast mover on innovative digital lending businesses, amongst some. 

Shri B.Sambamurthy

B.Sambamurthy, a Chartered Accountant had over 40 years of banking and related experience in various Banks/ IT, Electronic Payment related organizations.   

Some of the important responsibilities in the past include:

•  Chairman -- NPCI—(National Payment Corporation of India). Also Director as RBI Nominee. 
•  Director and CEO of IDRBT—(Institute of Development and Research in Banking Technology – Established by RBI) which,  besides academic activities like Post Graduate and PhD programs ,  operated Gateway for NEFT/RTGS, National Financial ATM  Switch before being hived off organizations like IFFTAS,NPCI.  Helped set up Centers of Excellence on Big Data Analytics, Mobile Banking and Cyber Security.
• Chairman of Corporation bank till 2008.
• Executive Director: Indian Bank.

• Also served on the Boards/Governing councils of some companies/organizations like: Bandhan Bank, Data Security Council of India (NASSCOM body), Indian Institute of Banking and Finance, (, Clearing Corporation of India, IDBI Bank Intech ltd etc.

• Served on a few committees of RBI like: Mobile Banking, Financial Inclusion, and IT Vision for RBI, Payment Vision of RBI.
• Served as Member of the Apex Committee of TIFAC (Technology information and Forecasting Council- GOI) and Committee on Cloud Computing –MIT and Deity – GOI.
• People, Product, Process and Technology is his favorite platform.
• Led the team that innovated Branchless Banking during 2007 at Corporation Bank – Biometric based payment and banking services model that has now morphed into AEPS.

Contributed over 40 articles on Banking and Finance in financial dailies like Business Line, Economic Times, and Business Standard etc.

Presently:

NSDL: Independent Director.

Insurance Information Bureau of India. ( established by IRDAI): Governing Council Member.

Shri Vishal Kumar Dev

Vishal Kumar Dev is currently working as Principal Secretary to Govt., Finance Department, Government of Odisha. 

He graduated in 1990 with a Degree in Computer Science and Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), BHU, Varanasi and obtained an MBA from the Indian Institute of Management (IIM), Lucknow, India in 1992.  He worked for more than three years with prestigious organizations in the Corporate Sector before joining the Indian Administrative Service in 1996. In 2009, he took a 1 year sabbatical and obtained a Masters Degree in “Governance and Development” from the Institute of Development Studies, University of Sussex, United Kingdom. He has also completed an executive programme in leadership from the Harvard Kennedy School, Harvard University, USA.

He has handled a number of important assignments during the last 23 years in the IAS, spanning a diverse range of sectors like district administration, urban development, industries, information technology, public financial management, sports and tourism. 

His work as Municipal Commissioner, Cuttack in the aftermath of 1999 Super Cyclone had received widespread appreciation. He is also recognised for his significant contribution to the development of Bhubaneswar as a major centre for IT/ITES Industry as well as to the development of industries in Odisha. He led the team responsible for successfully hosting the 22nd Asian Athletics Championship in July 2017 and also the Men’s Hockey World Cup, 2018. Both the events received global appreciation. He played an instrumental role in making Bhubaneswar the “Sports Capital of India”. He also brought about a paradigm change in the promotion and development of tourism in Odisha

Mr. Naveen Surya

Mr. Kagiso Mothibi

Kagiso leads the Fintech department at FSCA and the SA Fintech Innovation Hub, a multi-regulator initiative geared towards unpacking the implications of emerging financial technologies and crafting policies that stimulate fintech innovation and drive positive customer outcomes.

He has spent his career focused on Fintech and Digital Strategy most recently at Vodacom, where he was Executive Head of Strategy responsible for driving Fintech, mobile money, and digital transformation.

Previously Kagiso worked at McKinsey, Barclays Africa, Standard  Bank, and Viacom CBS where he advised clients across a range of industries including Financial Services, Technology, Telecoms, Media, and Digital Transformations on matters ranging from unlocking performance to identifying the next wave of growth opportunities.

Kagiso holds an MSc from Oxford University and an MBA from GIBS.

Mr. Anup Bagchi

Mr. Anup Bagchi is an Executive Director on the Board of ICICI Bank since February 1, 2017. He has a management degree from the Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore and an engineering degree from the Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur. He has been with the ICICI Group since 1992. He holds the responsibilities for Retail Banking at the Bank.

He is responsible for the Retail Banking Group, Digital Channels and Partnerships, Rural and Inclusive Banking Group, Data Sciences and Analytics Group and the Corporate Brand Group for the Bank. He also oversees retail products, remittances and NRI services for the International Banking business.

He has represented the ICICI Group in various regulatory committees of key bodies such as RBI and SEBI. He was a member of RBI’s Expert Committee on Micro, Small & Medium Enterprises and of SEBI’s Committee on Financial and Regulatory Technologies (CFRT). He was in the Executive Committee of National Securities Depository Ltd., (NSDL), Advisory Committee of BSE Limited and was co Chairman of FICCI’s Capital Markets Committee. He was also a member of SEBI’s Secondary Markets Advisory Committee (SMAC), Fair Market Conduct Committee and Committee on Financial and Regulatory Technologies and Risk Management Review Committee.

He has been honoured with ‘The Asian Banker Promising Young Banker Award’.

 Mr. Bagchi has worked extensively in the areas of retail banking, corporate banking and treasury and investment banking. Prior to his current role, he was the Managing Director & CEO of ICICI Securities Limited. Under his leadership, ICICI Securities won several prestigious awards.

Mr. Harshil Mathur

Harshil started Razorpay after discovering the dismal state of online payments in India. He graduated from IIT Roorkee in 2013 and started working at Schlumberger. With an idea to change the way online payments functioned in India, Harshil quit his full-time job and founded Razorpay with his Co-founder, Shashank Kumar in 2014 to simplify online payments.

Razorpay is one of the only two India-focused companies to be selected for the prestigious Y Combinator (YC) programme. Along with 33 reputed investors, the company is also backed by GIC, Ribbit Capital, Sequoia Capital India, Tiger Global Management, Y Combinator, Matrix Partners and Mastercard with a funding of $366.5 Mn from Series A, B, C, D and E rounds.

Three years since its founding, Razorpay rebranded itself in 2017 as Razorpay 2.0, a Converged Payments Solution company with a product suite designed to ease businesses of managing concerns around the flow of money in their financial systems. In 2019, Razorpay acquired two companies - Opfin, a Payroll and HR Management Software company, to solve for seamless automation of a business’s entire payroll process and Thirdwatch, an Artificial Intelligence (AI) driven company specialising in big data and machine learning for real-time fraud prevention. Progressing in its journey that started with Razorpay 2.0, the Company also launched it’s neobanking platform, RazorpayX and lending platform, Razorpay Capital - both designed to power the financial systems for disruptive companies.

Razorpay has been charting exponential growth since its inception. In the last six years, the company has powered digital payments for over 8 Mn businesses including the likes of Facebook, Airtel, BookMyShow, Ola, Zomato, Swiggy, Cred, ICICI Prudential among others and is all set to reach 10 Million businesses by 2021. In the last six months, Razorpay has witnessed a 40-45% growth, month-on-month. The company now plans to further solidify its position as one of the largest full-stack fintech companies in the country. Razorpay also expects a 4x growth in its revenue in this year, 2021.

While Harshil is a mechanical engineer by degree, he has been coding since his schooldays, some of the codes on which Razorpay runs were written by him. And behind that cool and calm demeanour is a Black Belt in Karate; Harshil likes to practice Karate in his free time.

Harshil was featured in an eclectic list of 30 promising young Indian talent under the age of 30, by Forbes magazine (2017), 40 Under 40 by Fortune India (2019), featured as LinkedIn’s Power Profiles in India (Technology) in 2019, featured in Entrepreneur magazine as ‘Top 35 Under 35’ entrepreneurs (2021), recently he also got recognized under Forbes 30Under30 ASIA class of 2021.

Mr. Shashank Kumar

Shashank started Razorpay, along with Harshil Mathur, after discovering the dismal state of online payments in India. He graduated from IIT Roorkee and before taking the entrepreneurial route with Razorpay; Shashank also worked with Microsoft US as a Software Developer.

With an idea to change the way online payments function in India, Shashank quit his full time job. By early 2014, Razorpay was conceptualized with a vision to simplify online payments. Razorpay is one of the only two India-focused companies to be selected for the prestigious Y Combinator (YC) programme. Along with 33 reputed investors, the company is also backed by GIC, Ribbit Capital, Sequoia Capital India, Tiger Global Management, Y Combinator, Matrix Partners and Mastercard with a funding of $366.5 Mn from Series A, B, C, D and E rounds.

Three years since its founding, Razorpay rebranded itself in 2017 as Razorpay 2.0, a Converged Payments Solution company with a product suite designed to ease businesses of managing concerns around the flow of money in their financial systems. In 2019, Razorpay acquired two companies - Opfin, a Payroll and HR Management Software company, to solve for seamless automation of a business’s entire payroll process and Thirdwatch, an Artificial Intelligence (AI) driven company specialising in big data and machine learning forreal-time fraud prevention. Progressing in its journey that started with Razorpay 2.0, the Company also launched it’s neobanking platform, RazorpayX and lending platform, Razorpay Capital - both designed to power the financial systems for disruptive companies. Razorpay has been charting exponential growth since its inception. In the last six years, the company has powered digital payments for over 8 Mn businesses including the likes of Facebook, Airtel, BookMyShow, Ola, Zomato, Swiggy, Cred, ICICI Prudential among others and is all set to reach 10 Million businesses by 2021.

In the last six months, Razorpay has witnessed a 40-45% growth, month-on-month. The company now plans to further solidify its position as one of the largest full-stack fintech companies in the country. Razorpay also expects a 4x growth in its revenue in this year, 2021.

Shashank was featured in an eclectic list of 30 promising young Indian talents under the age of 30, by Forbes Magazine (2017) and 40 Under 40 by Fortune India (2019). Shashank has also been featured in Entrepreneur magazine as ‘Top 35 Under 35’ entrepreneurs (2021).

Ms. Susanne Chishti

Susanne Chishti is the CEO of FINTECH Circle, Europe's 1st Investor Network focused on fintech investments & Founder of the FINTECH Circle Institute, a leading fintech learning platform offering Innovation Workshops to C-level executives. She is also the Co-Editor of the Bestseller "The FINTECH Book" which has been translated into 10 languages and is sold across 107 countries, The WealthTECH Book, The InsurTECH Book, The PAYTECH Book, The AI Book and The LEGALTECH Book (published by WILEY in 2020). Awards:

1) Top 32 Fintech Leaders in the UK (Business Leaders, Sept 2020)
2) Top 24th Fintech Influencer in the World (Onalytica, 2020) - among the Top 100 Fintech Influencers globally
3) Winner of the Fintech Champion of the Year Award 2019 (Women in Finance Awards)
4) Social Media Influencer of the Year 2018 (Investment Week)
5) Top 7 Crypto Experts globally 2018 (Inc Magazine)
6) City Innovator - Inspirational Woman in 2016
7) European Digital Financial Services ‘Power 50’, an independent ranking of the most influential people in digital financial services in Europe (2015)
8) Top 5 ESG Influencers Globally (Refinitiv, 2020) and top 100 Fintech Influencers globally (Refinitiv, Sept 2020)

She has also been a fintech TV Commentator on CNBC and a guest lecturer on financial technology at the University of Cambridge and Warwick Business School. After completing her MBA she started her career working for a fintech company (before the term "fintech" was being invented) in the Silicon Valley 25 years ago. She then worked more than 15 years’ across Deutsche Bank, Lloyds Banking Group, Morgan Stanley and Accenture in London and Hong Kong.

Susanne is an award-winning Entrepreneur and Investor with strong FINTECH expertise. She is a Judge & Coach at global FINTECH events and competitions and a conference keynote speaker. Susanne leads a global community of 200,000 fintech entrepreneurs, investors, financial services professionals globally (www.fintechcircle.com). 

Mr. Harish Natarajan

Harish leads a global team working on payments and market infrastructures topics. He is a core member of the cross-sectoral teams in the World Bank working on Universal Financial Access 2020, ID for Development, Government payments, Digital Economy and FinTech. Harish represents the World Bank in several working groups of the Committee on Payment Market Infrastructures (CPMI) at the Bank for International Settlements, International Organization of Securities Commissions (IOSCO) and the Financial Stability Board (FSB) on topics related to payments, market infrastructures and Fintech. 

Prior to joining the World Bank, Harish worked with VISA Inc, in the South Asia region in various senior-level positions in business development, operations and risk management. Harish is an IIT-R & IMM-C Alumni.

Mr. Varun Mittal

A Passionate leader. Driver of strategic growth and innovation within the FinTech ecosystem and financial inclusion projects for emerging markets globally.

As EY’s Global Emerging Markets FinTech Leader, Varun is responsible for EY FinTech business development in 130 emerging markets across the globe.

Varun has deep experience in the FinTech domain and is skilled in cross-border management of FinTech operations and business planning, digital banking innovation and strategy, and regulatory strategy development (M&A). His knowledge also covers FinTech ecosystem development, FinTech strategy development and implementation, FinTech corporate finance due diligence, and solution development and intrapreneurship.

Varun holds a Master of Strategy and Operations from National University of Singapore, and a Bachelor of Technology (Computer Science Engineering) from India. He is a founding member of the Singapore FinTech Association, the only non-profit FinTech body supported by the Monetary Authority of Singapore. He is also author of Singapore – The FinTech Nation, a history of Singapore’s evolution as a FinTech hub.  As an active angel investor, he set up Boleh Ventures to support high growth ventures in ASEAN, India and Africa.

How Varun is building a better working world

“As a passionate leader in FinTech, I have worked on a broad spectrum of projects for emerging markets globally: blockchain, payments, digital banks, regulatory policies, national infrastructure and financial inclusion. I will continue to tap into my deep experience in the FinTech domain to drive the development of the ecosystem and build a better working world.”

Mr. Kaustab Roy

A two decade-plus career spent primarily with one of the most globalised Financial institutions
(Citigroup) and a globally respected premier public service institution (Monetary Authority of
Singapore). Have established an extensive leadership network spanning across multiple geographies in
Asia, Africa, Europe and United States.

Deeply believe in being the change, transforming old ways, unlearning, relearning, building new things,
creating new value, and walking newer roads.

Professional capacity and competencies encompass:

- Conceptualising architecting and launching public good projects ab initio
- Developing partnerships across governments & multi-lateral agencies
- Championing creation of growth support systems for start-ups
- Championing financial inclusion, fairness and sustainability
- Executing leadership functions in Financial & and Fintech sector.
Recent few ground-up manifestations:
- Connecting Retail Payment network in Asia.

SG-TH Connectivity, Upcoming In- SG connectivity.

- Democratization of Public Good Payment rails via FAST & Paynow.
- Connecting SME businesses in APAC via Proxtera.
- Conceptualising and creating a trusted Digital Trade & Finance corridor - Asia to Africa.
- Simplifying collaboration between FIs and FinTechs via the API-Exchange

Ms. Noopur Chaturvedi

Ms Noopur Chaturvedi is the CEO of NPCI Bharat BillPay Limited (NBBL). NBBL is the wholly-owned subsidiary of NPCI and a first of its kind platform for processing all recurring payments in the country. In this role, Noopur’s responsibilities would include formulation & deployment of business strategy in line with NBBL’s overall mission of safe, reliable, interoperable and accessible payment infrastructure for all recurring payments across the country. Prior to joining NBBL, she has held executive positions in PayU (Country Head –  SMB) and Airtel Payments Bank (Chief – Corporate Business and Alliances). 

Noopur has over two decades of experience in Banking and Financial Services across several leading organizations like Citibank, ING, Samsung and others. She has worked in both B2C and B2B domains, across roles spanning P&L management, Sales and Alliances, Marketing as well as Product and Portfolio Management. She is a growth hacker and has launched several new businesses and revenue lines in the organizations she has worked with.

She holds a PGDBM degree from the Indian Institute of Management, Lucknow, and is a B.Tech. in Computer Sciences from Harcourt Butler Technology Institute, where she was a merit holder.

Mr. Madhivanan B

Mr Madhivanan B joined IDFC First Bank in July, 2019 and brings with him a wealth of operational, technical and marketing experience across diverse industry segments such as Banking, Insurance, FMCG, IT & ITES. Besides being the Chief Technology & Digital Officer (CTDO) he has held various senior level positions within the ICICI Group across different business units and group companies over a two decade stint. He holds a Bachelors degree from Mumbai University, and PGDM in Business Management from the Indian Institute of Management, Calcutta. 

Ms. Pia Roman Tayag

As Director of the Office of the UNSGSA, Pia leads the team that supports Her Majesty Queen Máxima of the Netherlands’s work as the UN Secretary-General’s Special Advocate for Inclusive Finance for Development (UNSGSA). 

She joined the Office after spending 18 years at Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP). Most recently, she worked as the Managing Director of the Center for Learning and Inclusion Advocacy at BSP. This included a focus on inclusive finance, particularly to craft policies and regulations, develop partnerships for financial education, strengthen consumer protection, build stakeholder relations, and implement the National Financial Inclusion Strategy. 

A Filipino national, Ms. Tayag graduated with a bachelor’s degree in Public Administration from the University of the Philippines and a master’s degree in International Affairs focused on Economic Development from Columbia University. She is also a Fellow in the Fletcher School Leadership Program for Financial Inclusion at Tufts University.

Shri Rajesh Bansal

Mr Rajesh Bansal is Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Reserve Bank Innovation Hub (RBIH) where he aims to foster and catalyse financial sector innovation to enable access to suitable and accessible financial products for a billion people in a frictionless, secure manner.

A highly regarded thought leader in the areas of digital financial services and digital infrastructure, Mr. Bansal has nearly three decades of global experience in designing digital IDs and electronic payment products and cash transfers, to enable inclusive development in multiple Asian and African markets. Prior to joining RBIH, he was a senior adviser at Carnegie India, where he led the centre’s Technology and Society programme.

Mr. Bansal has previously served at the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) in various capacities, including in areas of technology, payment systems, and financial inclusion. He was a member of the founding team of Aadhaar and specifically led the design of India’s Direct Benefits Transfer system which is benefiting hundreds of millions of low-income clients. He played a key role in creating IndiaStack, digital ID-based infrastructure for a presence less and cashless service delivery platform in India. He has been a member of a number of committees of the Government of India and the RBI.

Mr. Bansal is a frequent speaker, moderator and panellist on financial innovation and inclusion in academic circles, conferences and fintech festivals nationally and internationally. He has authored a number of opinion pieces in leading publications and has recently authored a paper on the geopolitics of digital yuan, outlining the challenges China’s CBDC can pose to the US dollars’ hegemony. He also hosted Carnegie India’s podcast, ‘Interpreting India’ to shed light on CBDC and unpack the effect they could have on the way we transact.

A recipient of the prestigious Golden Jubilee scholarship scheme of the RBI, Mr Bansal holds a Master’s degree from Duke University, USA.

Mr. Arif Khan

Mr. Arif Khan leads the strategic planning for digital transformation at NPCI. His role is growing NPCI’s new products portfolio basis customer needs and industry trends. Mr. Khan is responsible for driving innovation, analytics and technology.

A post graduate in Business Management from XLRI – Jamshedpur, Mr. Khan was earlier associated with RazorPay (one of the fastest-growing payment gateways) as the Chief Innovation Officer. Arif during his stint at HDFC of over 15 years was instrumental in driving strategic initiatives in payments, digital banking and financial inclusion. With an overall experience of over 18 years in product management, business development and delivering innovative business and technology solutions, Arif has been instrumental in influencing diverse groups to deliver innovative business and new age disruptive solutions.

Shri Debashis Sen

Debashis Sen joined the IAS in 1985.  He got diploma in Public Administration from ENA France.  He has been trained at the JFK School of Harvard University. He has received the ‘Jewel of Bengal’ and ‘Badlaav Youth Icon’ award for outstanding contribution to Public Administration.    

Shri Sen has served in various capacities including Chief Electoral Officer for five years, Head of Information Technology & Electronics Department for three years and Head of Urban development Department for seven years. During these years, his innovation “Anandababu” became an icon in electoral communication, his use of Blockchain in birth certificates was a trendsetter in e-Governance and his contribution to Township Policy of Government of West Bengal was the first framework of the country for new cities.

He is presently posted as Managing Director, HIDCO which is a government company that is developing Smart City of New Town, Kolkata.  He is passionate about sustainable development, circular economy and inclusive communities. He is also the Chairman of Naba Diganta Industrial Township Authority (NDITA) at Sector 5 Salt Lake, where he is a creating green city. 

Mr. Gencho Kerezov

Mr. Gencho Kerezov is the Deputy Mayor for Digitalisation, Innovation and Economic Development of Sofia Municipality, and a knowledgeable leader in the sphere of innovation, digitalisation and new technologies.

Mr. Kerezov graduated with a degree in International Economic Relations in 2013. His professional path started in one of the leading global insurance holdings, where he worked on trade channels digitalization projects, and in less than 3 years headed the Training and Business Development unit working directly with the company's Board of Directors. 

Mr. Kerezov won a place in a talent program and was sponsored to study in an intensive Master's program at an Italian business school run by major European insurance and consulting companies. He did an internship in Munich, where he was part of the team that negotiated a 15-year exclusive partnership with a leading bank for the markets in Central and Eastern Europe.

In 2018 Mr. Kerezov founded a digital communication agency working with large companies in the tech, automotive, food, entertainment and retail sectors. 

In August 2020, Mr. Kerezov received an invitation to join the team of the Sofia’s Mayor Yordanka Fandakova, where he is responsible for Sofia’s digital transformation. Since September 2020 he’s heading the ‘Digitalisation, Innovation and Economic Development’ Department of Sofia Municipality (Innovative Sofia).

Innovative Sofia

The Digitalization, Innovation and Economic Development department of the Sofia Municipality (Innovative Sofia) was established in the beginning of 2020 to support the development of Sofia as an intelligent, digital, innovative and tech city.  The goal of Innovative Sofia is to be a leader and engine of the digital transformation of Sofia – to initiate and coordinate digital transformation policies and to consolidate and guide the city’s digital and smart city projects; to facilitate the development of the high-tech and R&D sector, the establishment of international partnerships and the attraction of investments; as well as to support the development of a recognizable international brand of Sofia and the local ecosystem.

The Digital Transformation Strategy for Sofia

The Strategy was developed under the Digital Cities Challenge (DCC) project of the European Commission by Innovative Sofia together with EU experts and over 100 local stakeholders. The strategy aims to encourage the development of innovative solutions for the digital transformation of the city and to support the innovation system enabling the development and absorption of new digital services and smart solutions. In 2020, the Strategy and the Action Plan for its implementation were unanimously approved by the Sofia City Council. The Action Plan is a “road map” which outlines the indicative activities for the practical implementation of the Strategy until 2024.

Fintech in Sofia and Bulgaria

Fintech is among the priority industries for Sofia Municipality, and the City is in close dialogue and collaboration with the active local ecosystem (for example, Innovative Sofia has prepared the first Sofia Fintech Mapping  in collaboration with the Bulgarian Fintech Association) and international partners. Sofia has an active, educated and well-developed startup, entrepreneurial, ICT and Fintech ecosystem. Fintech, as part of the ICT and innovation sector, is among the priority industries recognized by Sofia Municipality and the Digital Transformation Strategy for Sofia, including the Sandbox for Innovative Solutions. There is also a dedicated Fintech  MA programme at Sofia University, created with the support of the Bulgarian Fintech Association.

Innovative Sofia has organised webinars, dedicated to Fintech, and has participated in international events and initiatives dedicated to Fintech, innovative technologies, etc. (some examples). You can find more about the Bulgarian Fintech scene here: https://fintechbulgaria.org/reports/

Mr. Peter Cunnane

Peter is the Director of International & National Initiatives at Innovate Finance, the industry body representing the UK FinTech sector. Peter leads on developing Innovate Finance’s international and national initiatives, to support and promote UK FinTech, and the opportunities for our members to grow, by developing relationships with like-minded hubs across the UK and around the world. Peter also works alongside our Head of Government Affairs and Policy to ensure our international and national work reflects current political, public policy and regulatory priorities for the sector.

Mr. Lalit Keshre

Lalit Keshre is the Co-founder and CEO of Groww. Lalit possesses more than 17 years of experience in building consumer-focused technology products. Before founding Groww, Lalit was in a senior role with the product management team at Flipkart. At Flipkart, Lalit launched and led Flipkart Quick to enable last-mile deliveries and helped launch Flipkart Marketplace. In 2011, Lalit had co-founded an online learning company called Eduflix. Lalit was an early team member at video technology company Ittiam Systems, serving clients like Google, Netflix, and Samsung. Lalit is an alumnus of IIT Bombay.

Ms. Rosaline Chow Koo

Rosaline invested $5M of her savings and borrowed another $5M to build her startup CXA after 5 years of trying to convince her firm to invest in Asia. CXA won Insurtech of the Year and Rosaline won Woman Leader of the Year from the Asia Insurance Industry Awards.

Rosaline supervised P&G factory lines in Iowa and then worked on Wall Street. She launched two dot-com start-ups before moving to insurance. Rosaline also grew Mercer and Marsh Benefit’s 14 APAC countries 800% over 8 years. She graduated from UCLA Cybernetics and Columbia Business School.

Mr. Dinesh Agarwal

Dinesh Agarwal is the Founder and CEO of IndiaMART, India's largest online marketplace, connecting buyers and suppliers. Having founded IndiaMART in 1996, Dinesh has been the frontrunner in steering the growth of the company since then, having an unblemished record of being profitable from day one - a feat no other online company in India has been able to emulate. 

Under Dinesh's dynamic and visionary leadership, IndiaMART today is a 2754 strong talented pool of human resource, with offices across the country. It's stellar credentials, robust business model and Dinesh's commitment towards the MSME sector has invited prestigious investors like the Times of India Group and Intel Capital into its fold for further expansion plans. A vigorous advocate of Indian SMEs, he has been undertaking numerous initiatives to promote technology in the Indian SME space. His contribution to Indian businesses is widely acknowledged by the media. 

Prior to pursuing his entrepreneurial instincts, Dinesh pursued his B. Tech in Computer Science and Engineering from Harcourt Butler Technological Institute, Kanpur. He has also honed his technical skills working for industry leaders such as HCL Technologies (America), Center for Development of Telematics (C-Dot) and CMC Limited before returning to India. 

Dinesh is a member of The Indus Entrepreneurs (TiE) and the Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI).

When he does not have his working boots on, Dinesh loves to spend time with his family, travelling to exotic locations and experiencing different cultures. He is also an ardent reader and considers Tulsidas’ Shri Ramcharitmanas as one of the greatest literary masterpieces.

http://www.dineshagarwal.com/

Shri Sanjay Kumar Das

Mr. Sanjay Kumar Das is a bureaucrat by profession and an activist by passion. He is the Joint Secretary in the Dept. of IT and Electronics besides being the State Information Security Officer of West Bengal. He served for four years as Assistant Central Intelligence Officer in the Intelligence Bureau under Ministry of Home Affairs before joining West Bengal Civil Service (Executive) Cadre in 1996. He did his post graduation in Physics, Management and Law besides receiving professional trainings on cyber-security, cyber-law, intellectual property rights and training & development. He is a certified National Cyber Security Scholar from MDI-ISAC, certified Cyber Security Strategist by DSCI and certified Data Privacy Expert from BSI.

Mr. V Balasubramaniam

• Mr V. Bala is the founding Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of India International Exchange IFSC Ltd. (India INX) the first International Exchange from India in GIFT City International Financial Services Centre Special Economic Zone which started its operations from JAN, 2017 and a wholly-owned subsidiary of BSE (Asia's first stock exchange). He also holds a board position in the following organisations -
• BSE Institute Limited – Education business,
• BSE Sammaan - CSR Exchange and
• India International Clearing Corporation IFSC Limited.
• Prior to this, he was the Chief Business Officer of BSE heading the business development encompassing all business segments viz. Equities, Equity Derivatives, Debt, Interest Rate Futures, Currency Derivatives, Mutual Fund Distribution platform and SME platform. In addition to the markets business, he was also responsible for the listings and data business of BSE and managing the entire trading operations and membership operations.
• He has over 25 years of experience in the Capital Markets industry and has previously worked with Reliance Group as Vice President and was also as co-founder of Marketplace Technologies Limited which was acquired by BSE.
• He was also part of the core team involved in setting up the National Stock Exchange of India. He was instrumental in creating the Capital Market segment, Nifty Index creation, setup of NSCCL as the first clearing corporation in India, NCFM certification creation and the Futures and Options segment inter-alia.
• He has served on the board of Central Depository Services (India) Limited, Futures Industry Association – Asia, Co-Chair of FICCI Capital Market Committee etc.

He has Masters in Commerce from the University of Mumbai, a Rank holder from the Institute of Cost Accountants of India, a Diploma from the Institute of Chartered Financial Analysts of India and is a Certified Information Systems Auditor.

Ms. Shalini Warrier

Ms. Shalini Warrier was appointed as Executive Director of Federal Bank with effect from 15 January 2020. She joined the Bank on 2nd November 2015 as the Chief Operating Officer, with her primary responsibility being operational excellence, coupled with digital innovation. In May 2019, she took on the additional responsibility of Business Head of Retail Banking Products. 

Ms. Shalini Warrier is a member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India and stood first at the all India level in 1989. She is also a Certified Associate of the Indian Institute of Bankers.

Ms. Warrier has over 28 years of banking experience.  Prior to joining Federal Bank, she worked with Standard Chartered Bank, a leading multinational Bank. She handled multiple disciplines there, across various geographies that included India, Brunei, Indonesia, Singapore and United Arab Emirates. 

She brings first-hand global experience in Branch Banking, Process Management, Service Quality and Client Experience, Project Management, Operations, Technology, and Compliance with special emphasis on Client Due Diligence and Anti Money Laundering. She is also on the Board of Ageas Federal Life Insurance Company Limited and Federal Operations and Services Limited.

In her current role, she leads the Bank's initiatives designed to enhance customer experience and operational excellence through automation and digitalization.  She is responsible for formulating the Bank's future direction and partner with the Board and the Top Management team to drive strategic initiatives designed to enhance shareholder value, ensuring all the relevant support functions run smoothly and are able to create the right systems to support the business growth of the Bank, confirming right support architecture is implemented in the Bank and through which the Bank is able to grow and prosper. She is also responsible for delivering innovative retail products to the existing and prospective customers of the Bank. 

She is a well-known banking personality and has represented the Bank at various fintech and technology platforms in India and abroad.

Mr. Aleksi Grym

Aleksi Grym is Head of Digitalisation at the Bank of Finland. He leads a team that manages a portfolio of projects related to digital transformation, fintech, and digital currencies. He is a member of the Eurosystem's digital euro project steering group. Before joining the Finnish central bank he worked in the consulting and technology investment industry for 15 years in London and Helsinki.

Ms. Rebecca Schot-Guppy

Rebecca Schot-Guppy is the CEO of peak fintech group FinTech Australia. FinTech Australia represents over 350 companies in Australia on key policy issues and supports the local fintech ecosystem with events and partnerships. It also works to grow the Australian fintech sector’s influence abroad.

Before working at FinTech Australia, Rebecca was head of community at fintech startup hub Stone & Chalk. She also practised as a corporate lawyer at Hall & Willcox.

Ms. Paroma Chatterjee

Ms. Chatterjee joined as the CEO of Revolut India in April 2021. A member of the ET India Leadership Council, Ms. Chatterjee has been featured among the Top Women CEOs of 2021 by Entrepreneur India and was named one of the Top 25 Women Leaders in Financial Technology of Asia for 2020, among the 12 Quantic BFSI Leadership Award Winners for India 2020, nominated as Non-Founder CXO of the Year 2019 by Digital Lenders Association of India, Woman Leader of the Year at the India FinTech Forum 2019 and among the ABP News-BFSI List of 50 Most Influential Upcoming Financial Services Professionals in India 2019.

Ms. Chatterjee has over 18 years of experience and has scaled and led businesses at high growth late-stage FinTech companies including the digital lending soonicorn Lendingkart, the online retail unicorn Flipkart and the mobile payments wallet Airtel Money, of which she was a founding member. Prior to a decade with the new age technology-enabled companies, Ms. Chatterjee had spent close to another decade in the traditional BFSI sector with ICICI Bank and Kotak Mahindra Bank, in the cards and payments businesses.

Ms. Chatterjee is a postgraduate in management, specialising in Finance and Marketing, from the Indian Institute of Management, Lucknow.

Mr. Pieter Franken

Pieter Franken is a Fintech Pioneer and a Deep Tech Innovator with many industry firsts.
A career spanning 30 years in Financial Services, specializing in management, FinTech,
innovation and large-scale digital transformations. C-level and executive positions with
industry leaders such as Citigroup, Shinsei Bank, Aplus, Monex Securities and Monex Group.
Current affiliations include Monex Group (Japan), ModuleQ (US), EmeradaCo (Japan),
AFIN/APIX (Singapore), Stacks Incubator, and SAFECAST.ORG, a global NPO critically
acclaimed for citizen sourced, open environmental data.

Pieter is a member of Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) International Technology
Advisory Panel (ITAP) and a Special Advisor of the ASEAN Innovation Network (AFIN), a non
profit company founded by MAS (Monetary Authority of Singapore), IFC/World Bank and
ABA (ASEAN Banking Association) to accelerate digital transformation across Asia and other
developing regions to foster Financial Inclusion and bridging the gaps between FinTechs and
Financial Institutions and operator of the APIX Platform.

Pieter holds an MSc in Computer Science from Delft University and currently is a Guest
Professor and Senior Researcher at Keio University and alumni researcher with MIT Media
The lab where he contributes to research in Citizen Science, IoT and Block-chain technologies.

Mr. Anand Kumar Bajaj

An IIM-A alumnus and a Chartered Accountant, Anand Kumar Bajaj is the Founder, MD & CEO of PayNearby. With over 18 years of experience in Digital Payments and Mobility, Anand holds 5 patents in banking technology and worked earlier at YES Bank, ICICI Bank, and Ernst & Young. Previously he was the President and Chief Innovation Officer at YES Bank, where he steered several high-impact programs in digital payments. Anand has actively participated in the Steering Committee of NPCI shaping the IMPS and UPI industry and has been a member of RBI’s ad-hoc committee on Mobile Payments and NUUP. At the Fintech start-up, PayNearby, Anand and his team are committed to enabling the reach of digital payments and financial services at the first mile by empowering retailers.

About PayNearby:

Incepted in April 2016, PayNearby is a fintech company creating technology and distribution network to reach financial/non-financial services to India and Bharat both. PayNearby empowers retail shop owners to offer digital services to local communities, thereby boosting digital financial inclusion. Retailer services are focused on Agent Banking, Digital payments, microSavings, microInsurance, Loan enablement among others.

It was founded by Anand Kumar Bajaj, Subhash Kumar, Yashwant Lodha & Rajesh Jha who bring with them rich experience in the field of banking, payments and other financial sectors. PayNearby is a DIPP-certified FinTech startup, partnering with various financial institutions including YES Bank, RBL Bank, IndusInd Bank, SBM Bank India, Equitas SFB, Ujjivan SFB, Axis Bank, ICICI Bank, State Bank of India, CC Avenue, Bill Desk, NPCI, FASTag, NBFC and FMCG companies. It is the sole technology provider using Aadhaar Enabled Payment Services (AEPS) and IMPS to YES Bank, making them one of the only two fintech companies hosted by the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI).

Ms. Sonia Gokhale

Sonia is a Founding Partner of VentureSouq. Previously, Sonia was a consultant to the Global Special Situations Group of Abu Dhabi Investment Council (ADIC), a large sovereign wealth fund based in the UAE, focusing on venture capital and tech deals. Prior to this role, Sonia was an Actuarial Consultant at Mercer Human Resource Consulting in its Dubai and Toronto offices. Sonia is a qualified Fellow of the Canadian Institute of Actuaries and the Society of Actuaries (USA).

Sonia obtained a BSc from the University of Toronto (with distinction) and majored in Actuarial Science and Statistics.

Mr. Nandkumar Saravade

Mr Nandkumar Saravade is a senior advisor on governance, strategy, ethics and cyber security. Drawing from his impactful stints in government and private sector spanning 36+ years, with expertise across diverse domains of law enforcement, banking, cyber security and technology management, he considers himself a ‘knowledge-seeker with action-bias.’ Mr Saravade was the founding CEO of Reserve Bank Information Technology Pvt Ltd (ReBIT). ReBIT was set up in 2016 as a fully-owned subsidiary of RBI for technology management and cyber security for RBI’s systems and the Indian banking sector. He built the 350-strong team from scratch and transformed a modest government start-up into a powerhouse for nimble technology project execution, world-class cyber security operations for protecting RBI’s IT assets, technology audit diagnostics for better cyber security for Indian banks, and cutting-edge innovation for big data systems, technology policy, FinTech Regulatory Sandbox, Account Aggregator, and data science (AI/ML) initiatives in RBI. He also contributed as a member of the Malegam Committee on divergences in non-performing assets (NPAs) and bank frauds, and shaped the IT Vision 2021-24 document for RBI. He finished his five-year tenure as CEO, ReBIT in May 2021. Earlier, he worked as CEO, Data Security Council of India (DSCI), a think-tank specialising in cyber security industry development, policy research and advocacy. During 2013-15, he advised EY and ICICI Bank on fraud risk management. Till September 2013, he worked as Director, Citibank India, heading Security, Investigation and Vigilance. During 2008-2011, he worked as General Manager, Financial Crime Prevention Group, ICICI Bank, where he looked after fraud risk assessment and controls reviews, application screening and vendor due diligence, transaction monitoring, investigations and regulatory reporting and compliance. He also served as Director, Cyber Security and Compliance, NASSCOM, which encompassed policy formulation, capacity building and mass awareness campaigns on cyber security. Prior to joining the private sector, Mr Saravade served in the 1987 batch of the Indian Police Service. He was posted in the states of Jammu and Kashmir and West Bengal. He joined the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on deputation in 1996 and worked in Mumbai and Jaipur for seven years, looking after enforcement of the Prevention of Corruption Act, investigation of bank frauds and economic offences. Mr Saravade was awarded the Prime Minister’s Baton and Revolver for being the Best All-round Probationer of the 1987 batch of the IPS, and also the Indian Police Medal for Distinguished Services. He has served on several technical advisory bodies set up by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), Government of India and Government of Maharashtra. He is a regular speaker at apex training institutes, technical conferences and industry forums. He is active on social media, particularly LinkedIn and Twitter and is part of several diverse networks. Mr Saravade holds a Bachelor’s degree in Engineering from Government College of Engineering, Aurangabad as well as a Masters’ degree from Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay.

Mr. Dhiraj Relli

With a career spanning over two decades, Dhiraj Relli brings to the table a wealth of experience in the Banking, Wealth Management and Financial Services space. As the Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, he oversees all aspects of the company’s Institutional, Retail Business and Operations. A member of the HDFC family since 2008, he has served as Senior Executive Vice President and Head of Branch Banking at HDFC Bank, where he managed Retail Branch Banking spreading across 800 branches in different geographies. 

Prior to this, he worked as the Country Head, Branch Banking, with Centurion Bank of Punjab, and also held various posts with ICICI Bank, and other well-known financial services organisations. Mr Relli is a member of the Trading Member Advisory Committee, National Stock Exchange and Member of the Advisory Committee of Bombay Stock Exchange.

A B.Com. (Honours) graduate from Delhi University, Mr Relli is a qualified Chartered Accountant from The Institute of Chartered Accountants of India and also did an Advance Management Program from the prestigious Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore.

Shri Nand Kumarum

The Managing Director of Madhya Pradesh State Electronics Development Corporation, an undertaking of the Department of Science & Technology, Government of Madhya Pradesh, Shri Nand Kumarum, IAS was born on 19/01/1981. Shri Nand Kumarum is B.Tech in Petroleum Engineering.

Shri Nand Kumarum is an officer with more than 12 years of experience in the Indian Administrative Service. He has served in various Districts in the capacity as Chief Executive Officer in Zila Panchayats, District Collector, Executive Director in State Agency for Public Services, Managing Director in M.P. Paschim Kshetra  Vitran Company [DISCOM] Indore, M.P. Poorv Kshetra Vidyut Vitran Company [DISCOM], Jabalpur and Deputy Secretary in various Departments viz., Water Resources, Public Services Management, etc., and Chief Minister’s office. Besides being the Managing Director of M.P. State Electronics Development Corporation, he is also Chief Executive Officer of Madhya Pradesh Agency for Promotion of Information Technology [a registered society under the Department of Science & Technology], Managing Director of Bhopal Electronics Manufacturing Park Limited and Jabalpur Electronics Manufacturing Park Limited, Executive Director, State Agency for Public Services [SAPS] under the Department of Public Services Management and Mission Director, Integrated Social Security Mission [SAMAGRA] under the Department of Social Security Mission and Disabled Welfare.

He is also a Director in M/s. MPOnline Limited [A Joint Venture Company between Government of Madhya Pradesh and M/s. Tata Consultancy Services (TCS)].

Shri Kumar Vineet IAS

Mr. Kumar Vineet has has done B.Tech (Electrical) from KNIT Sultanpur, M.A King College London U.K. Sir was previously posted as Dy. Collector of Meerut, Aligarh, Agra, Gorakhpur.

He is currently posted as Special Secretary IT Electronics Dept., Govt. Of Uttar Pradesh and Managing Director Uttar Pradesh Development Systems Corporation Ltd.

Mr. Abhay Pareek

Abhay is the Lead for Agriculture at World Economic Forum’s Centre for Fourth Industrial Revolution in India. At the Centre, he leads Artificial Intelligence for Agriculture Innovation (AI4AI) project focused on scaling emerging technologies in the agriculture sector in India in a multi-stakeholder environment.  Prior to World Economic Forum, he worked with United Nations Capital Development Fund in different capacities managing a portfolio of grant and technical assistance projects on digital innovations in agriculture and financial services in partnership with governments and private sector partners in South Asia and SE Asia.

Mr. Abhijit Bose

With over twenty-five years of international experience in building products and scaling businesses, Abhijit was the first top-level executive to be hired by WhatsApp for India. 

Formerly, the CEO and Co-Founder of Ezetap Mobile Solutions, Abhijit has also had senior leadership roles with Siebel Systems, Intuit and NGPay, one of India’s first mobile commerce companies. 

Abhijit holds a B.S. in Engineering from Cornell University and an MBA from Harvard Business School. 

Mr. Siddharth Rungta

Siddharth Rungta began his career with HSBC in India in 2001 and has held various leadership positions within Global Liquidity and Cash Management (GLCM) in Asia and MENAT, bringing with him a unique blend of experience across Business Development, Product Management and Operations.

In his current role as the Country Head for GLCM business in India, he is responsible for providing strategic direction and execution focus within the business, respond appropriately to the dynamic and changing market landscape, cater to cash management requirements of local and global corporate and financial institutions and continually build upon the digital treasury transformation work undertaken with clients, supporting and enabling them as they look to grow their business, both onshore and offshore.

Ms. Shinjini Kumar

Shinjini has spent three decades in senior roles in leading financial institutions including the Reserve Bank of India, Bank of America Merril Lynch, PricewaterhouseCoopers, Paytm and Citibank.

She is now Co-Founder of SALT (mysaltapp)-a Fintech platform with the aim to close the gender gap in finance.

She is also the co-founder of @indiannovels, a not-for-profit initiative to promote Indian storytelling in translation. (Last line is optional, depending on how long or short you want the profile to be).

Mr. Shivnath Thukral

Shivnath Thukral in his earlier role was the managing director of Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, India and set up the global think tank’s India office, leading operations, and fundraising. Thukral spent the first fifteen years of his career as a journalist with New Delhi Television Limited, India’s premier TV news channel. He was the channel’s primetime presenter with special interest in business news and policy analysis.

He later established the network’s business channel NDTV Profit in 2003, taking over as the managing editor. Prior to joining Carnegie, Thukral worked with an Indian corporation with a turnover of over $35 billion. He led its global marketing efforts, including strategic and digital communications for the group across the world. Thukral has been a speaker at global events such as the World Economic Forum and the Milken Institute conference, as well as Indian industry summits on issues ranging from India’s economic policies, domestic politics, and the impact of new digital technologies on society. Thukral interned in the U.S. Senate and was awarded the Eisenhower Fellowship in 2012.

Mr. Charles Smith

Charles is the global head of Digital Solutions for the Wealth Management proposition. Charles leads Refinitiv’s global digital wealth management solutions and is responsible for its strategic direction and impact. He focuses on advancing Refinitiv’s digitally-focused platforms, analytics and other digital tools and capabilities to meet the needs of wealth management firms and their investors. 

Prior to joining Refinitiv, Charles spent eight years as a Managing Director in EY’s Wealth and Asset Management practice where he worked extensively with many of the top 10 US financial services institutions on key wealth management areas such as product strategy, client and advisor experience design and development, retirement, operating model development, process improvement, platform implementation and service delivery strategy. 

Prior to EY, Charles had senior leadership roles at Fiserv/CheckFree (now InvestCloud), Misys (now Finastra) and Thomson Financial (now Refinitiv). He led product management & marketing teams focused on delivering wealth management technology solutions designed to enable financial services clients, and he has managed relationship management teams focused on working with C-level executives on utilizing technology solutions to grow and streamline their businesses. 

Charles holds an MBA from Columbia Business School and AB in economics from Dartmouth College

Mr. Tilman Ehrbeck

Tilman Ehrbeck is managing partner with Flourish, an evergreen fund investing in entrepreneurs whose innovations
help people achieve financial health and prosperity.
Before Flourish, Tilman was a partner at Omidyar Network, where he built the global financial inclusion team. Prior to
that, he served as CEO of the Consultative Group to Assist the Poor (CGAP), a global partnership to advance financial
inclusion. Before CGAP, Tilman grew from associate to partner at McKinsey & Company, where he helped build the
global financial services and healthcare practices and worked for more than a decade with leading businesses in North
America and India. He currently serves as chair of the Advisory Council to the U.N. Special Advocate for Inclusive
Finance in Development and as a Board member or observer for a number of Flourish’s portfolio organizations.

Tilman started his professional journey as a journalist in Germany before earning a PhD in Economics from the EU-
affiliated European University Institute in Italy and joining the International Monetary Fund in Washington, D.C.

Mr. Rajesh Kumar

Rajesh is responsible for strategizing and steering TransUnion CIBIL’s business to support India’s

financial ecosystem in navigating sustainable credit growth while managing risk. TransUnion CIBIL-
India’s pioneer Credit Information Company, has been a partner of choice to India’s credit industry and

Rajesh holds the mantle to further build on the trust that both lenders and borrowers place in the
company.
Prior to joining TransUnion CIBIL in 2020, Rajesh was the Group Head for Retail Credit & Risk at HDFC Bank where he led a team comprising more than 3,000 bank officers. He was a key member of the leadership team, responsible for conceptualizing, managing and helping build the bank’s retail credit portfolio (comprising personal loans, commercial loans, vehicle loans, agriculture loans, micro finance etc) along with the payments businesses of the bank. Over two decades, Rajesh’s credit risk management expertise and leadership helped HDFC Bank achieve market leading asset quality and credit/ fraud loss parameters, while growing its loan book to over USD 60 bn With over 25 years in India’s financial markets, Rajesh has played a meaningful role in driving digital transformation and innovation in the retail lending ecosystem in the country. His rich experience, expertise and contribution makes Rajesh a respected thought leader in the banking and finance sector.

He is a member of many national committees of various Industry associations like the FICCI Fintech Committee, FICCI NBFC Committee, CII Financial Inclusion and Digitization Committee amongst others. He is a regular speaker at industry conferences and also conducts academic lectures at RBI and other training programs. Rajesh has also been recognized as one of India’s top 30 Fintech Influencers of 2021 by the Digital Fifth.

Mr. Matthias Kröner

Matthias Kröner is a proven expert for innovations and a "serial entrepreneur" within the financial sector.

His most recent start-up is Tradelite Solutions GmbH is operating at the intersection of video games and the world of finance.

Before that he was co-founder and CEO of Fidor Bank. He was Germany's youngest bank director at Direkt Anlage Bank AG and helped set up the first continental European online broker.

Ms. Ananya Chandra

Ananya is Managing Partner of Innopact - an early-stage investor in high-impact technology startups across emerging markets. She also leads Women Prosperity Lab, a startup ecosystem enabler backing the future of women tech.

Previously, Ananya co-headed Accelerating Growth of New India’s Innovations (AGNIi), the flagship innovation initiative of the Office of the Principal Scientific Adviser to the Government of India. Here, she collaborated with key national and international stakeholders to promote the commercialization and scale-up of innovative technologies across India.

Prior to AGNIi, Ananya has been an entrepreneur. She was co-founder and COO of Just Move, an award-winning health-tech startup with marquee investors, that she led to exit in 2016. Ananya has also led the expansion of India’s largest women tech startup, Sheroes, into Southeast Asia.

Ananya started her career with the international law firm Clifford Chance LLP in London, with stints in Singapore and Abu Dhabi. Ananya is an alumni of HEC Paris (Msc. In Innovation and Entrepreneurship), Stanford University's Institute for Innovation in Developing Economies and National Law School, Bangalore (B.A., LL.B) and has lived and worked in 8 countries

Ms. Lizzie Chapman

Lizzie Chapman is the CEO & Co-Founder of ZestMoney - India’s largest and fastest growing Buy Now, Pay Later platform. ZestMoney has built a platform that can meaningfully improve the lives of more than 300 million households who currently have no access to credit cards or other formal financing options because of insufficient credit history.

Lizzie started her career as an Investment Manager with the Wellcome Trust, where she invested in financial services companies in India for over 3 years. She then worked with Goldman Sachs in London for 5 years. In 2011, she moved from the United Kingdom to India to set-up and spearhead the India operations for digital lender Wonga, one of the biggest fintech companies in the world at that point. In 2014, she joined the Development Bank of Singapore and led the launch of ‘Digibank’, which was India’s first mobile-app only bank at that time.

Lizzie currently serves on the boards of IndiaMart (India’s Alibaba) and IndiaQuotient (early-stage investment fund). She is a founding member and serves on the Executive Committee of the Digital Lending Association of India. Lizzie Chapman was recognised among “LinkedIn Top Voices 2019: Finance & Economy”.

Lizzie Chapman is a leading figure in the fintech landscape of India. She was nominated by the Govt of India to the National Startup Council and advises the government on measures to nature and boost innovation in the country. 

Lizzie is also recognised as among the Top 100 women in fintech globally by Fintech magazine. 

Ms. Shan Luo

Present

• Director, FinTech Center of Institute For Information Industry
• Managing Director, FinTechSpace, Taiwan
• Principal Organizer, Taiwan RegTech Challenge
• Co-organizer of FinTech Taipei, Taiwan
• Member of International Visiting Leadership Program (IVLP) 2019, State of Department, USA

Also Known as,

• Co-Author of ASEAN FinTech Benchmark Study Report, Cambridge Center For Alternative Finance (CCAF)
• Speaker at「Women and ICT」Women and the Economy Forum, APEC 2013, Indonesia 

Degree & Certification

• MA in International Economic Management, University Of Birmingham, U.K. (2002~2003)
• MIT FinTech Certificate Course Online (2016.06~2016.09)

Ms. Rashmi Satpute

Rashmi Satpute is the India Country Manager at Wise responsible for overseeing the company’s expansion locally. Her role involves managing the firm’s financial services partnerships, working with central banks and regulators, and focusing on new market entry strategies to enable a better way for millions of Indians to send, spend and receive remittances instantly and at a low cost.

Prior to joining Wise, Rashmi led Visa Direct commercialisation for India and South Asia at Visa, working directly with fintech and banks in the region. She is also an ex- entrepreneur herself, and had her own startup in digital consulting and product management. 

Mr. Sultan Meghji

Sultan Meghji was named Chief Innovation Officer of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) in February 2021. Prior to joining the FDIC, Mr. Meghji co-founded a financial technology firm providing secure, cloud-native, artificial intelligence-based software for community banks and credit unions. In addition, he worked on an aid mission to help implement digital banking in Kenya, Tanzania, and Uganda, and worked with fintechs and central banks to create peer-to-peer banking solutions for hundreds of thousands of people in underserved areas of Africa and Central Asia. 

Mr. Meghji is a nonresident scholar in the Cyber Policy Initiative at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. His research focuses on the architecture of the global financial system, cyber and critical infrastructure security, and the impact of artificial intelligence and quantum computing. He is also an adjunct professor at Washington University’s Olin Business School, and a distinguished member of the Bretton Woods Committee and the Missouri Advisory Committee for the U.S. Global Leadership Coalition. Mr. Meghji has served as an advisor to the U.S. Treasury, the Group of Seven (G7), the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC), and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) in the areas of cybersecurity, quantum computing, and artificial intelligence. 

About FDIC 

FDIC is an independent agency created by the Congress to maintain stability and public confidence in the nation’s financial system. The FDIC insures deposits; examines and supervises financial institutions for safety, soundness, and consumer protection; makes large and complex financial institutions resolvable; and manages receiverships. 

Mr. Sandeep Phophaliya

Sandeep Phophaliya is a co-founder and CEO of LendFoundry, a software solution for enabling and managing Digital Lending. LendFoundry is based out of California, Bangalore, and Ahmedabad. Sandeep has worked with Sterlite and IBM Global Services prior to starting his own business in 2004. Sandeep is a Mechanical engineer and an MBA in Finance. Sandeep leads Business Development and Partner Development for LendFoundry.

Sandeep is married to Anubha, who is a graduate of MREC and is also a business partner. Sandeep is based in Bangalore. Sandeep is also a frequent speaker at various fintech and startup events.

Ms. Ayesha Abbas

Ayesha Abbas joined Standard Chartered Bank in Feb 2019 as General Manager – Affluent, Head of Priority & Premium Banking and Branch Network in the UAE, also covering Pakistan, Oman and key African markets. In her role as GM – Affluent, Head of Priority & Premium Banking and Branch Network, Ayesha is responsible to design and deliver on Standard Chartered Bank’s growth agenda by setting up and driving best in class Priority and Premium affluent banking segments. In her role, Ayesha runs the multi-channel Distribution teams, Product and Proposition; also covering International Corridors. She is a key member of the Retail Management Team and is instrumental in setting up the banks refreshed growth strategy with a special focus on client experience, process streamlining, digital and distribution models. 

Prior to joining Standard Chartered, Ayesha was with HSBC where she spent the last 18 years of her career. During her solid tenor with HSBC, Ayesha worked in Country, Regional and Global roles within Premier Wealth Management and Private Banking space. She maintained her consistent position in the regional and global talent pool and qualified for Global Circle of Excellence representing the Top 2% of the global retail and wealth management work force. Her last role in HSBC was Regional Head of Premier & Wealth Management Sales covering Middle East, North Africa and Turkey. In her role, she owned, designed and delivered the Regional Premier Wealth Management strategy in terms of Financial performance, Customer Experience, People Development, Governance and Process Enhancement. She was instrumental in delivering the Premier Customer Segmentation Strategy which brought about the formation of a full-fledged sales and service enabled Voice Channel as a mode of interaction for Premier clients, therefore bringing sales efficiency and effectiveness through careful channel optimisation. Setting up the highly profitable Top tier segment within Premier, activating key inbound & outbound International corridors, and Private Bank collaboration are some of the other areas that significantly added to her achieving superior customer experience and global connectivity amongst multiple client groups. She is also a member of UAE D&I council and gender ambassador.

Ayesha is an avid traveller and spends a good part of her holidays in hiking and forest walks.

Mr. Deepak Sharma

Deepak Sharma heads Kotak Mahindra Bank’s digital initiatives where he drives digital transformation, business model innovation and future ready initiatives of the bank. He is responsible for efficiency, productivity, customer experience and growth of the business through digital intervention across digital channels, lending, payments, investments, insurance, trade & forex, for the Retail, SME, Private Wealth and Institutional Banking segments. Deepak also leads Digital IT & Product Engineering, Innovation Lab, Design Studio, Fintech partnerships and the Start-up ecosystem participation for the bank.

Under his leadership, Kotak has launched several innovative and global first products such as 811, Jifi, Hashtag Banking, KayMall, WhatsApp Banking & Kaypay, apart from new initiatives like API, Open & Connected Banking, Conversational Banking Bot ’Keya’, BYOD Biometric Banking, Cross-border remittances on Blockchain, Artificial Intelligence(AI) and Robotic Process Automation.

Deepak believes in constant innovation and focuses on building business models, which are customer-centric, value accretive and disruptive. Deepak has worked across various international markets and brings a global perspective to the business. In his previous role, he was responsible for setting up the Bank’s highly successful Non-Resident Indian (NRI) & International Remittances business. Deepak also played a key role in launching the Bank’s affluent banking programme - Privy League.

With over 26 years of experience, Deepak’s professional tenure spans across the banking, telecom and consumer services verticals. Prior to joining Kotak, he was part of the leadership team of Consumer Banking at Standard Chartered from 2003 to 2008. Thereafter, as National Head for Corporate Business at Standard Chartered, he was responsible for building the corporate payroll and Wealth Management business.

Deepak has completed an advanced programme in Strategy from IIM Calcutta as well as the Stanford LEAD Certificate in Corporate Innovation. He is a member of the CII Digital Transformation Committee, FICCI National Committee on Fintech & a number of Startup-Industry Forums, in addition to participating at various trade & Government initiatives on the Digital India Roadmap. He mentors fintech and start-up ecosystems on an ongoing basis.

Mr. Neeraj Singh

Neeraj Singh is the co-founder and Chief Technology Officer at Groww. Neeraj possesses more than 16 years of experience working in technology teams building consumer-facing products.  Before Groww, Neeraj was part of Flipkart’s engineering team and developed Flipkart’s customer returns and refund system. Neeraj holds a BE degree in Information Technology from ITM, Gwalior and a PG Diploma in Advanced Computing from CDAC.

Mr. Daniel Hahiashvili

Daniel Hahiashvili is Head of Technology and Innovation Division in the Banking Supervision Department. 

The division's responsibilities, among others, are to enable implementation of technological changes and innovation in the banking system, in order to benefit banks’ business model and stability, competition and efficiency, and to promote regulation and supervision that will deal with the risks embedded in technology and innovation, including cyber risks.

Prior to that, Daniel held the position of Chief of Staff to the Governor of the Bank of Israel.

Ms. Anita Pai

Anita Pai has over 30 years of rich experience in the Banking and Financial Services sector across Retail and Corporate Operations, ATM and Branch Banking service, Customer service and Service Quality. She oversees Operations, Technology and Digital Banking functions at the Bank. She is responsible for establishing a nimble Operations set-up backed by superior technology platforms to deliver a differentiated and digital customer experience. Prior to YES BANK, Anita has been associated with ICICI Group for close to 20 years across various functions in ICICI Prudential Life Insurance and ICICI Bank.

Mr. Ross T. Nathan

An accomplished senior executive with over 22+ years’ expertise in Financial Inclusion, Digital Finance, Microfinance, Banking, Program Management, Project evaluations, Strategy Development, Stakeholder Management, Institution Capacity building, Due-diligence, and Advocacy with a focus on Access to Finance to underserved especially rural youth & women.

Served in various Executive positions as CEO, CFO, COO, and consultant for Development and  Finance Institutions, this includes 17 years in sub-Saharan African countries (Zambia, Rwanda, Tanzania, & Uganda) and 5 years in India.

Proven competencies and expert in financial linkages initiatives/inclusion, Institutional Capacity Building, Automation, Digital Finance, Policy development, Product development, Responsible Finance, MSME & SME, Education Finance, Turnarounds, Training & Mentoring, Social Impact evaluations, Youth employment, Smallholder farmers Agriculture Value Chain development, Client protection, and Grant/Donor Management. Have developed business strategies and set performance standards for five countries. 

He holds a degree in Commerce and MBA in International Business operations. He is the Founding officer for Guardian Co-operative Bank, Bangalore –India in 1997. As a consultant of Opportunity International He introduced the first MSME/SME and  CBS Automation in Microfinance in Zambia in 2003, Also worked along with CARE for a USAID /AED project in 2009, which recommended setting up of SACCO's in Rwanda, resulting in increasing financial inclusion in Rwanda (up to 93%), especially through SACCO’s, Digital Finance and Saving Groups involved in farming in rural communities. Worked along/ trained by Transparency International on Client Protection and Responsible Finance principles.  His last position was CEO for Vision Fund Rwanda till Feb 2019, Vision Finance Rwanda was awarded as the Best Financial Service provider in Client protection and Social Impact during his 6 years tenure.

Invited as keynote speaker, Debater, adviser/panellist for national and international seminars, conferences and actively involved in fundraising events.

Ross is the CEO for Skill Africa, an IT Talent Development company, and also works as an Independent Consultant specialized in Financial Inclusion and Digitial Finance. Currently, he is on the core team of Consultants working on Rwanda Fintech Strategy. and also the Finance and Investment

Ms. Shehnaz Ahmed

Shehnaz is a Senior Resident Fellow and Team Lead (Fintech) at the Vidhi Centre for Legal Policy (Vidhi). She leads Vidhi’s work on emerging areas of policy and law on the intersection of finance, technology and inclusion. At Vidhi, she has worked with several Ministries of the Government of India, including the Ministry of Corporate Affairs, Ministry of Finance and Ministry of Commerce and Reserve Bank of India on critical areas of legal reforms relating to digital payments, digital lending, financial regulation, commercial laws and business and human rights. She has advised the Ministry of Finance on laws relating to resolution of financial firms and the promotion of digital payments in India. Her independent research at Vidhi focuses on leveraging technological solutions to build a robust and inclusive financial system for all in India. She has led several independent projects at Vidhi including projects on central bank digital currencies (CBDCs), modernising digital payments law, preparing a regulatory roadmap for digital-only banking models in India, blueprint of a law for an inter-regulatory fintech sandbox for India, a framework for tech-based interventions for regulating payment wallets, etc. She leads Vidhi’s independent research work on central bank digital currencies that seeks to track global CBDC developments and examine consideration for CBDC issuance in India. Prior to joining Vidhi, she has worked as an associate at the Financial Regulatory Practice at Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas, Mumbai where her work focused on advising leading financial institutions (both Indian and multinational), including payment systems on legal and regulatory issues in India. She was also involved in several mergers and acquisitions in the financial space. She has also worked as an associate at the Dispute Resolution team at JSA, New Delhi. She writes frequently for the Oxford Business Law Blog and media outlets such as the LiveMint, Hindu BusinessLine, Financial Express, MoneyControl, etc. She graduated from RML National Law University in 2011.

Mr. Prakash Jaiswal

Prakash Jaiswal, Country Head of Business Banking at HSBC India overseeing the SME and Startup business. He has 20 years of Commercial Banking experience in India

Ms. Hardika Shah

Hardika Shah is the Founder & CEO of Kinara Capital, a fast-growth fintech in India driving the financial inclusion of small business entrepreneurs.

Kinara Capital disrupted small business lending in India by offering No Property Collateral loans to entrepreneurs largely neglected by formal lending. Recently, Kinara Capital was recognized as Bank of the Year-Asia by the IFC/World Bank for its pioneering work in SME financing.

Prior to creating Kinara Capital, Hardika spent 20+ years as a management consultant with Accenture, leading large teams and executing complex projects for global companies across the US, EU and Asia-Pac. She has served as a pro-bono mentor for over a decade at top social entrepreneurship programs at Santa Clara University, Stanford University, Columbia University, Accenture Development Partnerships, and the Acumen Fund.

Globally recognized for her passion and innovative work, Hardika is an Ashoka Fellow, has received the Financial Inclusion Award by the Sankalp Forum, and won the People’s Choice Live Audience Award at The Wall Street Journal’s Financial Inclusion event.

Hardika Shah earned her MBA from Columbia Business School and UC Berkeley’s Haas School of Business joint program. She holds a B.A. in Computer Science from Knox College in Illinois, USA.

Mr. Varun Dua

Varun Dua is the Founder & CEO of ACKO General Insurance, and has extensive and diverse experience in the insurance industry. He started his career in 2003 with TATA AIG and then worked with Franklin Templeton. His journey as an entrepreneur began in 2011 with Coverfox, one of India's early insurance broking firms. Coverfox broke into a sector dominated by traditional insurance players and agents by leveraging technology to automate and simplify the insurance journey for consumers. His experience with Coverfox led him to understand firsthand the gaps in the industry and in 2016 Varun set up ACKO with the intent of connecting insurance with the digital economy, making it effortlessly accessible and seamless for all customers. ACKO is India's only insurance company that is fully digital and caters directly to the consumer.  

Varun is a graduate of MICA (Mudra Institute of Communications, Ahmedabad),  where he pursued the flagship course in communication management with a specialization in Brand Management.

Mr. Syed Musheer Ahmed

Musheer is the Founder & Managing Director of FinStep Asia, which is building Asia’s next generation of Businesses and providing advisory on Fintech & Digital ecosystems in Asia. FinStep Asia enables Corporates and Scaleups in their innovation journey through corporate innovation, venture building, growth advisory, bespoke research and accelerator programs.  

Musheer is one of the main contributors in building the Fintech ecosystem in Hong Kong as the cofounder of Fintech Association of Hong Kong, having led the Association as inaugural General Manager.  Having been engaged in Fintech since 2016, he has worked closely with several regulators and government bodies on fintech and digital economy policy, providing advisory and delivering workshops on a range of topics.  He is the Board Member & Co-lead Islamic Fintech, Global Impact Fintech Forum (GIFT), a leading global body created by global Fintech champions from 60+ countries.  He has over 16 years of extensive experience in financial services and technology, having been a global markets trader for a decade, and a management consultant following his MBA from University of Hong Kong and London Business School.

He is also a member of United Nations ESCAP ESBN Youth and Women Entrepreneurs Taskforce and co-founder of IndiaTech Hong Kong, a platform for bridging India and China Greater Bay Area. He has been appointed as global ambassador for Invest Tokyo for year 2021. He is on several advisory boards and a mentor/advisor to several startups. Musheer has a keen interest in technologies impacting/disrupting investment banking such as Artificial Intelligence, Digital Banking, RegTech, WealthTech and Blockchain and is a reputed keynote speaker at industry events across Asia. 

Musheer is a guest lecturer on topics of Fintech, Digital Banking, Islamic Fintech, Investment Management, Cryptocurrency and Blockchain, Artificial Intelligence at University of Hong Kong, HKUST, HKU Space, CUHK, PolyU, CityU, Baptist University, National University of Singapore, Asia Institute of Management and Lingnan University.  He has regular contributor and author of articles on Fintech, Digital Banking, Islamic Fintech and Investment Banking and been quoted in various media channels, including on CNBC, Bloomberg, SCMP, IFLR, CGTN, Financial Times, Asian Investor, Medici, Economic Times, etc.,

Mr. Richard Peterson

Richard Peterson is CEO of MarketPsych Data which produces psychological and macroeconomic data derived from text analytics of news and social media. MarketPsych’s data is consumed by the world’s largest hedge funds, banks, and governments. Dr. Peterson is psychiatrist and an award-winning financial writer, an associate editor of the Journal of Behavioral Finance, has published widely in academia, and performed postdoctoral neuroeconomics research at Stanford University.

Ms. Aastha Grover

Aastha Grover heads the Startup India Hub Team. She’s been the founding member of the team and has seen the ecosystem grow to become the 3rd largest in the world today.

The Startup India Hub was announced by the Hon`ble PM on 16th January 2016 and is hosted under Invest India. The Hub’s mandate is to serve as a single point of contact for the entire Start-Up Ecosystem and enable the exchange of knowledge and provide access to funding.

Additionally, the team works with States, Ministries, Corporates, Incubators, Accelerators and Investors to provide support with policy advocacy, open innovation challenges for problem-solving, programs enabling international market access and much more.

Mrs Grover comes from a consulting background and prior experience with AT Kearney and HSBC Bank. She’s done her MBA in Financè from SP Jain Mumbai and graduated from CBS College of Business Studies, Delhi University. Academically meritorious she was also a CBSE topper!

Ms. Evy Wee

Evy is the Head of Financial Planning, Investing and Insurance with the Singapore Consumer Banking Group of DBS Bank Limited.

Evy has built her credentials as a visionary strategist and thought leader through several projects that have been a first for the bank and industry in Singapore. Within the Bank, these include the creation of digiPortfolio, the Bank’s first managed portfolio solution for retail investors; and the launch of NAV Planner, a digital personal financial planning tool that consolidates customers’ finances across budgeting and debt, protection, investment, home financing and retirement planning. The NAV Planner tool delivers personal insights and nudges to allow customers a holistic view of their finances and take appropriate action as their financial or life situations change. 

At the industry level, Evy was an integral part of an inter-ministry taskforce that spearheaded and architected the blueprint for SGFinDex, which was launched at the Singapore Fintech Festival in November 2020. SGFinDex is an initiative that allows customers to easily connect all their financial information from across participating banks and government agencies such as Central Provident Fund, Housing Development Board and the Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore. This enables mass market customers to consolidate their personal balance sheet and gift themselves with a helicopter view of their finances. It also allows wealth advisers to provide holistic advice grounded in real-time data.

Indubitably, the driving force behind Evy’s accomplishments over the past 5 years has been her single-minded passion to democratise wealth management and provide a national solution to the financial planning challenge. Democratising wealth management refers to providing access to wealth management products and expertise to the mass market. 

With relation to financial planning, Evy’s personal mission is to enable the Bank’s customers across the board to make better financial decisions and take action to manage their money through a threefold approach of growing financial literacy, tools like the NAV Planner, and providing access to suitable products and solutions. With disruptions to economies and workplaces brought about by the Covid-19 pandemic, increasing longevity of Singaporeans, escalating healthcare costs and standard of living, Evy believes getting financial planning right is a national challenge as Singapore’s population ages, so that more people can enjoy their silver years without financial anxiety or inadequacy.

Prior to her role with the Singapore Consumer Bank, she was Head of Cash Equity, Digital Advisory & Portfolio Implementation in the Consumer Banking Group of DBS. Earlier in her career, Evy was the Head of Strategic and Business Planning team for the Institutional Banking Group (IBG) in the Group COO’s office. Evy joined DBS Bank as a Management Associate and was part of the Group Planning team in the CEO’s Office. Evy graduated with a BSc in Mathematics and Economics from the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE). 

Ms. Runa Baksi

Runa is the Country Head of Global Trade & Receivables Finance for India. She has over two decades of experience in the Banking industry with expertise in the area of trade & supply chain finance and working capital solutions, having worked with EXIM Bank of India, ICICI Bank, RBS, Deutsche Bank & DBS. She also held the position of CEO at the Receivables Exchange of India, India’s first TReDS Exchange.

By qualification, Runa holds a Bachelor’s degree in Economics (Honors) and Masters in International Business from the Indian Institute of Foreign Trade. Runa joined HSBC in June 2021 and will take care of the Global Trade & Receivables Finance Business for HSBC in India.

Mr. Rakesh Patwari

Rakesh is the Country Head of Sales for Global Trade and Receivables Finance for India. He brings more than 20 years of experience in banking and financial services in Asia, having worked with PwC, Citi and HSBC.

Rakesh joined HSBC in 2005 and has worked across various roles managing large corporate clients. Previously he was the Head of Portfolio Management for Commercial Banking for Asia based in HK. In his current role, he is responsible for sustainable and profitable revenue growth for the India Trade Finance business.

Rakesh is a Chartered Accountant by qualification.

Mr. Sachin Somani

Sachin Somani is a Director at Refinitiv (a London Stock Exchange Group Business). Based out of Singapore, he is globally responsible for Refinitiv’s central bank proposition. In his career spanning over 15 years, Sachin has held multiple roles with increasing responsibilities in sales, product management and go-to-market strategy. He has worked very closely with regulators across the world in helping them implement their policy and vision.

By education, an Engineer (Computer Science) from Mumbai University and MBA from Indian School of Business (ISB). He is passionate about using technology to create new business models in financial services.

Mr. Amit Goel

Mr. Goel is now the Country Head, India & Vice-President Global Advisory at Prove (erstwhile Payfone). A global leader in phone-centric identity and authentication. He is consistently rated as both Global and Asia Top 100 experts in FinTech by various agencies. He was responsible to bring actionable #FinTech focused content, insights, a global FinTech platform and a Global FinTech index plus other innovations to the ecosystem. He is an Angel Investor in several FinTech and InsurTech startups. 

Mr. Stuart Rees

Stuart is Consul Commercial and acting Senior Trade and Investment Commissioner for the Australian Trade and Investment Commission (Austrade) in South Asia.  He heads the Australian government’s Education promotion, Agribusiness and Food, Investment, Defence and Advanced Technology teams across South Asia.     

Stuart was appointed to India in August 2019 and managed the Australia India Business Exchange program which was delivered in February 2020. He was previously Trade Commissioner to Thailand and has undertaken short term postings in India and Papua New Guinea. Prior to that Stuart was State Director Victoria and Tasmania. 

He has led several trades and investment development missions throughout Asia, the USA and EU and is considered an expert with deep ASEAN experience in supporting the growth of multinational and SME exporters across a diverse range of sectors. 

Stuart joined Austrade in 2005 after an earlier professional career in finance and agribusiness. He was raised in rural Victoria, Australia and in his early youth spent some time as a Jackaroo and is a graduate of Marcus Oldham College – Australia’s leading agricultural tertiary institution.

Mr. KT Prasad

KT Prasad is the MD & RVP, India and SAARC for Zendesk. In his current role, he is responsible for Business growth with a focus on helping organisations transform their customer service with beautifully simple solutions.

He has a Bachelor of Engineering (Mechanical) degree from the Karnatak University and over 22 years of management experience in some of the top companies from the software and services industry.

Shri Joseph Joshy

Senior Technology Leader driving FinTech, SupTech and other strategic IT initiatives including Regulatory / Innovation Sandbox at International Financial Services Centres Authority (IFSCA), a unified regulator established as a statutory authority by the Government of India.

 Experienced professional in technology, consulting and delivering transformational IT Projects for Government/Regulators (RBI) and Fortune 100 clients with stints in US, Canada and Mexico. Was involved with the Startup Ecosystem and has experience in setting up a Technology Business Incubator as its CEO. Was part of the core (Management) team that co-founded ReBIT (Reserve Bank Information Tech), RBI's IT Subsidiary.

Ms. Shelli K. Trung

Shelli Trung is the Managing Partner for REACH Australia and Southeast Asia. REACH is a scaleup program for the real estate industry created by Second Century Ventures (SCV), an early-stage technology fund backed by the National Association of Realtors®. SCV is among the largest proptech funds globally with a portfolio of 140+ investments across mortgage, finance, marketing, big data and hardware including success stories such as DocuSign (IPO $6B+), Notarize ($130 Series D), HouseCanary ($63M+ Series C) and Updater ($1B+).

Shelli had lead over 50 investments across three continents including in Shanghai, New York, Singapore and Australia. Prior to this, She spent her early career in corporate innovation successfully deploying new technology across the banking, medical and transportation sectors.

Mr. Prashant Tandon

Prashant joined Lighthouse Canton in 2016 in Singapore and moved to Dubai in 2017 to set up the DIFC business. He is the CEO for Lighthouse Canton Capital (DIFC) Pte Ltd and heads the Multi-Family Office business for the firm. He is responsible for engagement with key clients in addition to building a footprint for the business in the MENA region.

Prashant brings over 18 years of experience across large international banks like Citibank, Merrill Lynch and Barclays. In Barclays, he was responsible for managing the Non-Resident Indian team in Dubai along with the portfolios of select Ultra-High Net Worth and Institutional clients based in MENA and South/South-East Asia. Prashant has specialized skills in complex derivative products across interest rates, equities and FX and has a keen understanding of the requirements of corporate and institutional clients.

Prashant qualified as a Chartered Accountant and is a merit holder from the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India. He is also a member of the Institute of Company Secretaries of India. He received his Bachelor of Commerce degree from Delhi University in India.

Mr. Hemant Kshirsagar

Hemant Kshirsagar has 13+ years of experience across FinTech, Technology consulting, and Insurance. Currently, he is the Director and India FinTech Leader at EY and works with FinTechs, financial institutions, investors, and governments in India and MENA.

Before this, Hemant has led the FinTech practice at PwC and provided strategy consulting to Fortune200 clients at Boston Analytics. Hemant has also been an entrepreneur, running InvertedTree Solutions before joining Boston Analytics.

Hemant holds an MBA from Symbiosis Centre for Information Technology and is passionate about all things FinTech and startups.

Mr. Navin Chandani

Navin Chandani is the Managing Director & Chief Executive Officer at CRIF High Mark. He is responsible for managing the overall operations of the company. With his 23 years of valuable experience as an eminent business developer, Navin brings with him ample knowledge and insights on the credit sector. His domain expertise across conceptualizing digital strategies in financial services will help position CRIF as the market leader.

Prior to joining CRIF, Navin has worked with noteworthy names in the BFSI segment that includes BankBazaar India, American Express, Visa, Experian and Dun and Bradstreet. Having pursued a master’s degree in International Business from Symbiosis International University, he also specializes in enterprise management.

Ms. Sohini Rajola

As Regional Head for Asia Pacific and the Middle East, Sohini Rajola is responsible for driving the omni channel strategy of the company, expanding products and partnerships, in addition to delivering on the sales, revenue and customer metrics for the region.

Prior to this, Sohini was managing and developing the Western Union business in South Asia covering India, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bangladesh, Maldives and Bhutan and in Indo-China covering Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, Myanmar, Maldives and Thailand.

With her experience spanning payments, banking and digital, she is a keen observer of Fintech developments and mentors’ start-ups.

In addition to holding a senior executive role with Western Union, Sohini is a member on the board of directors of the Western Union Foundation and committed to driving Western Union’s Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) goals. She is passionate about Diversity & Inclusion in the workplace and a member of Women@WU Committee.

Mr. Akash Sinha

Akash Sinha co-founded Cashfree, a leading payment and banking technology firm in 2015 with his friend Reeju Datta, to solve the challenges faced by businesses in bulk payments and disbursals. Before launching Cashfree, Akash worked with e-commerce giants such as Amazon and BankBazaar where he built products as a Software Engineer.
 
With his experience as a programmer and product owner, Akash focuses on the intersection of technology and business opportunities. A community builder in the startup and entrepreneur space, he is passionate about cutting-edge tech that can help businesses experiment, scale and innovate faster.
 
A graduate of the International Institute of Information Technology – Hyderabad (IIIT-H), Akash started his first company while still in college, and he takes that legacy forward by building cutting-edge payment products and solutions for businesses. His entrepreneurial journey began shortly after completing his graduation in Computer Science and Engineering from IIIT  where he was selected for the prestigious Google Summer of Code (GSoC), an international annual program in which Google awards stipends to students who successfully complete a free and open-source software coding project during the summer. 

Ms. Sucharita Mukherjee

Sucharita is passionate about access to financial services for all, she believes in “finance for freedom”. Sucharita is the co-founder and ceo of Kaleidofin, a fintech platform that provides intuitive and tailored financial solutions to underbanked customers. Prior to this, she co-founded the IFMR group and most recently was the group CEO of IFMR Holdings.

She conceptualized and founded IFMR Capital, building capital markets access for financial inclusion and IFMR Investments, an alternatives fund management platform focused on informal sector finance. Sucharita was chosen as one of the “top 40 under forty” business leaders by Economic Times in 2016 and named amongst India’s top 20 fintech change-makers in 2017.  She received the IIM Ahmedabad, Young Alumni Achievers Award in 2017. She was also named amongst India’s top twenty fintech change-makers in 2017.

Prior to her move to India, Sucharita was an investment banker at Morgan Stanley and Deutsche Bank in London, working primarily on credit derivatives structuring and strategic structured finance opportunities. She graduated with an MBA from IIM Ahmedabad and has an undergraduate degree in economics from Lady Shri Ram College, Delhi University “    

Mr. Manesh Mahatme

Manesh is Head of WhatsApp Payments for India. He has 17 years of experience in digital financial services and payments across Citibank, Airtel and Amazon. Prior to WhatsApp, he led product, engineering and business teams and helped establish the payments platform for Amazon’s marketplace as well as the Amazon Pay business in India. Manesh graduated from BITS, Pilani and SP Jain, Mumbai and is an avid motorcycle rider.

Ms. Anju Patwardhan

 Anju Patwardhan is a globally experienced Fintech venture investor, board director and banker. She has lived and worked in Singapore, San Francisco, and India. She is an alumna of IIT Delhi and IIM Bangalore, and a Fulbright Fellow and Visiting Scholar at Stanford. 

Anju moved from Singapore to San Francisco in 2016, where she established and managed the CreditEase Fintech VC Fund of USD 500 million, and has invested in nearly 35 fintech companies and six funds, mainly in the US and the UK. The Fund’s performance is in the Top Decile across funds of 2016 vintage. Fourteen of the 35 companies are now unicorns and include these recent uprounds and exits in 2021 

• • Marqeta (IPO at USD 14 billion valuation) 
• • Circle Financial, Dave.com, Acorns and Pico (SPACs announced) 
• • Upgrade, Figure, WeFox and Addepar, Cross River (each valued at over USD 2 billion) 
• • Monzo, Trumid, Tradeshift, FundBox (unicorns) 

Others investments are RailsBank, Curve, Plastiq, TrueAccord, Taulia, PIPE, H2O.ai, Onfido, Branch, Active.ai, BioCatch, EmpInfo, Ellevest, DV01, NAV, Fair and WeConvene. 

Prior to this, Anju worked in banking for over two decades, based in Singapore, with Citibank and Standard Chartered Bank (SCB). She started as a Management Associate and later held global leadership roles, including Global Chief Innovation Officer, Chief Risk Officer, Chief Operating Officer, and Digital Banking Head. She was a member of SCB's global executive leadership team, a member of the Global Technology & Operations Management Group, and a member of the Global Risk Management Group. 

Ms. Deena Jacob

Deena Jacob is the Co-founder, CFO and Head of Revenue and Growth of Open, a fintech startup, which offers a neobanking service for SMEs and startups. She has over 18 years of experience in building and establishing finance teams from scratch for early stage startups. She has led teams across a broad range of functional areas like SME credit and marketing, investment research, business finance and analytics, strategic partnerships, investor relations, legal and compliance apart from end-to-end finance functions. Currently, she anchors finance function of Open along with heading revenue and growth for the startup.

Open is Asia’s first neo-banking platform that helps SMEs automate their business payments, banking and accounting functions in one unified service to help business owners focus on their core business. Previously, Deena was associated with Tapzo as the CFO, and with TaxiforSure and Zansaar.com as the Head of Finance. Deena recently won Best CFO Startup from BW CFO in August 2021. She has been a winner of CIMA (Chartered Institute of Management Accountants) Most Influential CFOs Award in 2016 and was also chosen in the top 100 CFO roll of honour by CFO India in the category management controls in 2017. Deena is also considered a think tank on topics related to financial management and has been covered by publications like Fortune and Business Today for her opinions on the Budget and other government policies.

When she is not troubleshooting, she loves to travel.

Ms. Meghna Suryakumar

Meghna Suryakumar is a lawyer turned business leader who founded Crediwatch with the aim of providing financial access and mobility to millions of unbanked businesses. Her vision is to remove barriers and unlock value for businesses using cutting-edge technology, and building a culture of trust in business. Prior to founding Crediwatch, Meghna ran a cross-border law firm based in India and the US, where she used alternate sources of data to assess risk for target firms in M&A deals. Meghna received her law degrees from Bangalore University and Columbia Law School and has a certificate in entrepreneurship from Stanford University.

Ms. Malika Anand

Malika is Head of Insights & Learning for Catalyst Fund. She is responsible for extracting, authoring, and packaging insights from our venture acceleration and ecosystem building work in order to support the growth of the inclusive tech sector. She facilitates learning with other tech accelerators via Catalyst Fund’s XL Labs as well as a partnership with the MIX (now Center for Financial Inclusion) to develop inclusivity resources.

Malika also supports Knowledge Management across BFA Global by facilitating a firm-wide learning agenda, and authoring and editing knowledge resources. She has worked in financial inclusion, corporate social responsibility, and user experience at CGAP, The Coca-Cola Company, and various social enterprises.

She holds an MPAID from the Harvard Kennedy School where she was a Public Service Scholar and a BA from the University of Chicago, and was a Fulbright Fellow in the Dominican Republic

Mr. Suvir Davda

Suvir Davda is Director, Global Market Corporate Services at HSBC India.

Suvir has over 15 experience of work experience with 12 of these being specifically in the markets business.

Suvir currently manages the corporate treasury solutions business for south India and is the pan India lead for the corporate risk solutions business. In addition to his daily responsibilities, Suvir champions the sales strategy for multinational clients.  Suvir has been actively involved with the regulator (Reserve Bank of India) on FX risk management regulations etc and is currently engaging on central bank digital currencies from a thought leadership perspective.

Suvir is an Engineer with a master in Business Administration (Finance).

Suvir is married with two sons and loves anything to do with outdoor activities be it running, scuba diving or playing cricket.

Mr. Douglas Arner

Douglas W. Arner is the Kerry Holdings Professor in Law, RGC Senior Fellow in Digital Finance and Sustainable Development and Associate Director of the HKU-Standard Chartered Foundation FinTech Academy at the University of Hong Kong. In addition, he is Associate Dean (Taught Postgraduate and Development) of the Faculty of Law at HKU and co-founder of HKU’s Asian Institute of International Financial Law, as well as Faculty Director and co-founder of the LLM in Compliance and Regulation, the LLM in Corporate and Financial Law, the Law, Innovation, Technology and Entrepreneurship (LITE), and the East Asian International Economic Law and Policy Programmes. Douglas is a Visiting Professor and Senior Visiting Fellow of Melbourne Law School of the University of Melbourne, a Visiting Professorial Fellow of the Faculty of Law of UNSW Sydney, a non-executive director of NASDAQ and Euronext listed Aptorum Group, an Advisory Board Member of the Global Impact FinTech (GIFT) Forum and of the Centre for Finance, Technology and Entrepreneurship (CFTE), and co-founder and an executive board member of the Asia Pacific Structured Finance Association. In 2020 he was awarded an inaugural Hong Kong Research Grants Council Senior Fellowship to study the role of digital finance in financial inclusion and the UN Sustainable Development Goals. Douglas has published eighteen books and more than 200 articles, chapters and reports on international financial law and regulation, including most recently Reconceptualising Global Finance and its Regulation (Cambridge 2016) (with Ross Buckley and Emilios Avgouleas) and The RegTech Book (Wiley 2019 (Janos Barberis and Ross Buckley). His recent papers are available on SSRN at https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/cf_dev/AbsByAuth.cfm?per_id=524849 , where he is among the top 50 authors in the world by total downloads, as well as among the top 15 law authors. Douglas led the development of Introduction to FinTech – launched with edX in May 2018 and now with over 100,000 learners spanning almost every country in the world – and the foundation of the edx-HKU Online Professional Certificate in FinTech. Douglas was an inaugural member of the Hong Kong Financial Services Development Council (2013-2019) and Director of the Duke-HKU Asia America Institute in Transnational Law (2005-2016) and has served as a consultant with, among others, the World Bank, Asian Development Bank, UN, APEC, Alliance for Financial Inclusion, and European Bank for Reconstruction and Development. He has lectured, co-organised conferences and seminars and been involved with financial sector reform projects around the world. Douglas has been a visiting professor or fellow at Duke, Harvard, the Hong Kong Institute for Monetary Research, IDC Herzliya, McGill, Melbourne, National University of Singapore, University of New South Wales, Shanghai University of Finance and Economics, and Zurich, among others.

Mr. Malik Khan Kotadia

Malik is a globally recognized Digital banking expert, FinTech mentor, Futurist, acclaimed author and Fintech Faculty. He has been recognized as a global thought leader at various forums:

• 
  ‘Who’s who of Fintech 2021’ by Onalytica. Among the top 100 global fintech experts.
• ’20 Fintech experts to watch out for, Dubai, 2019’.
• ‘Top Fintech champions- Singapore 2018’
• ‘Our legend’- featured in the editorial of PCN (Payments and Cards Network) Magazine, one of Europe’s leading FinTech publications. Sept 2020 issue.
• Covered in various media: Netherlands, Singapore, Philippines, India, Malaysia etc.
• Fintech columnist and speaker at the Economic Times, India’s largest business media network.

In his 20 year career, he has managed global roles in Multinational banks, run billion-dollar businesses in various markets, driven key innovations, and been a serial entrepreneur. He is currently the Co-founder and Chairman of Finnovation Labs, a global Fintech consulting and venture growth company. It works with connects progressive Banks, cutting edge Fintechs and Policy across the globe.

Before this, he spent nearly 14 years at Citibank in varied roles in Digital Banking and E- payments, and was last SVP- Global Digital Transformation till 2016, based out of Singapore, where his group helped drive digital engagement for the bank in 42 countries.

Prior to that, he headed Citi’s Merchant payments business in the Philippines and India, as also Digital Marketing for Citi’s Global Consumer Bank, India. Malik is a sought after global keynote speaker on Digital Finance, Fintech, Innovation, Blockchain, Digital Financial Inclusion and Industry 4.0. He has chaired and spoken at 150+ marquee events, addressing 50,000+ professionals in 25 locations across APAC, EU, US and Middle East.

These include Money 20/20, Seamless Asia & Dubai, Blockshow US, EU and Asia, Fintech Innovation Forum Singapore & HK, Chain 2020 HK, Asian Banker Future of Finance Summits

in Indonesia, Philippines and Vietnam, American Banker’s Digital Banking Summit in Austin, Indonesia Fintech Summit by the Indonesian Regulator, Bangkok Fintech Fair by the Thailand Central Bank, Asian Financial Services Congress, ADB’s Asia Finance Summit etc.

Malik is a passionate Fintech, Digital and Blockchain ecosystem builder. He is the Co- Founder and Board Chairman- Global Impact FinTech (GIFT) Foundation, the most diverse and inclusive Fintech think tank globally, with top ecosystem leaders from 65 countries across all regions, across Banks, fintechs, Regulators, Central Banks, Multilaterals etc. It actively engages with and advises Governments, policy makers, Multi-lateral agencies, Banks and Industry associations across the globe, and is dedicated to deeper engagement between ecosystem players for social & financial inclusion.

Therefore he is regularly invited by governments and regulators to keynote at their summits and moderate panels. He has engaged and shared the stage with them at various forums. Malik has also been a mentor at leading Fintech and Digital Accelerators in Singapore (the Finlab (UOB and IIPL), Global Xchange by the Singapore government agency) and China (Ping An), and a judge at marquee hackathons and Digital awards, including those of IDC, Asian Development Bank etc. He has mentored 10+ cutting edge Fintechs, and engaged with over 300 start-ups all over the world. He loves helping young companies scale up to successful sustainable businesses.

Malik is an acclaimed author with a global readership. His first book- The New Ages- was loved by readers in two dozen countries. He is working on the next 2 books, to be released in 2022.

Passionate about giving back, Malik is an Adjunct Professor for Fintech at the Asian Institute of Management, Philippines, and has co-developed the program, for MBA and Executive MBA students.

Malik is extremely passionate and committed to making the world a better place, and runs an online community dedicated to personal and collective wellbeing. It has nearly half million social media followers in 60 countries with BILLION impressions!

Mr. Mukesh P Kalra

Mukesh has over 13 years of experience in building businesses & products from scratch in the consumer internet and mobile advertising space. Prior to ETMONEY, he was the first core employee at InMobi & built it from concept into the world’s largest independent mobile ad network. He then launched his own fintech firm, Moneysights, which was acquired by Times Internet. Since then, Mukesh has been building ETMONEY with a vision to simplify the financial journey for new age
Indians.

Mr. Khalil Alami

Khalil Alami is the Chief Executive Officer of the leading online payment gateway, Telr. Khalil has more than two decades of experience in the financial services sector, including 18 years in the payment and card industry, with a focus on payment infrastructure and system implementation. He brings deep knowledge of industry structure, with emphasis on card processing and settlement, the four-party system, international payments architecture, electronic and mobile payments, consumer touch points, and network security.

Khalil has an MBA from the American University of Beirut and a Bachelor of Science from Purdue University in Economics.

Ms. Susanne Hannestad

Susanne Hannestad is CEO at Fintech Mundi, Chair of Fintech Diversity Radar Advisory Board at findexable, Chair of Board at Neonomics, Board Director Crunchfish (publ) and Monty Mobile. In addition, she is Advisor at Mastercard Lighthouse and Venture Partner at Blackfin Capital.

Experienced international executive and board director in the industries of Financial Services, Financial Technology, Financial Inclusion, Cards, Payments, and Insurance.

She is former Board Director at Nordax (publ), Executive Chairman at Zwipe (publ) building the Zwipe Payment for global scale, and she was Advisory Board member at Mastercard Europe. Prior to joining Fintech Mundi and for 10 years, Susanne was Director at Nordea Finance and Head of Cards at Nordea building up the business across the Nordic and the Baltic.”

Mr. Omkar Shrihatti

Omkar completed his B. Com in accountancy and audit from the prestigious R A Podar College of Commerce and Economics before pursuing his chartered accountancy in accounting and finance from the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India. Before co-founding Karza, he served as a senior consultant at Ernst and Young, a global leader in assurance, tax, transaction, and advisory services. Omkar was engaged in 100+ high-profile white-collar fraud investigations at EY

As an adroit CA professional, he holds a prolific experience of over 12 years in the fields of fraud investigations, background checks, he utilizes the knowledge of 500+ information sources and learning from 1500+ fraud cases.

With a vision to revolutionize the BFSI community, Omkar built Karza Technologies to reduce fraud, re-instill public faith in India’s Financial Services ecosystem, and act as a one-stop solution to cater to each stage of a Financial transaction. 

As CEO, Omkar leads the product ideation and development side of the business and has built products that are now used by the largest banks in the country.

Awards & Accolades

• Fortune 40 Under 40, 2021
• BW 40 Under 40, 2021

Mr. Manohar Chadalavada

Manohar Chadalavada, Global Head, AI, Ecosystems and Open Banking,  has been at Standard Chartered for 16 years and worked across various functions. With his domain expertise in Digital Banking, Fintechs, Risk Management and Analytics, he is entrusted to drive the application of AI (artificial intelligence) across multiple aspects of our unsecured digital lending and mass-market Personal businesses including underwriting, onboarding and client service; identify new sources of data and tools, and industrialise the usage of AI in business processes.

His previously held positions in Group Risk, as Country Risk Officer and Country Credit Head, in Business, as in charge of Innovation and Fintech Partnerships, and multiple other leadership roles gained him a well-rounded experience over the years. He’s also part of the Standard Chartered Modelling and Analytics Centre board.

Outside of work he loves to travel, and recently started learning how to play the guitar with his 14-year-old son.

Mr. Shailesh Naik

Mr Shailesh Naik is Founder and Group CEO of MatchMove (www.matchmove.com), one of the world’s fastest-growing and most disruptive fintech companies in digital payments and next-generation banking.

MatchMove’s proprietary Banking Wallet OSTM enables 'Banking-as-a-Service' with Spend, Send, LendTM capabilities within any app. The operating system allows businesses and their customers to pay online and offline simply and securely, perform P2P domestic transfers,  cross-border remittances, P2M and mass disbursements to global recipients. MatchMove platform further extends to Lend where credit scores are assigned based on customers’ spending and sending patterns to offer customized lending solutions. MatchMove has been recognized with international awards for being a promising and innovative organization, as well as a preferred employer.

An entrepreneur with a successful track record in high-tech and new media sectors across China, India, Korea and Southeast Asia, Shailesh also made several successful investments in online entertainment and e-commerce companies across Asia and the US. He served on the iN2015 committees to develop Singapore’s new national IT master plan and is a Founding Investor in Aavishkaar, a Singapore-based social venture fund focused on start-ups in India and Southeast Asia. Shailesh continues to be heavily engaged across Asia with a keen focus on and support for entrepreneurship, financial technology, and financial inclusion.

Mr. Ashish Singhal

Ashish Singhal is the Co-founder and Chief Executive Officer at CoinSwitch Kuber, India’s foremost crypto-asset exchange. As the head of the firm, Ashish is responsible for the day to day operations and its strategic efforts. Ashish is a passionate advocate of crypto regulation and believes in leveraging the power of blockchain technology to bring in financial inclusion. He is a believer that wealth, investment, and financial knowledge are for everyone and thus, launched CoinSwitch Kuber to democratise crypto asset investment.

Ashish is a hacker from the heart and has won all major hackathons in the country. Ashish has previously founded Urban Tailor, a first of a kind, at-home alteration service, which had tie-ups with Myntra, ABOF and Landmark Group. He has worked with Amazon, Livspace.com and has been an advisor to Reap Benefit.

Ashish holds a Bachelor of Engineering in Computer Science from Netaji Subhash Institute of Technology.

Mr. Machiel van der Harst

More than 20 years as a senior executive in the identity management industry, Machiel leads the overall sales effort and runs the daily operations of the company. He also has on-the-ground experience in implementing and managing biometric ID projects in challenging field conditions in Asia and Africa. He grew L-1 Biometrics Division International Sales to USD 40 Million, a fourfold increase in 3 years.

Mr. Sanjeev Kumar

Sanjeev Kumar is an accomplished industry leader with 20 years of extensive experience across the Banking, Payments & Insurance sectors. As the CEO of Spice Money, Sanjeev brings a deep focus towards achieving the company’s mission of digitally and financially empowering 1 crore rural entrepreneurs through the Spice Money Adhikari (Merchant Entrepreneur) Network. Sanjeev capitalizes on the company’s robust strategy, market capability, superior technology and organizational culture to make Spice Money the most admired rural fintech in the country.

Sanjeev was born in a small village in rural India. He has seen and experienced the struggles of the rural population first hand, whether it is the lack of power or travel infrastructure or the absence of financial services. His life experiences have worked as a foundation to shape his vision towards uplifting and transforming the lives in rural India. He believes that he is one step closer to achieving his life’s mission through the products and services Spice Money delivers. Sanjeev is passionate about keeping the rural customer at the epicentre of Spice Money’s business strategy with the intent of offering all financial and digital services to rural customers.

Previously, Sanjeev was the Chief Growth Officer for Spice Money. In this role, he contributed to the rapid growth of the company through his ability to strategize and execute relentlessly. During the pandemic and subsequent lockdown, it was Sanjeev’s vision that helped the company not only to stay afloat but to grow in leaps and bounds. Sanjeev has been instrumental in creating a culture of growth and success within Spice Money that has empowered the team to innovate with passion and purpose.

His leadership during the challenging period of FY20 has enabled the company to grow over 100%. Prior to joining Spice Money, Sanjeev was associated with Jio Payments Bank, where he led Sales and Distribution. He has also worked with companies such as Yes Bank, where he spent over 12 years, Max New York Life Insurance, Bajaj Allianz and Infosys Technologies. Sanjeev holds a BTech degree from the Indian Institute of Technology, Varanasi.

Mr. Ritesh Shukla

Mr Ritesh Shukla is Chief Executive Officer of National Payments Corporation of India, International (NIPL) & is responsible for formulating business strategies and leading business development by deploying NPCI's technology and solutions in International Markets.

His responsibilities include engaging and collaborating with traditional as well non-traditional players in the payment ecosystem to drive business strategy and achieve growth. Mr Shukla holds a Master’s Degree in Business Administration with a specialization in International Business. He has over 20 years of work experience with expertise in areas of managing country business, leading business development and relationship management. Prior to joining NPCI, he was part of MasterCard’s business in the Middle East and North Africa.

During his 6 years with MasterCard, he has performed a wide array of roles in-country management, business development functions, P/L functions to drive profitability and market share, a role in which he provided best-in-class financial services to top-tier multi-national corporations and financial institutions. His previous stints include working with Visa Inc. and leading financial institutions such as Axis Bank, HDFC Bank and SBI Cards in the payments business.

Mr. Naveen Kukreja

Naveen Kukreja is the CEO & Co-founder of Paisabazaar.com - India’s largest digital marketplace for consumer credit and Free Credit Score platform.

Naveen has an experience of 2 decades in the financial services markets of India and Europe, having worked in leadership roles at Citibank, Capital One and Aviva Life Insurance before co-founding Paisabazaar.com under the Policybazaar Group in 2014.

Under Naveen’s strong leadership, Paisabazaar.com has established itself as a market leader and one of India’s leading fintech brands.

Naveen has been felicitated by Entrepreneur India as “Entrepreneur of the Year – Financial Services” & by Business World with the ’40 under 40’ award – a recognition to India’s top 40 leaders under the age of 40.

Naveen is an alumni of prestigious institutes like IIM Calcutta and the Delhi College of Engineering.

Mr. Anup Nayar

Mr. Anup Nayar is currently the Chief for Relationship Management for NPCI. He has worked over two decades in the retail payments business in the country and has held leadership positions with a leading private sector bank, global ATM manufacturer, and leading transaction processor in the country. His stint with these organizations has given him insight in the various business models that drive business and also the intricacies of managing the business in complex environments.

Ms. Michelle Kagari

Michelle Kagari is a lawyer and International Development practitioner, with a passion for people-centred approaches for social impact and justice. She has spent the last two decades of her career advocating for more inclusive and responsive governments to help people realize their full capabilities. In particular, she advocates for the inclusion of underrepresented voices in governance and policy development, and on growing leaders in the social justice space.

She is currently the Director for Government Relations and Policy at One Acre Fund (OAF), a non-profit Agriculture Social Enterprise assisting over One Million of Africa’s smallholder farmers to dramatically improve their incomes. 

Michelle leads OAF’s collaborative approach to work with governments to achieve food security and sustainable livelihoods for smallholder farmers to make them more prosperous. 

Mr. Gurjodhpal Singh

Gurjodhpal Singh was appointed CEO for Tide India, in January 2021. He is an experienced leader in the industry, with 13 years in FinTech and financial services. Most recently, Gurjodhpal led the SME merchant payments and credit businesses at PayU, the leading payment service provider in India; and has extensive experience of
providing superior services to MSMEs.

He boasts considerable experience in supporting Indian SMEs over many years, and is now at the helm of Tide in India, to establish the business in India and scale it over the coming years. Gurjodhpal is passionate about helping SMEs across India digitise and use intuitive technology to help them save time (and money) on the running of their businesses.
At PayU, he was key to setting up and scaling the SME merchant payments business. He was instrumental in acquiring 300,000+ SME merchants over four years through digital & non-digital channels.

With all this experience in the sector behind him, Gurjodhpal looks to create something new for Indian SMEs that will empower them to reach their full potential.

He is an alumnus of the Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad (IIM-A) and has been recognised as India's 100 Great People Managers by Forbes India in 2019.

Mr. Anup Singh

Anup Singh leads MSC’s regional office in Anglophone Africa and heads the Helix Institute is based in Nairobi, Kenya. With fifteen years of experience, his expertise includes digital transformation of financial institutions; fintech mapping, scoping, and policy design; digital readiness assessment of social protection programs; digital credit scoping, design and policy; and training programs.

He has consulted over 100 institutions including governments, fintechs, financial institutions, investors, and multilateral organizations in Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, Ethiopia, Nigeria, Malawi, Tanzania, Zambia, and South Africa in the African continent, and India, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Nepal, Vietnam, Myanmar, China, Papua New Guinea in the Asian continent. He has also trained at the Boulder Institute of Microfinance, Italy in 2017, 2018, 2019, and 2021.

Prior to joining MSC, he worked as an Associate with the Centre for Microfinance, based in Chennai, advising financial institutions such as Fullerton, Cashpor and Spandana on the design and implementation of enterprise financing and value chain lending products. He also worked with agricultural finance and livelihood services providers such as BAIF, BILT to develop and re-engineer value chains. He holds a Post Graduate Diploma in Forest Management, Indian Institute of Forest Management, Bhopal, India. 

Mr. Ravi Sundararajan

As the Chief Operating Officer, Ravi heads Product, Operations, Sales, Marketing, Business Development and Support for Gupshup's Enterprise Messaging Business that has grown to become the leading Cloud Messaging Platform under his leadership. Ravi has over 27 years of General Management experience leading Product Development, Product Management, Sales, Marketing, Business Development and Support for industry leading Cloud Communications, Mobile and Internet Software Services serving millions of users. His previous roles include General Manager at Akamai, VP at HP (Palm) and Mckinsey. He has been awarded US patents for innovative cloud data management inventions and has an MS in Electrical Engineering and an MBA from Harvard University.

Mr. Shamir Karkal

A true fintech pioneer, Shamir Karkal is CEO of Sila, a fintech software platform that provides payment infrastructure as a service. He co-founded Sila in 2018 with the goal of empowering financial innovation and supporting entrepreneurs who want to build a new financial world. In 2009, he co-founded Simple, the first bank of its kind in the United States. In doing so, he played a crucial part in building the infrastructure that would pave the way for online banking. After BBVA acquired Simple, he headed the Open Platform at BBVA. Shamir studied physics and computer science at Bangalore University and is a graduate of Carnegie Mellon’s Tepper School of Business. He lives in Portland, Oregon.

Mr. Milind Pathak

Milind is the Chief Business Officer having 20+ years of experience in blue-chip organizations

like Paytm, Madhouse Mobile (GroupM), Comviva, Buongiorno, etc. He is an accomplished senior leader across domestic and international markets holding several key decision-making portfolios, especially in Sales & Marketing, P&L Responsibility, New Product Development, involving both startups and established organizations.

Mr. Shashank Mehta

Shashank Mehta is the Head of RazorpayX, the neobanking arm of Razorpay. Shashank is responsible to expand RazorpayX product suite with launch and scale-up of Current Accounts, Payout Links, Payroll & more. An alumnus of IIT Roorkee, Shashank has been with Razorpay since its founding days and has been instrumental in building the product suite from scratch. His business acumen and industry know-how has been key in building the technology stack at Razorpay, for a diverse range of businesses. The first Product Manager at Razorpay, Shashank spearheaded the company’s converged payments product suite - Razorpay 2.0, from rebranding and ideation to strategy and execution. Razorpay was the first to have launched UPI support for its partner businesses and Shashank was the primary project owner when the company went live with this offering.

As one of Razorpay’s founding members, Shashank has also represented the company at several industry forums, sharing his experience and learning about how to successfully grow and scale-up an organisation, and creating new solutions and building teams.

He also won several awards and accolades during his engineering days, including a few hackathons, the Intel India Embedded Challenge and Deloitte Cyber Security challenge. He is also the primary author of two of Razorpay’s provisional patents.

Shashank is a state-level gold medalist in Squash. Solo bike trips thrill him the most.

Ms. Shruti Chandra

Ms Shruti Chandra is Senior Assistant Vice President at Invest India. She heads the Banking & Financial Services and Retail & E-commerce teams at Invest India where she is responsible for devising and executing investment strategy and the facilitation and handholding efforts for all investors in these sectors. She also heads Canada, United Kingdom and other Western European country desks at Invest India and is responsible for the investor targeting and facilitation efforts for these countries.

She is recognized as a thought leader in the Retail, E-Commerce & Fintech ecosystem in India and has represented Invest India at various domestic and international forums as a part of the outreach strategy to highlight investment opportunities and drive FDI into India.

She is particularly focused on E-Commerce, Retail, Consumer Protection and Fintech Policy Advocacy and works in close capacity with senior officials from both Federal Ministries and State Governments to promote EODB and growth in these sectors. She also represents Invest India in the Joint Working Group on Fintech between India-UK and India-Singapore. Ms Chandra has both international and domestic strategic management and consulting experience and has worked in key roles with PwC, MasterCard, Deloitte and Sanofi across global markets/industries.

Ms Chandra holds a Bachelor’s Degree from the University of Melbourne and a Double Masters in Management and International Management from the University of Sydney Business School and CEMS (European Alliance in Management Education), Rotterdam School of Management. She has also received a scholarship for the Hinrich Foundation – NUS Singapore Executive Program on CrossBorder Trade.

Ms. Vidya Pradeep

Vidya Pradeep has over 22 years of experience in the Banking and Payments industry with most of her experience in HDFC Bank. After completing her MBA - Finance from LIBA she pursued her dream of being a banker and specialized however in the payments space. She is now Head - Consumer Cards & Mobility where the focus is on driving even stronger market share for credit cards by driving the portfolio and by accelerating efforts on new initiatives & partnerships to drive growth in scale of acquisition and spends. She also leads the growth of Debit cards portfolio & spends, PayZapp & Smartbuy which are extremely critical engagement platforms for the bank. With PayZapp restage in early 2022 where UPI autopay plays a large part and with the focus on growing engagement on credit cards and debit cards, HDFC Bank has had Recurring transactions at the core of the engagement story for years now and continues to drive this as a key strategy. SmartPay is a product that she has launched and grown into a key engagement tool to drive recurring transactions on cards.

Mr. Graham A.N. Wright

Graham A.N. Wright is the founder and Group Managing Director of MSC. He pioneered much of the core of the market-led approach used by MSC. He has around 30 years of experience in emerging markets underpinned by five years of experience in management consultancy, training and audit with Arthur Andersen in Europe.

Dr Apoorva Ranjan Sharma

Dr. Apoorv Ranjan Sharma is the cofounder & president of Venture Catalysts. Under his leadership, Venture Catalysts has become World’s 7th most active incubator & early stage investor, it has invested in 110+ startups, built an ecosystem of 4500+ angel investors across 40+ cities! He is the first PhD in Incubation from India, acclaimed globally. He holds an MBA, B. Tech. from reputed institutions; and diploma in Mentoring Studies from UC Berkeley. Dr. Sharma has been mentoring & investing in startups since 2002. He has established more than 12 incubators in India.

Today, he sits on the Technology Development Board of, Department of Science & Technology, India. Dr Sharma has mentored & invested in more than 100 startups. He has an eye for identifying unicorns at a very early stage! In 2012, with Venture Nursery, he invested in OYO Rooms as the first investor & mentor. Today, OYO Room has become one of the most valued startups globally with a valuation of $10Bn! In 2017, with Venture Catalysts, he invested in Beardo as the first investor & mentor. Today, Beardo has become India’s fastest growing men’s grooming brand, successfully acquired by Marico Ltd. His other successful portfolio includes : ● Bharatpe, valued at $500Mn today ● Innov8, acquired by OYO Rooms ● Fynd, acquired by Reliance Industries! ● Suprdaily, acquired by Swiggy ● and 30+ more multibagger successful exits! In 2017, 2018 & 2019, Dr. Apoorv Sharma was ranked among the top 10 most active angel investors in India, by Economic Times.

For his contribution to the startup ecosystem in India, he has been awarded by President of India, and two biggest industries of India - Mr Narayn Murthy & Mr Ratan TATA. Earlier this year, Dr Apoorva Sharma launched his first accelerator fund, called 9Unicorns. He is on the hunt for finding the next Unicorns around the world. Dr Apoorv is known as the founding father of startup ecosystem in India, today we welcome him for fireside chat with India’s Iconic founder!

Mr. Manish Kumar

Manish is an IIT Kanpur alumnus with over a decade of experience in the banking and financial industry. He began his career in 2005 as a Business Consulting Manager at HSBC, went on to head their Private Label Credit Card Credit Risk Acquisition Team, and then the Credit Risk Acquisition for Card and Retail Services business before joining Capital One as an Associate Director in 2012. Armed with deep insights into the financial landscape in India, he founded KredX with Anurag Jain in 2015.

Since founding KredX, he has won the 'Entrepreneur of The Year' in Business Services - Money Services at the 7th Annual Entrepreneur India Awards 2017 award and Startup of the year 2018 in the Category "Discounting Platform”. Under Manish's leadership, KredX has been featured among the top 100 leading global Fintech innovators in the KPMG-H2 Ventures 2017 Fintech100 list, the top 50 ventures in The Smart CEO-Startup50 India 2016 Program, Sutra HR's Top 100 Startups to Watch in 2017, SiliconIndia Startup Of the year 2018, SuperStartUps Asia 2019 – Silver, Skoch Awards 2019 – Silver, and Aditya Birla Bizlabs Fintech 2019.

Ms. Hena Mehta

Hena Mehta is Co-Founder & CEO of Basis, India's digital financial services destination for women, anchored in education and communities. Previously at Goldman Sachs, Ezetap and Square, Hena has 12+ years’ experience in FinTech in software engineering and product management roles in the US and India.

She is also the founder of Lean In Bangalore, a community of professional women recognized by Sheryl Sandberg's Lean In foundation. Hena has an MBA from The Wharton School, and a CS Engineering degree from the University of Pennsylvania.

Mr. Sujit Unni

Sujit the CTO for Paysafe has over two decades of experience working with global firms like Barclays, Vantiv & JP Morgan Chase is US, Europe & Asia Pacific.

He is Responsible for driving the technology strategy and platform engineering integrating payments processing, digital wallets & cash business to enable geographic expansion and new product launches. He also serves as the CIO for the eCash business. Sujit has been instrumental in the blueprint to transition the business to a cloud native microservices architecture with ECash business starting its migration in Mid Oct. 

Sujit brings extensive technology experience in driving technology innovation and delivering global IT strategy, roadmaps and solutions supporting merchant acquiring, issuing, corporate & cross border payments business with regulated financial services like Barclays, Vantiv, JPMC. He comes to Paysafe from Barclays where he was the CIO overseeing Barclays UK lending platforms prior to which he was based in the US with Vantiv Inc leading the  enterprise technology organization and was instrumental in leading two of their biggest integrations namely Litle and Mercury Payments to establish Vantiv’s ecommerce and ISV businesses. 

Ms. Mona Zoet

 Mona Zoet, founder and CEO of RegPac Revolution has over 18 years of experience in the Financial Services Industry within the Legal, Risk and Compliance areas, specializing in AML and KYC within some of the biggest banks. 

During this time, she became acutely aware of the Regulatory, Operational and Risk Management pain points faced by banks and other Financial Institutions alike. She is an Executive Board Member, Southeast Asia Lead and Singapore Chapter President of the International RegTech Association (IRTA) which exists to ease and accelerate the evolution of the RegTech industry, by facilitating integration, collaboration and innovation of all stakeholders, within the Financial Services sector. 

Mona recently contributed to “The Legal Aspects of Blockchain”, a book published by the UNOPS, focusing on the legal implications that blockchain has, not only in humanitarian and development work, but also on existing regulatory frameworks, data and identity. Mona also shares co-authorship for the book #RegTech Blackbook, which highlights all the latest development of RegTech, FinTech, WealthTech from different angles. To end, Mona has also been mentioned as one of the RegTech top 100 influencers, a report created by Analytica One. 

Mr. Shmuel Ben Tomiv

Ms. Ajaita Shah

Ajaita Shah is an entrepreneur, a mentor, a speaker, and board member. She has committed to empowering rural women across the developing world through market based business models, clean energy, technology, and inspiring women to push themselves beyond their societal boundaries. Ajaita drives vision, strategy, investments, and partnerships at Frontier Markets which is a social tech commerce enterprise that focuses on rural India. It is an end-to-end commerce platform that provides last-mile products and services, delivered at the doorsteps of consumers in villages through an assisted commerce model run by rural women entrepreneurs called Saral Jeevan Sahelis.

Operating in 2,000 villages in India, with 20 micro-distribution hubs managing 10,000 Sahelis to facilitate access to products and services in agri, digital inclusion, home appliances, clean energy solutions, since covid, healthcare and essential services, and finance to over 500,000 households. Most recent awards include Fintech Innovation Challenge Winner UNCDF, SDG Finance Summit’s Highest Impact Award.

Mr. Lucas Bianchi

Lucas is the co-founder and COO of Namaste Credit. He has over 20 years of experience in finance across, the US, Europe and India. Before founding Namaste Credit, Lucas was a Managing Director at Moody’s Analytics, having arrived there by way of a $500 Million acquisition in 2014 of Copal Amba. Copal was a leading KPO business that Lucas had helped to build by brining in many of the company’s top clients, including Moody’s.

Prior to Moody’s, Lucas spent 5 years as an equity research analyst covering a range of high-growth technology companies with stints on the buy side and sell side at Lazard Capital Markets, Cowen & Co., Capitalife, and Robertson Stephens. Before his career as an equity research analyst, Lucas was a technology investment banker helping companies
raise capital and acquire businesses.

Lucas has a degree in Economics from Dartmouth College and holds a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) charter.

Mr. Abdulaziz Abanmi

Abdulaziz Abanmi is a payments systems visionary and a harbinger of transformation in digital banking and immediate payments in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. He is a strong leader and he was instrumental in implementing the Saudi (Immediate Payments Systems) infrastructure earlier this year in a record time of 15 months in preparation for cashless digital KSA economy as part of Vision 2030 & nurturing Fintechs in KSA for payments innovations.

Ms. Sonal Kapoor

Sonal leads the Financial services at Flipkart. She is a tech enthusiast at heart with years of experience in designing products & strategies for exponential growth   

Sonal's current focus is on designing offerings that help make online payments & insurance easy and affordable for customers, and expand access to protection & credit to more Indians in tier II and III markets, propelling consumption for the next 200 million online shoppers.

Dr. Babatunde Oghenobruche Obrimah

Dr. Babatunde Oghenobruche Obrimah is the Chief Operating Officer of Fintech Association of Nigeria. He is a fintech enthusiast and a multi-skilled individual with working experience of over thirty years spanning the banking sector, non-bank financial services sector, financial consulting services, project management and public sector. 

His professional career commenced at First Bank Nigeria Plc and worked in various banks during his banking career. Positions held during his banking career included: Group Head; Consumer banking, Agriculture/SMEs, Infrastructures, Food/Beverages, and Investment Banking, Regional Director Commercial Banking South-south and South-east. He served as an alternate Board member on the board of ValuCard Limited (now Unified Payments Plc) from 2004-2005. He was Managing Director/CEO of ELBI Integrated Resources Limited, a consulting form that provided advisory and project management services to Banks on Agricultural Financing and to real estate developers. His public sector experience was with NIRSAL Plc - a fully owned subsidiary of the Central Bank of Nigeria focused on de-risking and facilitating funding to agricultural value chains.

He holds a Doctorate Degree in Business Administration (D.B.A.), an M.B.A., B.Sc./M.Sc. in Agronomy and has Certifications in Project Management (PMP and PRINCE2) He has attended various international and local courses on Artificial Intelligence, Creative Thinking, International Trade, Leadership, Marketing, PPP and other soft skill courses. He is a member of Project Management Institute, Nigeria Institute of Management, Chartered Institute of Bankers of Nigeria, amongst others.

Ms. Shweta Shetty

• Shweta is a Partner in the Financial Services domain at Deloitte India and has over 14 years of consulting experience.
• She leads large front-office digital transformation engagements with a focus on understanding customer needs and helping banks and financial services institutions in re-imagining their people/process/technology operating models. 
• Her core focus areas include open finance, API banking, payments, fintech, regulatory policy, customer experience and insights. 
• She has led projects across clients in India, Middle East, South-East Asia and Africa.

Mr. Arjun Vir Singh

Arjun is Head of Financial Services – Middle East at Arthur D. Little where he is responsible for establishing and growing the firm’s financial services consulting business across the region, spanning banking, payments, fintech, insurance and regulation. He is also a Board Member of the MENA Fintech Association.

For the past decade, Arjun has been actively engaged within the Fintech ecosystem across the MENA Region - as a passive investor, an advisory board member to a number of start-ups and a thought leader on the evolving ecosystem. 

Arjun was previously the Executive Vice President - Cards and Payments at the Al-Futtaim Group Company (one of the largest UAE HQ conglomerate with presence in 30 countries with over 40000 employees), where he lead the payments solutions and innovation organization across the Group’s core geographies in MEA and APAC.

Prior to Al-Futtaim, Arjun held senior roles in Management Consulting, Private Equity, Insurance and the Financial Services sector with PA Consulting, AXA, Marconi and GE Capital.

He currently resides in Dubai, UAE with his wife and two young daughters

Mr. Rajnish Kumar CFA

Rajnish is the CEO and Co-founder of Instapay Technology Sdn Bhd, Kuala Lumpur, a company that focuses on financial inclusion and looks at meeting the gaps in banking for migrant foreign workers in ASEAN. Licensed by Bank Negara Malaysia as a large scheme e-money issuer in Malaysia, Instapay is a Mastercard issuer and also partners with Ria Money for cross border money transfer globally.

Instapay digital account is specifically designed to meet the needs of migrant workers and offers a complete solution. Instapay also offers its digital account as payroll accounts for low-income foreign migrant workers in Malaysia.

In a career spanning more than 2 decades, Rajnish has worked in both Retail and Wholesale banking with global banks and financial institutions in Transaction Banking, Wealth Management, Equity Investments, Liabilities and Loans.

Rajnish is a Charter holder of CFA Institute,  MBA from Indian Institute of Management (IIM), Lucknow and grauduated in Engineering from National Institute of Technology (NIT), Jamshedpur. 

Mr. Tomasz Kurczyk

Tomasz started his career in Poland as an entrepreneur, then turned into a consultant. After working across multiple industries and countries, he now serves as Chief Digital and Transformation Officer at AXA in Singapore.

He is a geek at heart. From the moment he wrote his first application and created his first website at the age of 12, he got fascinated with the world of opportunities that technology creates around us.

Since that moment, he decided to create, build and grow businesses and organizations by harnessing the potential of technology compounded with strategy and customer focus to deliver tangible impact and help organizations reach their full potential in the digital age.

Tomasz actively participates in FinTech ecosystem development as Singapore FinTech Association ExCo (Board Member) and Chair of the InsurTech committee. He is also an active advisor to boards, start-up mentor and angel investor.

Mr. Yogesh Sangle

Yogesh is the Global Head of Instarem, fintech unicorn NIUM’s digital cross-border payments business. Instarem enables consumers and SMEs to send and collect international money transfers conveniently and securely.

Based in the Singapore, where the company is headquartered, Yogesh is responsible for business expansion. This involves launching a range of innovative, neo-financial services and products, such as the recently launched amaze card, to a wide range of customers and businesses. These products are aimed at breaking currency borders and making “Money Simple”.

Yogesh has led and managed the regional businesses for many well-known companies within the banking, cards and remittance sector, including PayPal, Citibank and MoneyGram. He has spearheaded and seen success with the digital transformation for some of biggest global brands in the region. Much of this success was achieved through the right blend of digital, social and analytical skills – be it acquisition, conversion or experiential engagement.

Yogesh has an MBA from the University of Chicago (Booth School of Business), a Masters in Management Studies, specialising in Marketing from Jamnalal Bajaj Institute of Management Studies and initially graduated from the University of Mumbai with a Bachelor in Mechanical Engineering.

Ms. Ifedayo Durosinmi-Etti

Ifedayo Durosinmi – Etti is an Author, Entrepreneur, and Young Global Leader with over 10 years of management and leadership experience working in the fashion, marketing, manufacturing, and most recently, the tech Industry. She is a Biochemistry graduate of Covenant University and holds an MBA in Global Business from Coventry University UK.

She is the managing partner of AGS tribe, a Social Enterprise and Cooperative of like-minded women, focused on connecting women to various opportunities such as; scholarships, grants, fellowships, and job opportunities. In recent times, she has broken several glass ceilings by being part of the Africa Startup Initiative (ASIP) Accelerator Program and
becoming a recruitment partner with Amazon. Ifedayo Durosinmi-Etti is a recipient of the Women’s Advocacy Award from
the West African Leadership Organization for her exemplary leadership and dedication to the socio-economic development in West Africa. She is also an alumnus of the Tony Elumelu Foundation. In December 2019, she was listed as one of the 52 women who made impact.

She was named a Peace Scholar by the Dutch Ministry of foreign affairs and was selected to receive mentorship from world-renowned artist and businessman, Akon as a result of her contributions to the entrepreneurship sector in Africa. She was appointed as a YouthShe was named a Peace Scholar by the Dutch Ministry of foreign affairs and was selected to receive mentorship from world-renowned artist and businessman, Akon as a result of her contributions to the
entrepreneurship sector in Africa. She was appointed as a Youth Advisory Group Member for Solutions for Youth Employment (S4YE), a global coalition formed by the World Bank, aimed at providing catalytic support to employment and productive work for 150 million youth by 2030.Advisory Group Member for Solutions for Youth Employment (S4YE), a global coalition formed by the World Bank, aimed at providing catalytic support to employment and productive work for
150 million youth by 2030.

Ms. Monica Jasuja

Division.

She has 20 years of experience in building innovative digital products for financial services. Creating solutions in the digital payments space is her passion, and when she’s not busy shaping the future of the fintech industry, she likes to help mentor people and businesses.

Having worked in key markets such as the US, Taiwan, and Singapore, She uses these learnings and unique perspectives to create products that disrupt international markets.

Mr. Vishal Narula

Vishal is a Managing Director in Alvarez and Marsal. He is an expert in Antii-Trust matters concerning markets and their behaviours helping organization navigate regulatory and legal requirements related to market entry, market conduct and its implication on consumers. Vishal is a part of the Disputes and Investigations team, leading technology and e-commerce sectors. Vishal has a wide range of experience within the technology sector from Fintech, e-commerce, online gaming, IT/ITES companies.  

Mr. Ala Dawod

Ala'a brings with him a unique perspective and a career that spans over the course of 15 years spent in companies like Maktoob.com and Yahoo! He worked in community and content management, product, editorial, gaming, and marketing. Ala has been fascinated by technology since he was 6 years old when he first learned to code using "Basic" language on an MSX computer!

At CASHU, Ala wore a lot of hats in the marketing team and rose to become CASHU’s Head of Marketing.

After his success in leading the Marketing at CASHU, he has been appointed as an Interim CEO as of April 2021.

Mr. Donovan Drew

With 25 years of experience in Digitization (Enterprise Software, Telecommunications, Networks, SaaS, PaaS, Security and Fintech BaaS solutions), representing various Digital technologies Solutions in Banking and Telecommunications. Donovan has led and built sales teams, Territory plans and GTM's in global markets. He has successfully orchestrated and concluded multiple large enterprise deals that required tenacity, differentiation, innovation, passion, diversity, vision and determination.

Donovan’s experience extends in working within multi-cultural, diverse and remote teams across different disciplines and in multiple key industries with a strong understanding of business processes on-prem or in Cloud, hybrid, multi-cloud, AI, ML, IOT, Optimization, Predictive Analytics, Security, Apps, network and Infrastructure all combined.

As President for the Asia Pacific and executive board member of the Singapore division of Ukheshe Technologies, Donovan’s role is to define and execute the territory plan with Mastercard and VISA, and existing partners, by establishing and enabling the global financial, FINTECH, retail and Telco service providers in the digital banking and payment services (BaaS)(FinTech) domain.

Donovan leads and manages the global expansion into APAC with the Ukheshe partners and extended team members.

Mr. Ali Hassan

Ali Hassan is a Senior Representative for the Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC) Authority in Europe and North America and Director of Business Development for the Centre. 

In his current role, Mr. Hassan supports the CEO in developing and promoting the Insurance, Banks & Capital Markets, and Wealth Management sectors, in line with the Centre’s business strategies and plays an active role in managing client development. He is also responsible for promoting and spreading awareness of DIFC’s competitiveness and positioning regionally and globally.

Mr. Hassan brings vast regulatory knowledge and commercial experience to his position at DIFC Authority, having supervised and authorized a diverse range of businesses including exchanges, trading platforms, wealth management, investment banking, and brokerage operations with experience in the UK, Europe and the Middle East.

Ms. Priya Sharma

Priya Sharma is the CFO, COO & Co-Founder of ZestMoney - India’s first and largest AI-Driven EMI financing and Pay Later platform. Using advanced mobile technology, artificial intelligence, machine learning and digital banking, ZestMoney has built a platform to serve the over 300 million households in the country that currently have no access to formal credit due to insufficient credit history.

Priya started her career as a management and technology consultant with Deloitte and Sapient Corporation, before pursuing her MBA from London Business School. Upon completion of her MBA, she worked with Bank of America Merrill Lynch, where she advised companies on mergers, acquisitions and strategic decisions. She relocated to India in 2011 as Head of Product and Corporate Development for Wonga, which was then one of the largest fintech companies in the world. In her role, she was responsible for the strategic analysis of international markets.

Priya’s vast experience in this industry allows her to plan out and seamlessly execute ZestMoney’s Finance and operations strategy including credit-risk strategy, as well as how to leverage AI and other technology solutions to drive the company’s growth. She helps ZestMoney get closer to empowering millions of consumers to achieve their goals and aspirations and not just their needs.

Mr. Sheetal Lalwani

Juspay is India' #1 Payments Platform, enabling payments for the largest of Digital Enterprises. Juspay is also a core contributor towards ecosystem innovations like UPI and OCEN, building the BHIM app back in 2016 and more recently building the first OCEN LSP App as GeM Sahay.

Mr. Alok Mittal

With over 20 years of operational and entrepreneurial experience, Alok Mittal has a passion of understanding the growth drivers of Small Medium business financing in India. This is what led him to establish Indifi, a platform for enabling debt financing for small businesses.

Indifi is a founder member of the Digital Lenders Association of India (DLAI) and Alok serves on its management committee. He also chairs the lending sub-committee of the Fintech Convergence Council. Alok has been extensively involved with policy and regulatory deliberations to further the state of MSME financing using Fintech enablers.

Prior to starting Indifi, Alok set up and ran Canaan Partners' operations in India, investing in high growth technology and internet startups. Earlier, Alok co-founded JobsAhead.com, a leading web-based recruitment business in India. He is also an active angel investor, co-founder of Indian Angel Network, and on the board of TiE (The Indus Entrepreneurs) Delhi.

Before founding JobsAhead, Alok worked with Hughes software in telecom and internet technologies. Alok is a computer science graduate from IIT Delhi and completed his MS and Management of Technology programs from UC Berkeley.

Mr. Sandeep Parekh

Sandeep Parekh is the managing partner of Finsec Law Advisors, a financial sector law firm based in Mumbai. He worked as an executive director at the Securities and Exchange Board of India, and has been a faculty at the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad. He has worked for law firms in Delhi, Mumbai and Washington, D.C. Sandeep is admitted to practice law in New York. He has published op-eds in the Financial Times and the Economic Times. He is the author of a well-received book “Fraud, Manipulation and Insider Trading in the Indian Securities Markets”.

He is an independent director on the board of HDFC Bank Ltd. He was the Chairman of SEBI’s Proxy Advisory working group and is a member of SEBI’s Mutual Fund Advisory Committee.

Mr. Anil Kumar SG

Anil is the Founder and CEO of Samunnati. Established in November 2014, Samunnati is working on building an
Open Agri-Network for Farmers with a mission to Make Markets Work for Small Holder Farmers. In this endeavour, Samunnati focuses on providing customised financial solutions for Agri Credit, market Linkages through Agri Commerce and Institution Building through Farmer Central. Samunnati operates in over 50 value chains across 22 states working with a reach of over 800 FP0s on the supply side and more than 1000 Agri Enterprises on the demand side of the Agri Value Chains. Technology is the backbone of all Samunnati’s interventions and has collaborations with a large number Ag-Tech Companies and Start-Ups in

Agriculture, as an ecosystem player. Anil has received awards/recognitions from several forums, including the Best Social Entrepreneur in the Global Social Entrepreneurship Programme 2018; the TiE Impact Entrepreneur of the Year Award in 2013; Real Leaders Impact Award 2020 (ranked 83 in top 100) and the ET Social Enterprise Start-up award in 2020. Anil is also on the task force for CII on Agri Start-ups and FICCI on Minimizing Food loss and Wastage. Anil is a career banker with close to three decades of experience in the areas of Rural, Retail and Agri Banking. He started his career with Canara Bank and then joined ICICI Bank.

Prior to Samunnati, Anil was the Co-Founder & Trustee of IFMR Trust and the CEO of IFMR Rural Channels. Anil holds a Masters in Management from the Asian Institute of Management, Manila. He also holds a Masters in Business Administration from Symbiosis Institute of Management, Pune and a graduate degree in Humanities from Osmania University, Hyderabad.

Mr. Nalin Bansal

Nalin is a Product & Business Strategy Professional with a rich experience of 20+ years on global assignments covering Technology, Telecom & Payments domain. He has spearheaded the launch of many initiatives in the telecom and payments business and incubated new age payment solutions with organizations like Airtel, MasterCard and NPCI. He has also been an advisor to multiple start-ups for their go-to-market strategy. He started his career with Bharti Airtel in 2001 and was a part of the India’s telecom revolution. He had been responsible for spearheading some key projects for Airtel which included Strategic outsourcing, Telecom roll outs, Tower cost optimization and GIS based Market planning. Later as part of the principal team at Bharti group he evaluated and executed projects in new areas like DTH, Mobile wallets and International acquisitions. At MasterCard he led the product launch for and their Bill Payments platform in India.

Presently he is serving as Chief of Corporate Business and Key Initiatives at National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI). Under his leadership, NPCI was able to swiftly launch the prestigious Bharat Bill Payment System (BBPS) platform for Reserve Bank of India (RBI), National Common Mobility Card (NCMC) for Transit operators and Smart Cities and rolled out solutions in the area of Contactless Payments, Secure Online Commerce and Tokenization. At NPCI, he has been contributed extensively in building the ecosystem of payments enabling Governments, Corporates, Merchants, MSMEs and driving consumption for consumers in all segments. In his current role he is tasked to set up partnerships to drive new use cases for Fintech, Startups & Merchants not just in payments but also in areas of loyalty, analytics and identification.

Nalin is a Communications engineer from the University of Pune and holds a Master’s degree in Diploma (Strategy) in Business Management from FORE, Delhi.

Mr. Ketan Doshi

Ketan Doshi is the Managing Director of Pay Point India Network Pvt. Ltd. 

Masters in Financial Services Management from Mumbai University, Ketan Doshi is an entrepreneur and a visionary leader who believes in developing a culture of empowerment in the organization to inculcate ownership and develop leadership.

Being an outgoing person, he has established relationships at all levels from c-suite senior executives to small-time retailers and he interacts at all levels with great panache and ease. 

Being a first generation entrepreneur and having built the organisation from scratch, he has deep understanding of his business. With an eye for financial detailing and good knowledge of technology, Ketan Doshi has navigated his company to a path of continued growth and success over the past decade. 

His passion for providing service excellence keeps him busy looking for innovative ideas and latest technology. He has a unique knack of making strategic interventions at the right moment to transform potential opportunities into successful achievements.

Ketan’s objective is to provide Last Mile Delivery of Financial & Payment Services by deploying a scalable, cutting-edge technology-led platform. As a result, his company has built an extensive distribution network across India – especially in the rural and semi-urban geographies - which is being used by more than a hundred service providers that include some of the biggest corporates of the country.

Mr. David Z Wang

After an exciting decade with investment banks - Morgan Stanley, Credit Suisse and Nomura - David founded Tech investment firm 33 Capital Group. He then founded Helicap, which connects global investors to private investment opportunities in SEA. Helicap’s goal is to fill a $500 billion credit gap that banks are unable to serve, and deploy capital to 300 million underbanked in SEA, HK & Australia.

Mr. Vasant Sridhar

Vasant Sridhar is the co-founder & Chief Sales Officer at OfBusiness. Founded in 2015, OfBusiness is India's largest B2B Commerce and Credit Platform. It integrates technology to enable B2B commerce, marketing and credit. Servicing >10000 SMEs across India, OfBusiness is supported by Marquee Investors such as Softbank, Matrix Partners, Norwest Venture Partners, Falcon Edge, Creation Investments, etc. By working closely with SMEs to help them increase their top-line with marketing and credit support and improve their bottom-line with better raw material prices,  Vasant believes that this is only the beginning of how technology can revolutionise the lives of SMEs across the country. Prior to OfBusiness, Vasant worked at ITC Limited – Agri-Business Division (ILTD). As a part of the CEO’s Office, he led multiple assignments across Business Excellence and Strategy. Vasant holds a Bachelors in Engineering from IIT Madras, during which he co-founded Bloodline Labs, a mobile and web-based platform for patients, potential donors and healthcare facilities, enabling fast, reliable and real-time connection.

Mr. Ishaan Mittal

Ishaan has been with Sequoia India for seven years. He advises on investments in the fintech, payments and consumer technology sectors.

Ishaan holds board seats in Razorpay, Mamaearth, Finova Capital, Urban Ladder, CarDekho and Suburban Diagnostics. 

Prior to Sequoia, he worked with The Boston Consulting Group.

Ishaan holds a B.Tech in Mechanical Engineering from IIT Delhi and an MBA with distinction from Harvard Business School. 

Mr. Arindom Datta

Arindom Datta has been working for Rabobank for the last 15 years and has over 28 years of experience in Rural Finance, Cooperative, Microfinance and Agribusiness banking. Arindom is responsible for the sustainability banking initiatives on knowledge, risk management and business development. He also oversees the development finance projects in blended finance, technology/innovation and access to finance in the agriculture sector. Arindom is further passionate about following the Agtech developments and its significance for small holder farmers.

He previously worked with National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development, IDBI Bank and CARE. Arindom is a Mathematics honours graduate from St. Stephen’s College and has an MBA with a specialization in Finance and Strategy from IIM Kozhikode.

Arindom’s work is recognized and he has been honoured with the ‘India Sustainable Leadership’ award at the India Sustainability Leadership Summit in 2017.

Other affiliations: Independent Director of NABKISAN Finance Limited; Observer on the Board of Agrostar, ; Member of the FICCI Taskforce on Agtech; Steering Committee member of SAFIN (Smallholder and Agri SME Finance & Investment Network); Expert Committee Member of ”Green Bonds for Climate Resilience” (The Climate Bond Initiative , the Global Centre for Adaption & EBRD )

Mr. Zennon Kapron

Zennon is the Founder and Director of Kapronasia, one of Asia’s leading providers of consulting services focusing on the fintech industry. Zennon has been involved in financial technology for over 20 years and covers all topics fintech and blockchain. Before Kapronasia, Zennon was the Global Banking Industry Manager for Intel based out of Shanghai, China and, prior to Intel, was the CIO for Citigroup Portugal. Zennon has testified in front of the U.S. Congress on issues of China fintech and is the author of ‘Chomping at the Bitcoin: The History and Future of Bitcoin in China’ published by Penguin. He holds a B.S. in Computer Science from Syracuse University and an MBA from INSEAD.

Mr. Samir Ojha

Samir Ojha is a Partner at EY India, based in Mumbai. He leads the fintech and financial services practice advising clients on M&A and fund raising transactions.

Prior to joining EY in Aug 2020, Samir served as Director - Investment Banking at Credit Suisse, India, where he led the financial services practice.  Previously he worked with Kotak-Investment Banking advising clients on capital markets and M&A transactions.

Samir is an associate member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI) and MBA from ISB (Hyderabad).

Mr. Hrushikesh Mehta

Hrushikesh has predominantly spent his time-solving credit-related problems using data. At CredAll, he is responsible for driving the adoption of the Open Credit Enablement Network (OCEN) APIs that facilitate a loan in under 10 minutes. Previously, he has spent the majority of his career at TransUnion CIBIL where he led the direct to consumer business. He also has a depth of experience in building and running credit marketplaces at both TransUnion CIBIL and ClearScore.

Mr. Vipul Parekh

Vipul is the Co-Founder and CMO of BigBasket and leads the marketing and finance functions of the firm. 

Prior to BigBasket Vipul was Investment Director at Peepul Capital Advisors, a growth-stage private equity Firm and was responsible for making new investments and managing them. Prior to that Vipul worked with Wipro Ltd as part of the Vice-Chairman’s office looking after new business development. 

Vipul received a postgraduate degree in Management and Marketing from the Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore.