Past Speakers

Bharat Puri is currently the Managing Director of Pidilite Industries Ltd, having joined the Board of Pidilite Industries Ltd as an Independent Director in 2008 and being appointed Managing Director in April 2015.Pidilite is India’s leading manufacturer of consumer adhesives, sealants, construction chemicals, art and craft products as well as polymer emulsions.Over the past few years, Pidilite has emerged as one of India’s most respected consumer companies.

Bharat was at school at the Lawrence School Sanawar, graduated in Commerce from Punjab University and completed his Post Graduate Diploma in Management (MBA) from the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad.

Starting his career with Asian Paints in 1982, he rose to eventually heading Sales and Marketing for the company. He moved to Cadbury India as Director of Sales and Marketing in 1998, and was appointed its Managing Director in 2002. In 2006, he was posted to Singapore in a Regional role. He then held senior leadership positions in Sales, Marketing and General Management, at the regional, and global level, culminating in his becoming Global President, Chocolates, Gum and Candy, for Mondelez International. Bharat has been a successful global business leader who has built, energised and led diverse teams across numerous geographies in both developed and developing markets.

As a person, Bharat can be described as open, curious, fair with a strong bias for action and a strong belief in the power of teams.

Deepak Iyer is the President of Mondelez India Foods Pvt. Ltd and is responsible for leading the business in India. Deepak is also part of the Asia Pacific, Middle East and Africa (AMEA) Leadership Team.

With around thirty years of management experience spanning Sales, Marketing, Franchise Management and General Management, he has extensive experience in the FMCG space.

Prior to Mondelez, he was the CEO and Managing Director of Bharti AXA General Insurance Co Ltd.

He has also served as CEO and Managing Director, Indian Subcontinent at Wrigley India Pvt. Ltd,

Deepak was earlier with PepsiCo Inc. for several years working in different roles in South Asia and Africa. He has also worked in Marico Industries, Coats Viyella and Tata Telecom Ltd.

He holds a Master of Management Studies (MBA) from SP Jain Institute of Management & Research, Mumbai and a Bachelor of Engineering from Sardar Patel University, Gujarat.

Abheek Singhi has led Boston Consulting Group’s Consumer and Retail practice in Asia‐Pacific and has been a member of the Global Practice Leadership Team. He was nominated as a BCG Fellow in 2016. Abheek has nearly 25 years of experience with clients across the globe

Abheek has partnered closely with clients across various sectors in delivering transformative impact – both with large corporations as well as mid‐sized organizations. He has deep experience in strategy development and execution. In recent years, he has worked closely with organizations to deploy the impact of digital technologies and analytics for their business.

Abheek has been a member of the National FMCG (fast‐moving consumer goods) Committee and the National Retail Committee of the Confederation of Indian Industry in the past. In that role, he has worked to monitor the industry trends and shape industry‐wide responses. He was also selected by the Aspen Ananta Institute as part of the India Leadership Initiative program and is a member of the Aspen Global Leadership Network. He has been named as Top 100 Retail minds in Asia Pacific Retail as well as Top 100 in Indian Fashion and Luxury

Abheek is a coauthor of the bestselling BCG book The $10 Trillion Prize (published by Harvard Business Review Press). He has also written several seminal reports on the Indian consumer and retail sectors, and he is a frequent contributor to national and international publications and is a speaker at leading business conferences and seminars. He has contributed to and quoted in leading publications such as the Wall Street Journal, the Financial Times, The Economist, Economic Times, Mint, Times of India, Hindustan Times.

Prashant is the Managing Director, India & South Asia, Kellogg India Private Limited. He is also the member of the leadership team of Kellogg AMEA (Asia, Middle East, Africa) region.

Prashant comes with an enriched experience of more than 25 years in the FMCG sector, particularly focused on food and as described in his own words "Food is a passion for me because of how close we get to the lives of consumers".

He joins Kellogg from Mondelez International, where he led the Indonesia business as President and Managing Director, prior to which he led the chocolates business for Mondelez in India. Prashant's rich experience in the Foods, Snacks, Beverages and Personal Care categories spreads across diverse markets in Asia, ANZ and Africa, where he has led the foods category for South Asia in Unilever and earlier stints include several senior roles in sales and marketing at Unilever in the South Asia region, Turkey, Africa, Middle East, South East Asia, and China.

Prashant is the chairman of AMCHAM's Agriculture & Food Processing Committee 2022-23. He is also a member of some key FICCI's & CIIs committees.

He holds a Master's degree in Business Management in Marketing and Strategy from Indian Institute of Management, Calcutta and a Bachelor's degree in Engineering (Production) from Bombay University.

Prashant is married to Kamolika, he has two children, Priyanka & Prateek. He is inclined towards historic sites with heritage and enjoys his weekend trips with his pet dog Aslan!

Navneet is the General Manager, BU – India Sub-Continent, Haleon.

He has multisectoral experience including FMCG, Telecom and Retail where he has consistently displayed a strong track record of managing successful businesses in highly volatile and diverse markets. He has created winning strategies to accelerate top line growth and increased profitability through engaged talent in high performance organizations.

During his career spanning over three decades across India, the Middle East, Turkey, and Africa, he has worked across Sales and General Management roles in leading FMCG companies including Cadbury, Gillette and Kellogg's. He has also worked in leadership positions with Reliance Retail and Reliance Infocom.

He took over his current assignment on completion of his last stint as Vice President & General Manager, Middle East & Africa, GSK Consumer Healthcare.

He took over as the ISC GM of erstwhile GlaxoSmithKline Consumer Healthcare on completion of his last stint as Vice President & General Manager, Middle East & Africa, GSK Consumer Healthcare. Post the demerger from GSK, he continues to be the ISC GM for Haleon India – an independent company, 100% focused on consumer health with the purpose to deliver better everyday health with humanity.

Currently, for ISC, he is at the helm of leading world-class portfolio of brands including Sensodyne, Eno, Centrum, Iodex, Otrivin, Crocin, and Octocalcium and will continue to develop category leading brands that address real consumer health needs, while focusing on future innovation across its entire portfolio

Navneet is an alumnus of Jamna Lal Bajaj Institute of Management Studies (JBIMS).

Sameer is the Divisional Chief Executive of the Personal Care Products Division at ITC.

With 25 years of experience across FMCG and Paint industries across key categories such as haircare, skincare, personal wash, fragrances, disinfectants, foods, paints and home care, he spent time with Berger Paints and Marico before joining ITC in 2015. Under his leadership, ITC has won numerous coveted awards:

• - Cannes Lion 2018(India's first brand to win Creative Effectiveness Grand Prix),
• - Cannes 2017(Gold Lion, PR for Savlon Healthy Hands Chalksticks, Gold Lion for Outdoor plus 5 other Lions),
• - Spikes APAC 2021 (Two Silver Spikes),
• - International Advertising Association Awards 2021 (Gold)
• - London International Awards 2021 (Bronze),
• - Effies 2021 (Two Bronze Metals)
• - D&AD Awards (Graphite & Wood Pencil for Savlon 'The Artist')
• - IPRCCC 2021(Gold for Best Public Awareness campaign during the pandemic)
• - Global Sabre Award, Miami 2017 (Savlon Healthy hands Chalksticks wins World's 10 Best PR Campaigns),
• - PR Sabre (South Asia) 2017 (One Gold Sabre, Two Diamond Sabre's and One Platinum Sabre)
• - And the work on Savlon was among the ten cases recognised as Iconic work, in the first ever " Lions creativity report of the Decade"

He is an active participant in global & national industry forums. He was a judge at the Cannes Lions for creative effectiveness in 2022 & was also a part of the 16-member international Iridium Effie Jury that elected Global Grand Effie Winners in 2021.

He holds an MBA in Marketing from Xavier Institute of Management, Bhubaneswar and a Bachelor of Commerce from Hansraj College, University of Delhi.

He has also studied Consumer Marketing Strategy at Harvard Business School and attended the Global Program for Management Development by the Ross School, University of Michigan. He is part of the Industry Advisory Board (IAB) for the Marketing area at the Indian Institute of Management, Udaipur.

Shashi Sinha, an Indian Executive who is the current CEO – India, Mediabrands, manages the second largest Media Agency Group that includes Lodestar UM, Initiative Media, Interactive Avenues, Mediabrands, Reprise, Rapport, Cadreon, Orion, & Magna Global in India. The group manages approximately 20% of the overall media spend in the country and is widely recognized for it's strategic approach to media solutions across a wide portfolio of over 100 blue chip clients such as – Samsung, Amazon, Amul, Coca-Cola, Johnson & Johnson.

Shashi is also actively involved in various industry bodies such as the Advertising Standards Council of India (ASCI), the Advertising Agencies Association of India (AAAI), Past Chairman of Audit Bureau of Circulation (ABC), Past President of The Ad Club and Current Chairman of Broadcast Audience Research Council (BARC) and of Media Research Users Council India (MRUCI). He is also an honorable member of the prestigious Facebook India Client Council.

Shashi is an alumni of IIT Kanpur & IIM Bangalore where he was recently conferred the "Most Distinguished Alumni Award".

An industry veteran with over 30 years of experience, where he has built a highly awarded team of professionals and organizations that today form the country's leading media network.

Arun Srinivas graduated from the University of Madras and completed his masters from the Indian Institute of Management Kolkata in 1996. He joined Meta in 2019 and is now the Director & Head for the Ads Business for Meta India. He leads the business and relationships for all industries and all business sizes - large, medium and small, as well as the entire media and creative agency ecosystem.

He has over 25 years of experience, of which 21 years were in the Consumer Products Industry. He spent 5 years with Reebok India and 16 years subsequently with Unilever. In Unilever, he rose to lead several businesses such as Beverages, Skin Care & Makeup and Foods for India, and has been part of the India, South Asia and Global leadership teams.

Arun spent 2.5 years in the PE Industry with Westbridge Capital, where he led the consumer vertical across fresh and existing investments. Arun was part of several deals and evaluated hundreds of companies raising capital across sectors.

Arun spent over a year at Ola, where he was the COO and the Global CMO. He managed the mobility business and P&L for India and led the Marketing, Categories and Revenue functions globally. Arun anchored the Ola London launch to success.

Personal interests:
Arun is an avid runner and also a keyboard player.

Shaveen Garg core member of BCG's Technology and Marketing Practices.

New technologies and business model evolution expert
Summary of relevant experience

• New business build for Tech & Telco
• Digital transformation across technology, ecommerce and media clients
• Pricing excellence
• Leads the future of work and technology led evolution

He does extensive work in helping global technology companies transform operating models, growth strategies leveraging new technologies, cost efficient processes and launching new growth platforms.
New business build strategy for entry into ecommerce for a global technology major

• Identifying the relevant business model for ecommerce play with differentiated advantage for the client
• Competitive positioning and monetization model to maximize the value share capture from the transaction

New business build and operating model for a innovative challenger in telco industry

• Competitive landscape, growth scenarios and action steps for a new entrant in a multi-player market
• New business build for B2B arm of the telco for quick gain share

Future roadmap to adapt to future of IT services and delivery models

• Voice of customer study of global CIOs to understand the future unmet needs and current challenges
• Drafting roadmap and specific opportunities for client to target with potential ways to target

Channel redesign and ecommerce strategy for a mobile and consumer electronic business

• Refreshing the channel and distribution model for mobile business for new ecommerce opportunities
• Future 5 year roadmap for product landscape, competitive positioning & investments to drive profitable growth

Growth strategy and operating model design for a large global IT service and technology player

• Operating model transformation to infuse growth momentum and adequate focus on target markets
• Strategic direction of where to play and how to win for turbo charging growth – including new areas to venture

End to end operating cost reduction program for a large telco

• Identified areas for improvement across the operating cost heads for a large telco
• Suggested best in class methodologies for opex and capex reduction

Prior to joining BCG, Shaveen worked at Blackstone Private Equity and Inductis in core data analytics. Shaveen is a gold medalist from IIM Bangalore and a B.Tech in computer science and engineering from IIT Bombay

Mr Koshy is the MD & Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC), a first-of-its-kind initiative globally to democratize e-commerce in India.

Koshy is erudite with rich professional experience and expertise. An IIM Bangalore alumnus, he was part of the founding team of National Security Depository Limited (NSDL) and served as an Executive Director. He has also marked a remarkable stint in Ernst & Young leading key digital transformation initiatives.

Mr Koshy has been a pioneer in Digital ID and social protection initiatives and has played a leadership role in many implementations and consulting projects globally including the UID project of India, the largest ID program in the world, along with many other Digital ID initiatives globally.

Mr Koshy played a key role in the many digital transformation projects in India, including the transformation of Pension Systems in India, the development of the Tax Information Network and the formulation of IT strategy and IT architecture for the implementation of Goods & Service Tax in India. Mr Koshy has also assisted the World Bank with pension transformation projects and has been to China as a member of a pension reform mission.

Mr Koshy has also served as a member of SEBI committees pertaining to the adoption of dematerialized settlement of securities and mutual funds as well as committees constituted by the RBI with reference to the Online Tax Accounting System for Direct and Indirect Tax. He has also been a member of the Sub Group on Technology of the Tax Administration Reform Commission of the Government of India constituted to recommend measures for reforms required in Tax Administration to enhance its effectiveness and efficiency for both Direct as well as Indirect tax.

Mr Koshy played a significant role in several e-Government initiatives, including the Unique ID project, the Expenditure Information Network, the Project PLATINUM for the development of a legal and IT framework for the Ministry of Urban Development's guaranteed land title, the Common Data Repository for the Insurance Sector, the E-Stamping initiative, and the automation of VAT functions in a few Indian states.

Sumant Bhargavan was appointed as a Wholetime Director on the Board of ITC Limited effective November 16, 2018. He oversees the Paperboards, Paper and Packaging as well as the Personal Care and Education & Stationery Products Businesses of the Company, and also the Trade Marketing & Distribution ('TM&D') Vertical. Sumant, an alumnus of the National Institute of Technology, Durgapur, joined ITC in January 1986, and has handled a wide range of responsibilities across several businesses.

Prior to his appointment as a Director on the Board of ITC, he was President - FMCG Businesses since April 2016. Earlier, he was the Divisional Chief Executive of the Tobacco Division. He also held additional responsibility of the TM&D Vertical as its Chief Executive for a period of one year from October 2016. He spent his first 19 years with ITC in Manufacturing operations of the Tobacco Division and has worked in four production units as well as at the Head Office. In October 2004, he moved to the Foods Business and set up the Snack Food category under the brand name 'Bingo!'. He has led ITC Infotech India Limited, a wholly owned subsidiary of ITC, as its Managing Director from September 2009 to October 2014. He has also been on the Boards of ITC Infotech's wholly owned subsidiaries in the UK and the USA.

Sumant has also been a Director on the Board of The Tobacco Institute of India. Presently, he serves as a Member of the CII Eastern Region Council. He is also a Director on the Board of Surya Nepal Private Limited, a joint venture subsidiary company of ITC in Nepal, and a Member of the General Committee of The Tollygunge Club Limited.

Ambarish Kenghe (AK) is responsible for the Google Pay strategy in India, Singapore, Japan and Brazil as the Product Lead. He is based out of Google's Bangalore office.

Prior to joining Google Pay, AK was the Chief Product Officer for Myntra where he was the catalyst for many innovations including AI/ML based software for designing fashion. AK joined Myntra from Google, Mountain View where he played an instrumental role in launching Chromecast, one of the best selling electronics devices worldwide. He also worked on Google TV during his first stint at Google. He has worked as a strategy consultant at Bain & Co in San Francisco and as an engineer in high speed switching at Cisco Systems in San Jose.

AK holds 4 patents, has an MBA from Berkeley, Master's degrees in Computer Science and Engineering from Purdue University and IIT Kanpur, and Bachelors in Computer Engineering from AMU.

Shashi Ranjan heads Sebamed in India and is credited with setting up India business and making it one of the fastest growing and profitable FMCG companies across beauty & personal care, baby care and food & nutrition within a few years

He brings nearly 20 years of experience in building and transforming businesses at global consumer goods companies in India, Asia pacific & USA.

Prior to Sebamed, he was with Johnson & Johnson in a range of Country, Regional and Global leadership roles driving profitable growth, building iconic brands and leading diverse teams Earlier, Shashi has worked with top Consulting and Retail firms. He started his career with Government of India, before taking a plunge into corporate life

Shashi is an alumnus of INSEAD France and also serves on the advisory board of leading venture capital firms

Sudhanshu Vats is the Deputy Managing Director at Pidilite Industries Limited.

An alumnus of IIM Ahmedabad, he has a career spanning 30 years across the FMCG and Media sectors with a track record of propelling significant business growth and creating long-term value for all stakeholders of the Company.

Sudhanshu Vats was the Managing Director and CEO at EPL Limited. Under his leadership the company grew in double digits in FY 21 despite Covid19 headwinds. His clearly articulated strategy of "Leading the Pack" with Sustainability at its core and  well-defined 5 Must Win Battles will help EPL maintain its strong run in the years ahead.

He spent eight years as the MD and Group CEO of Viacom18 Media Private Limited. He profitably grew the company 3X to $600 mn. By building a strong portfolio of Direct to Consumer Digital offerings under Voot brand and strengthening Data Science and Analytics capability, he has future proofed the media company that is admired for its culture, quality of talent and progressive people policies.

He spent about 20 years at Unilever in India in sales, marketing and general management roles. His last role in Unilever was VP Laundry (South Asia) and Global VP – Radiant brand. During his long tenure at Unilever, he shaped many popular household brands, most notably Lipton, Vim, Wheel, Surf, Rin, Lifebuoy and Lux.

During 2004-2005, Sudhanshu worked with BP in India as Vice President Marketing and led the Castrol Master brand re-launch.

He has been the Chairman of the National Media and Entertainment Committee of CII, Vice President of Indian Broadcasting Foundation and Director at Broadcast Audience Research Council. He is on the Board of Tata Play and Advertising Standards Council of India (ASCI). He is also on the Global Advisory Board of the Columbia University, New York.

Sudhanshu is an inspirational leader and mentors a lot of CEOs/ CXOs, many of whom started their career with him. He is a Sub 4 hours marathon runner. Education is his giving space. He serves on the advisory board of a number of NGOs.

As the Chief Marketing Officer, Shailini is building high performing marketing strategies that are critical to customer acquisition and long-term engagement. Shalini brings with her over 15 years of experience in the beauty industry, marketing and e-commerce, and her deep understanding of consumers spans across the regions of South Asia, Southeast Asia and Europe.

Prior to Nykaa, Shalini has held leadership positions in marketing and business development at L'Oréal India, Hindustan Unilever Limited (HUL) and Britannia.

She holds an MBA in marketing from S.P. Jain Institute of Management & Research and is a graduate in economics.

Nitin Saini is Vice President - Marketing at Mondelez India Foods Private Ltd and is a member of the India Country Leadership Team.

He started his journey as a management trainee and has been a part of the Mondelēz team for over 19 years. During his tenure, he's worked with Marketing and Sales teams across different portfolios, building experiences across brands, categories, and sales verticals.

Prior to this role, Nitin was in US leading the iconic Oreo brand globally and part of the Global Marketing leadership team. In this time, Oreo saw double digit growth over 3 years and was awarded 'Kantar - Brand of the Decade' award at Cannes in 2022.

He holds an MBA from IIM Calcutta and a bachelor's degree in engineering from IIT, Delhi.

Anuradha is a member of the Management Committee of HUL as Executive Director HR and CHRO, Unilever South Asia. She is also a member of Unilever's Global HR Leadership Team.

She passed out of XLRI in 1999 and joined Hindustan Unilever Ltd. as a Management Trainee. Anu spent the first 14 years of her career in HUL. Subsequently, she worked at Unilever's headquarters in London for six years, first as Executive Assistant to the former CHRO, and as Vice President HR, to the Home Care Division globally. She built strong M&A experience as VP HR for Unilever's Prestige business and led the Global Talent Attraction agenda for Unilever.

In 2019, Anuradha was appointed on the Management Committee of HUL. She is a business focused HR leader and under her leadership the organisation is building talent & capabilities that will accelerate HUL's vision to win as an intelligent consumer tech enterprise.

Anu's leadership purpose is "to spark magic between people, passion, and opportunity– for the benefit of the business, of society and for us all. She is passionate about leadership development and is a strong voice advocating for more inclusive businesses and communities.

Anu is the Co-Chair of the FICCI HR Committee and a member of the ETHRWorld Advisory Board.

Anuradha was recognized among India's Most Powerful Women in Business by Business Today in 2020 and was awarded CHRO of the Year in the HR Excellence Awards, 2021.

Krishnamurthy Shankar is the Group Head of Human Resource Development at Infosys. In this role, he is responsible for envisioning employee experience and driving the talent and organization strategy.

Shankar has over 30 years of experience and has led HR functions in organizations like Bharti Airtel, Philips, Hindustan Unilever and Unilever. In his wide ranging experience in these organizations, he has facilitated transformation and capability development.

Shankar holds a postgraduate diploma in HR from XLRI, Jamshedpur, India and has received an executive certificate in Strategy and Organization from the Stanford Graduate School of Business, and a doctorate in Business Administration from Aston University.

Shankar is the author of 'Catalyse – Power Up your People Ecosystem', a much acclaimed play book for HR, blogs occasionally on LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/in/krish-shankar-36666a12/), and is passionate about exploring new ideas in HR and organizational development and sharing them. A football enthusiast, he also likes trekking and running.

Vivek Khemka is a Senior Partner at Egon Zehnder. He advises Boards on CEO Succession across sectors, with a focus on FMCG, Retail and digital companies in the Asia Pacific region.

Raj is currently transitioning out of IndiGo, to pursue an exciting opportunity in the technology start-up space. As a key member of IndiGo's Executive Committee, he had responsibility for all aspects of Human Resources including ifly (IndiGo's Learning Academy), CSR and Administration functions. Raj serves as an Independent Non-Executive Director on the Board of HealthCare Global Enterprises Ltd (HCG), India's largest provider of Oncology care and at the forefront of the battle against cancer.

Prior to joining IndiGo in early 2018, Raj had worked at Amazon for over seven years and was lastly their Head of Human Resources (Asia Pacific & Middle East) responsible for International Consumer Business and Global Technology Development Centers in the region. Earlier, Raj was with GE for over ten years across various business and geographies. His last position at GE was Head of HR for GE's Global Research and India Technology Centers. Previously, Raj has held several senior HR leadership positions at Hindustan Unilever, Ford Motor Company and HSBC.

Raj has a Master's in Personnel Management & Industrial Relations from Madras School of Social Work and is a Global Fellow of The Wharton School in Talent Management.