Speakers

Senior Digital Development Specialist (Consultant) - The World Bank Group
Vikas Kanungo
Vikas Kanungo is a seasoned authority in digital development and IR 4.0 strategic landscapes, wielding an impressive career spanning three decades in e-Governance, m-Governance, Smart Cities, and the digital transformation arena. He is currently working in the capacity of Senior Digital Development Consultant for the World Bank Group and Senior Digital Economy Specialist for FAO India. Mr. Kanungo is also empanelled as Digital Development Specialist at the UN FAO Regional Office for Europe and Central Asia, with a concentrated focus on the Digital Agriculture team. Over his extensive career, Mr. Kanungo has worked with government bodies across geographical domains that include Indo Pacific, the Middle East, and Europe. This experience has included fruitful associations with esteemed institutions like the European Commission, Asia Development Bank,
UNDP, The Asia Foundation, UNESCO, Danish Technological Institute, IPTS Spain, UNU EGOV Portugal, and ITA Oman. In India, his contributions have shaped numerous transformative initiatives. This includes the provision of counsel to the government on mobile governance, augmentation of electronic public service maturity at national level, and the delivery of expert agritech consultancy, and design of curricula for capacity building of Indian administrative officers under Digital India program. In the academic realm, Mr. Kanungo has penned numerous papers on e-overnance/Smart cities and co-authored the scholarly work "Digital Divides: New Challenges and Opportunities of e-Inclusion." His standing as a prominent
thought leader in the field is further solidified by his report "India – Journey from Knowledge Economy to Inclusive Information Society," launched at the illustrious WSIS Summit in Geneva. Extending his expertise to digital transformation projects, Mr. Kanungo's contribution is discernible in
initiatives like the Digital India Mission, India Smart Cities digital blueprint, and the India Urban Data Exchange. Maintaining his dedication to the evolution of digital development and the management of disruptive technologies, Mr. Kanungo continues to selectively undertake assignments across Asia, Europe, and the Middle East, to influence and steer the course of digital transformation worldwide.

Director - Payments Transformation, PwC | SWIFT | EY | FIS | Electracard
Dhaval Jariwala
Dhaval Jariwala: Payments industry expert with 15 years of experience Leading payments technology and solutions practice for PwC
Driving alliance and partnerships for PwC for all payments and fintech entities Worked across various companies like FI:S, EY and SWIFT
Experience in working with multiple geographies like MES Africa, South east Asia, 1.1K

Investment Director
Cornerstone Ventures
Vatsal Bavishi
Vatsal is a founding team member and an Investment Director with Cornerstone Ventures, India’s frontier Enterprise Tech Fund. He leads investment in the space of Fintech, Healthcare and Applications of GenAI / Web 3 for the Fund.
He has over 10+ years of experience of investing in cutting edge enterprise tech platforms at growth stage in India, US and SEA. Previously led investments for Reliance Industries’ Jio Gennext Fund. He is an MBA from IIM Lucknow and a Computer Science Engineer from Mumbai University

Co-founder and CEO
Krayontek solutions Pvt Limited
Jaya Janardanan
Jaya is a successful and accomplished bank tech professional with 27 years of experience in the banking industry. Last 5 years she was the Chief Operating Officer of Ujjivan small finance bank and with Aditya Birla Payments Bank. She has worked with various banks like ICICI Bank, ING Vysya, Bank of America, Dhanlaxmi bank, Ujjivan Small finance bank. She is an industry veteran in Banking operations and Technology, Digital transformation, Customer service. She has led strategy and execution of large-scale projects blended with technology for the banking industry. She executed large scale tech projects like Robotic process automation, BOT, Digital onboarding process, Core banking transformation, core team in Building a digital payments bank, Executed a digital payment solution from a cash driven process.
Very Passionate about customer service and women empowerment She built a Call centre with a BOT driven model while escalation calls handled by only women returnees a rare combination
As an advisor to Aspire for Her she is actively involved in building the technology and operations and many other initiatives of the organisation and Runs the financial literacy vertical ” She knows Money ‘focussed on building the financial literacy for women across segments . Thru Aspire for Her She works with the women Agriprenuers in Rural India enabling them to the next level of entrepreneurship thru mentoring , grants and financial literacy,
She is a board member with Roots Reforms Initiative an organization focused on building women as Business Correspondents in the Rural set up.
She has won multiple awards- Asian Banker award for the best bank project, CIO award for the most innovative process, CXO women achiever award, Gamechanger award , Trail blazer award to name a few.
A MBA from Somaiya college of Management studies, she is a alumni from Oxford and a Sought after speaker at major Fintech, BFSI forum

Co-founder & CEO
TrackWizz
Sagar Tanna
Sagar Tanna is the Founder & CEO of TSS Consultancy Private Limited, a technology solutions company which has created a software platform "TrackWizz" committed to fighting financial crime and simplifying operations for financial institutions. TrackWizz serves more than 350 + institutions with a team of 400+ team members in the area of a. CKYC b. Anti Money Laundering including sanction screening and transaction monitoring c. Insider Trading & d. FATCA reporting
A bachelor in Information technology and certified financial crime specialist, alumni of Stanford Seed, he is focussed os solving problems at depth. Customer base of TrackWizz includes 4 out of the top 5 private sector banks in India. 9 of the top 10 Brokers in India and more than 100 capital market institutions. He is a firm believer of the India story and is convinced that the next 20 years are India's golden years
He has been a speaker at various forums along with Stock Exchanges, SEBI and FIU representative.

Partner The Boston Consulting Group
Nisha Bachani
Nisha is a Partner at BCG, Mumbai and is core member of the Financial Institutions practice. She has been with BCG for over 8 years across India and US office, and has advised Banks, NBFCs and Fintechs on a wide range of strategic and transformation programs in Retail and SME Banking. She specializes in topics of digital transformation , new business build, sales force effectiveness and organization design & change management. She also engages with various Fintechs and NBFCs in the financial inclusion space and drives thought partnership on sustainable innovation for growth.

Vice President, Investments 3one4 Capital
Sonal Saldanha
Sonal has built systems and processes to achieve strong coverage without compromising founder or referrer experience, all while maintaining a lean investments team. In addition to managing routine investments workflows, Sonal looks at fintech, enterprise software, and deep-tech focus areas for the firm. He has been an integral part of the firm’s investments in a number of category-defining companies. Having built sourcing and evaluation capabilities across sectors, Sonal will double down on themes within enterprise, fintech and deep-tech as a VP at 3one4.

Chief Product Officer
Jio Platforms
Suman Guha
Suman who is Chief Product Officer at Jio Platforms, brings in 17 years of international experience, excels in diverse industries like B2B Enterprise SaaS, Retail, Telecom, Fintech and AI. For Fortune 30 companies, he created $1 billion in intellectual property across SaaS, PaaS across various industries and predominantly in BFSI, founded an EdTech startup featured in TechCrunch, and led revenue from $0 to $400 million, with a 50x user growth. His talent extends to building high-performing product and engineering teams. Suman is an official product mentor at LeapNow where he is advising over 200+ startups. A best-selling author, keynote speaker, and visionary, he seeks collaboration and a lasting impact in product leadership, focusing on EV, Mobility, Sustainability, and AI. His credentials from Stanford, Wharton, Glasgow, and BIT Mesra underscore his expertise. Suman is also an official BCS (UK) Fellow for his contributions to the field.

Head of Corp Dev & Investments at Razorpay
Vishnu Acharya
Vishnu Acharya is a highly accomplished corporate leader who currently serves as the Head of Corporate Development (M&A and Investments) at Razorpay. He has largely been responsible for identifying and investing in new companies that contribute to significant growth potential in Fintech & SaaS. His expertise extends beyond traditional mergers and acquisitions, with a focus on Org & People integrations post acquisition - which is the key to success for M&As. Vishnu has been playing a critical role in driving the financial and operational growth of the company.
At Razorpay, Vishnu began his journey by leading the corporate strategy initiatives following which he also set up the M&A function at Razorpay. Over the years, Vishnu has been instrumental in driving several investments for Razorpay which include Hostbooks, GetVantage, Shiprocket and MSMEx to name a few. For Razorpay, he has secured some key acquisitions which include Ezetap, Curlec (Malaysia), Poshvine, IZealiant, Tera Finlabs. He is also on the board of MSMEx and HostBooks.
Vishnu is also an angel investor at Mars Shot Ventures - an angel fund started by the Razorpay founders & himself & core team. Mars Shot has invested in 40+ companies across sectors.
Prior to joining Razorpay, Vishnu has contributed to the success of organizations like BNP Paribas, EY and others. Prior to that - he was the founder of OHHDaily which was a seed funded Food-tech startup. Vishnu holds a Master’s degree in Business Administration from the Indian School of Business (ISB) and has also completed his Bachelor of Engineering, Information Technology from University of Mumbai.

Head Legal & Compliance
Bharat Financial Inclusion Limited
Amit Kumar
Highly accomplished, result- driven, entrepreneurial mind-set top notch Business Legal & Compliance Partner with 19 years of progressive experience in strategic Corporate Litigation, M&A, Arbitration, statutory & regulatory compliance excellence in global multi-million dollar government & private organization in diverse industries including manufacturing, service, BFSI & Fintech.

Co Founder
Inflection Point Ventures
Mitesh Shah
Finance & Strategy Expert with 15+ Years of Experience in Startups & Angel Investment.
Spearheaded the finance department at BookMyShow. Played a pivotal role in the evolution of one of the biggest start-ups of India- OLA. Led IPO of Mandhana Industries and and its exclusive global licensing deal with Salman Khan’s Being Human brand.
Currently focusing on VC investments in early & growth stage start ups (Advanced Pre-Series-A, Series A, Series-B @Physis Capital & Seed to Series-A @Inflection Point Ventures).

Managing Partner at Unicorn India Ventures
Anil Joshi
Managing Partner at Unicorn India Ventures, an SEBI approved venture fund under AIF-I Category. The investment thesis of the Fund is to invest in incubation stage, accelerator stage, seed stage, start-up stage, early stage and growth stage companies in India with focus on Social Media, Mobile, Analytics & Cloud (SMAC), IOT and Fintech.
Prior to setting up the Fund, I was heading operations at Mumbai Angels and Bangalore Angels, leading Angel Investment forums in India as President. My experience also includes corporate management functions in medium and large organizations, investment in start-ups, project management, joint ventures and business development.
After heading a branch office at Century Rayon, a B.K. Birla Group Company, I moved to Business Access India Pvt. Ltd. providing consulting services to Scandinavian companies from diverse sectors establishing their presence in the Asian markets. Then moved to Transasia Biomedical Ltd., India’s largest manufacturer and exporter of bio-medical equipment. Prior to joining Mumbai Angels, I headed new projects and made investments in start-ups with Artheon Group, a Telecom, IT & Energy group.
I had helped in closing approximately 60 start-up deals with over INR 100 cr investment and has served on the Board of 5 companies and is involved with various incubation centres as a mentor in India and outside India. I am fairly in-grooved within the start-up fraternity and regularly advises entrepreneurs for strategic direction. Mentoring startups is my passion and I also advises Governmental and industrial bodies on the same.
I am regular speaker at both domestic and International circuit on startups and early stage investment.

Global Specialist - Fintech Frontiers
Dr.Jasmin B Gupta
Dr.Jasmin B Gupta is a Global Fintech Expert with two decades of experience and in-depth knowledge of Digital and Consumer Banking. Prior to building India's 1st Digital Bank for women at Lxme, she was associated with Equitas Bank as National Head of Digital Banking, Fintech Accelerator, Strategic Alliances and Digital Business, before which she was with Kotak Mahindra Bank and HDFC Bank. She has launched India's two leading Digital Banks - NiyoX and FreoSave.
As a proven strategic business leader, she has won The Economic Times ETBFSI Award for the Best Fintech Alliance of the year 2021 & IDC's Industry Innovation in Omni-experience Award 2021, SKOCH Award & Finnoviti Award 2022. She has been conferred India's Inspiring Leader Award 2021 and Global Fintech Excellence in Leadership Award 2022 by Elets BFSI as well as APAC BFSI Finnovation Leadership Award 2022 by APAC News Network. She has also been recognised as Top 100 Indian BFSI Marketer & Top 100 BFSI Gamechanger CXO, 2022. She has been awarded Young CEO of the Year Award, Fintech Leader of the Year Award, Women in Fintech Award, Woman Leader in Fintech Finalist Award by IFTA India Fintech Forum 2022 and Bharat Fintech Summit 2023. She is on the Financial Express Power List 2023 and awarded Champion of BFSI Sector 2023.
A Triple Gold Medalist in MBA, she has done PhD in Financial Inclusion & Digitalization. A TEDx Speaker & Thought Leader, she has been invited to speak at many National and International conferences in Europe, USA and Asia. She is an ardent researcher and author of two academic books. She is a Leadership Speaker & Visiting Faculty in Top Management Institutes like IIMs & IITs.
She is a Top Performing Banker who has been awarded for her achievements at International Conventions in Australia, Switzerland & Thailand. She has been recognised as 101 Top Global L&D Minds by The Economic Times ET Now and World HRD Congress. She has represented India as Youth Ambassador at the Global Leo Meet (Youth body of Lions Clubs International) at Chicago, USA. She has also been a Cultural Ambassador to Osaka, Japan under the Indo-Japan Student Exchange Program between Gujarat University & Otemon Gakuin University.
She has learnt German, French & Japanese languages. She also excels at Dance, Music & Arts. A Bharat Natyam dancer, she has participated in many International Folk Dance Competitions in France & Spain.
She is positive, confident, creative, committed, passionate, resilient & versatile with excellent communication, business leadership, people management, coaching & public speaking skills.

Global Specialist - Fintech Frontiers
Rupessh Goel
Rupessh heads Credit Administration at Silicon Valley Bank’s (SVB) Global Development Centre (GDC) in India. He leads the teams across Credit Analysis, Data & Analytics, Portfolio Review & Management, and Credit Modelling. He is working on extending the capability to Underwriting, Sanctioning, and Distress Loan Management among others. He is a key member of the India Steering Group (ISG) and a sponsor of the disAbility ERG.
Rupessh has rich experience working with reputed organizations; he during the stint was based across India, the USA, China, and Poland in a variety of roles. Rupessh has 20+ years of experience in strategy planning, risk management, operational excellence, service delivery, customer satisfaction, six sigma & Lean methodologies, project management, analytics, RPA, process improvements, cost optimization, team management, and location strategy.
Helping and witnessing teams substantially outperform their own (and everybody around them) expectations gives him immense satisfaction. Rupessh is passionate about helping organizational units achieve their true potential by clearly articulating a vision, detailing the elaborate plan, and being nimble & flexible in execution.
Prior to SVB, Rupessh held the position of SVP (Senior Vice President) Credit Services at HSBC, with the Corporate and Commercial Credit Services function supporting 28 countries. He led a team of over 1100 employees spread across 7 locations in India, China, Poland, and Egypt, who were accountable for strategy planning, budgeting, service delivery, operations, technical innovations, process improvements, cost optimization, stakeholder, and team management. He also spearheaded the team across multiple activities relating to financial spreading, credit analysis, covenant monitoring, facility & collateral documentation, collateral management, and post-approval credit administration. He spearheaded global projects on Automating Financial Spreading working with an Australian Fintech Startup, Digital Signatures for Loan documents, Digital Simulation & Training Models.
Prior to this, he worked with Barclays in setting up their Credit Function in India. He set up, scaled up, and headed the Credit Lending team supporting Corporate and Wealth Banking Business verticals from scratch. He built and expanded the team size from 0 to 400+ FTEs spread across two locations in India. He, along with leading the function at Barclays, led the oversight and governance of 3rd party vendor service delivery activities; ensured optimal service delivery compliance and cost-effectiveness, in line with risk appetite.
Prior to this, Rupessh worked with Bank of America Merrill Lynch. He was based out of the USA (Charlotte, NC and Boston, MA) for 3 years as Change and Process Design leader for the Investment Bank. He, on returning to India, lead a cross-site team of c250 resources which expanded to 450+ for Treasury Fulfillment for Corporate Banking.
In his early career, he worked in Relationship Manager and Zonal Lead roles with HDFC, ICICI, and Bank of Punjab in India.
Outside work, he is actively engaged with the Fintech Ecosystem (T-hub), startups, and founders. Takes interest in Mentoring and Coaching. He is quite fascinated by Graphology.
Rupessh is an MBA and Six Sigma Black Belt trained and certified professional. More recently, he attended the ‘Global Business Leader Program at The London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE).

Chief Operations Officer -India Mortgage Guarantee Corporation
Anuj Sharma
Over my 15-year career, I have a strong track record of success leading banking and credit operations to unprecedented performance levels in competitive markets. With a strong P&L background and a history of driving productivity, cost control, and quality improvement, I take pride in being a dynamic team leader who leverages extensive product knowledge and analytical skills to establish benchmarks, policies, and service strategies.
With India Mortgage Guarantee Corporation (IMGC), I led a round of sweeping changes to modernize our systems and galvanize our service approach. As a result, we’ve reached levels of teamwork and productivity that seemed out of reach not too long ago.
Prior to IMGC, I spent four years with RBL Bank launching new mortgage products and positioning locations in six states as Top 10 performers within a span of seven months. With additional experience at Fullerton India Credit Company, Barclays Bank, Religare Finevest Limited, and GE Money, I have developed a solid reputation for my mortgage and credit expertise throughout the industry.

Director, Cyber Forensics, Privacy and IR Ernst and Young LLP
Amey Subhash Lakeshri
Mr. Amey Subhash Lakeshri is the Director of Cyber Forensic Technology and Discovery Services at Ernst & Young LLP. He has executed large scale cyber security, privacy, ransomware investigations, and compliance projects. A strategist and implementer with recognised proficiency in spearheading business to accomplish corporate security goals successfully. He has more than 13 years of experience in the areas of Cyber Security, Data Privacy, Compliance, Risk Management, Governance, Network Security, Security Audits, Security Strategy, and Business Development. Multiple Cyber Awards Winner. Amey has led knowledge sharing sessions/webinars in India and around the world for more than 500 people at a time on topics such as Cyber Security, Cyber Forensics, Ransomware and Mitigation Approach, Data Privacy, How to Enable Business Securely, and so on. In addition, an ISACA Chennai KSS Session on Cyber was held, Moderator in Security Symposium

Director - Fintech S P Jain School of Global
Management
Vikram Pandya
Vikram is Director FinTech at SP Jain School of Global Management and also heads research at Fintech focused VC fund Varanium NexGen. He has authored several white papers, research report and articles on FinTech domain. He has an extensive experience in banking, financial services, Fintech, consultancy and training domain. He is founder and Director of Association for Emerging Technologies which is a not for profit ecosystem initiative. He is associated as a mentor with various FinTech startups across the globe. He is Fintech ambassador for Maharashtra Govt.'s Uday Fintech platform and part of advisory Committee for Rajasthan & Karnataka Government. He is one of the founding members of Startup Committee at ICAI.
He has been a successful banker for more than a decade where he has made key contributions in Financial & Investor Strategy, Business Intelligence, Balance-sheet Management and Business Development & Technology Solutions. He has been a visiting faculty at various prestigious global institutes.

Founder and CEO, Wright Research
sonam srivastava
Sonam Srivastava, an IIT Kanpur graduate and financial engineering master's holder from Worldquant University, is the founder of Wright Research, a leading Indian Robo-advisor and Portfolio Management Service. With over 10 years of experience in quant finance, Sonam has shaped her career across top organizations like HSBC, Edelweiss, and Qplum. Leveraging her expertise in algorithmic trading and factor-driven portfolio solutions, she built Wright Research to democratize investment access, serving over 50,000 clients and managing 300 crore+ assets. The firm's robust performance, outperforming the index by 100%+ over three years, is a testament to Sonam's passion and dedication to data-driven financial strategies.

Chief Operating Officer
BOB Financial Solutions Ltd
Roopesh Chandran
Roopesh Chandran is Chief Operating Officer at BOB Financial Solutions Ltd. In this position he heads the functions of Sales, Issuance, Operations, Customer Experience for both Cardholders and Merchants, leading operational re-engineering efforts through artificial intelligence, machine learning and fintech engagement to transform and futureproof next stage of growth.
Prior to this position he was with Visa leading across Business Development and Client Services. Prior to Visa, he worked with TransUnion (CIBIL) as product lead across commercial, fraud, mortgage and microfinance bureau. He was also associated with Axis Bank, HDFC Bank and ICICI Bank in his previous assignments across product and marketing. Roopesh is a Postgraduate in Management with merit scholarship from IBS, Hyderabad and Bachelors in Computer Applications from S.V University, Tirupati

Founder & CEO
India Blockchain Alliance
Raj Kapoor
Raj is the Founder of India Blockchain Alliance, the largest Indian emerging technology tech think tank and an Advisory Board Member at over 50 blockchain companies including, Tata Elxsi, Spherium, Sarva Labs He is a global, Blockchain & Cryptocurrency & FinTech Educator, Certified Bitcoin Professional (CBP), Blockchain Solution Architect, and friend of disruptive ideas, protem Chairman for Organization of Blockchain Technology Users (OBTU). He is also the CEO of Growth Alley Inc, USA
Recently Raj spoke and recommended solutions at the G20 on compliance, regulations and standards to be adopted Governments to regulate crypto. Raj has also helped organize India's biggest Blockchain and Cryptocurrency events across major cities .
Raj regularly speak in Tech events in India, UK, USA, Africa, Malaysia and Canada and is also a 3 time TedX speaker. Besides blockchain, Raj is skilled in AI, Robotics, Cyber Security. IoT, and Cloud Computing. He has spoken in over 200 international and national events.
Raj is also a regular contributor to several publications including Economic Times, Fortune, Moneycontrol, Mint, NDTV Profit, Daily Tribune, Business Standard and more. Raj also appears regularly on multiple television channels where he speaks on different aspects of the blockchain industry.
Raj has designed and worked on 4 Blockchains, 5 Cetralised Exchanges, 3 Swaps and 3 DEX's. He is now working with his team on India's own indigenous blockchain. Raj is also working on the world's several sustainable and social impact blockchain projects which are aligned with the UN Sustainable Development Goals.
Raj has authored 20+ courses in blockchain, fintech, DeFi, NFT’s, Metaverse and more. These are implemented by NASSCOM, NSDC, CII, UnAcademy and multiple other edtech platforms in India and overseas.
Besides blockchain, Raj is skilled in AI, Robotics, Cyber Security. IoT, and Cloud Computing
Raj was also selected this year as a top cryptocurrency and blockchain influencer by Asian Market Cap and received the Though Leadership Award jointly with Microsoft in LA, USA.

Head of Open Innovation and fintech
Platform, Rise India, Barclays
Lincy Therattil
Lincy, a Chevening Fellow from Oxford University and IIM B alum, is a technology evangelist and FinTech thought
leader. She heads the leading FinTech hub in India – Rise India, Barclays’ Open Innovation arm. She has over 19 years of strategy and advisory experience and specializes in driving adoption of emerging technologies, FinTech partnerships and building digital capabilities. She started her career
at eClerx, a start-up then, and helped set up its financial services unit. She has spent a major part of her career with Deloitte’s Banking Strategy and Innovation division, leading various banking teams
and working with Senior Partners and client teams to draw up strategic roadmap and tech adoption strategies for global banking clients. She was also part of Capgemini’s innovation arm - Applied Innovation Exchange, which was responsible for creating MVPs for emerging technologies.

Managing Director
Veefin Solutions Ltd
Raja Debnath
In my first avatar, lead Veefin to be the Global No.1 SCF Technology Platform for Banks, Non-banks, Fintechs and Marketplaces.
In my second avatar, lead 1500+ Urban cooperative banks to come together under a single RBI regulated umbrella organization to equip the UCBs to compete in the 21st century.
EXPERTISE: Organization Builder; Strategy; Product Design; Human Capital and Change Management; Risk; Innovation
Certifications in - MENSA, Acting, Cooking, Marshal Goldsmith Coach, PMP, Six Sigma Black Belt
Outside work I enjoy trying out new gastronomic experiences- both creating and partaking.

Senior President
Bajaj Allianz GIC
Dipu KV
I drive digital transformation, innovation & industry leadership as Senior President & Head - Operations & CX @ the world's #8 digital insurer, Bajaj Allianz (industry's first blockchain & ioT solutions, thrice Digital Insurer of the Year, ISO certified, highest NPS, 98 awards including global Celent Model Insurer, IDC Digital Transformation Award, thrice Global 20 CX Leader, Global Top 100 Insurance Innovator, CXO Hall of Fame, 50 Fabulous Innovative Leader, Top 20 Influential Conversational AI Leader, Innovative 100 Honoree 2022 et al), leading a team of ~1600 people in 150 locations, leveraging fintech / insurtech start-ups globally. Prior to insurance, I worked @ GE Capital (financial services + cards) for 20 years, fusing digital transformation & 6 sigma to redesign business models.
A unique aspect of my career is both scaling up from scratch & transforming legacy businesses. Many of my accomplishments have received global industry awards & press coverage. A speaker & writer on digital transformation & innovation in global forums & publications, I take sessions for senior industry executives @ National Insurance Academy & B-schools around the world.
Domain Expertise
A certified lean 6 sigma black belt, my testimonials showcase my "part career, part revolution" approach. Along the way, I have learnt (1) to grow & also consolidate (2) to launch a start-up & also create a turnaround (3) to lead large teams & also influence cross-functional/multi-site teams (4) to work in direct settings & also in joint venture / matrix structures & (5) to grow revenue & also control cost.
Passions / Certifications
My passions include connecting with people, reading, speaking, writing & travel. I am a member of various global committees such as HBR Advisory Council, EFMA editorial committee, UiPath Customer Advisory Board, Pioneers of Automation board, CII Committee on Financial Inclusion & Fintech, Worldwide Thinktank on AI et al. The #1 TripAdvisor reviewer with 820,000 readers, I write monthly columns in a New York-based website on leadership & a Mumbai based newspaper on "digital".
Specialties: Strategy | Process Re-engineering | Lean Six Sigma | Insurance | Cards | Payments | Blockchain | Internet of Things | Robotic Process Automation | Artificial Intelligence | Machine Learning | Insurtech | Fintech | Digital Transformation | Innovation | Retail Finance | Consumer Finance | Metaverse | Cloud | Big Data

Founder & CEO
SHEROES and Mahila Money
SAIREE CHAHAL
I founded SHEROES - a platform and an ecosystem for women with over 20 million women.A safe and trusted, #takecharge space for women SHEROES members find connections, content, community, counselling and commerce via the SHEROES platform.We are excited about data and vernacular revolution and believe the new design of internet will place trust over virality. SHEROES ecosystem is crafting women's internet with 500 million in sight. You can find more on sheroesnetwork.com / SHEROES app and web.
SHEROES platform includes - Maya - women's health app, Babygogo - a community for new moms and Naaree.com - a women's magazine online.
We also run www.marsbysheroes.com - a platform for managed remote work - where over 10k women find remote opportunities with companies, completely managed by us.
An Aspen fellow, 2016 batch, I also spend some time working with new businesses and entrepreneurs besides teaching and writing occasionally. Newslink Services was my first start-up (1999) - first localized newspaper for mariners globally.
Earlier in 2006, I co-founded SAITA Consulting, a consulting firm working with SMBs. In my past life, I worked with Heidrick and Struggles and CII. Started my career while at college taking up assignments, which included writing for a business magazine and assisting India-CIS Chambers of Commerce. Also managed to do some work which perhaps may not come my way again, including a co-translation of a book on the life of poet Rahim from Hindi to Russian and assisting the Discovery Channel producing a documentary called Holy Men of India.
My areas of interest include Products, Internet, Communities, Future of Work, Entrepreneurship, Investing, Gender, Media and Economies of transition.
Specialties: A human being should be able to change a diaper, plan an invasion, butcher a hog, conn a ship, design a building, write a sonnet, balance accounts, build a wall, set a bone, comfort the dying, take orders, give orders, cooperate, act alone, solve equations, analyze a new problem, pitch manure, program a computer, cook a tasty meal, fight efficiently, die gallantly. Specialization is for insects. -- Robert A. Heinlein, Time Enough for Love

Senior Vice President & Head - Digital Banking - SDG
IndusInd Bank
Cyril Mohapatra
Career Banker & Turnaround Specialist, People Manager and with more than 23 years of successful, progressive experience in Digital Banking, Transformation, Retail Banking & ITES Services. An MBA in Finance & and have been instrumental in succeeding and attaining Digital Transformation objectives within rapid-changing and challenging business environments across geographies including India, Middle East. An innovative and dynamic performer with a successful background in strategy execution, digital transformation.I am currently associated with Indus Ind Bank as Senior Vice President and Head of Digital and managing all digital platforms. I was associated as Head Direct Banking and Digital Innovations as a part of the Transformation Division here with Sohar International formerly known as Bank Sohar, Muscat (Oman) and have been instrumental in the Digital transformation and digitization brought in Bank Sohar within a short period of 3years+, and introduced many high value projects which helped in the overall transformation of the organization.
Few of the projects namely Implementation of the Pan Bank Omnichannel Customer Experience Platform, Digital Branch Solutions like Multifunction Kiosk, Interactive Tellers, Digital Business solutions like Pan Bank Lead Management System, Incentive Management System, Cash Recycling Technology, Digital Onboarding, Tablet Banking, NDCE etc. Apart from this, I have been instrumental in revamping the existing Digital Channels and also introduce new functionalities on the digital channels which includes new Mobile Banking and Internet Banking applications for Retail, Islamic and Conventional Businesses.
Earlier I was associated with Yes Bank India for over 8.5 years in Digital Banking as Group Executive Vice President and Heading the Self-Service Channels, White label ATM sponsorship
programme and NPCI sub membership Programme.
I was also associated with Hitachi Payments formerly known as Prizm Payments, Euronet Worldwide, Kotak Mahindra Bank and ICICI Bank.

Digital Innovation Leader
TATA AIA LIFE INSURANCE
Abhineet Sarkar
Fintech and Digital Innovation leader, with more than a decade experience in working across Banking, financial services and Insurance (BFSI) industry and tech consulting services. Active Mentor of CII - Centre of Excellence for Innovation, Entrepreneurship and Startups (CIES) and Co-author of the AI Book.

CEO
Pepper Money India
Abhishek Kothari
Abhishek is an alumnus of IIT Bombay and ISB Hyderabad. He is an accomplished serial entrepreneur and most notably the founder of one of the largest SME lending Fintechs in India – FlexiLoans. After he exited his last venture, he is now ambitiously building Pepper Money - one of India’s most loved financial services brands.
Apart from being an active angel investor, he is one of the top speakers and content contributors in Indian Fintech ecosystems and has spoken at events like TiE Mumbai, IAMAI, Digital Money 2017, DLAI (Digital Lenders Association of India), Payments Summit by Economic Times, India Fintech Awards and many more.
Prior to FlexiLoans.com, Abhishek was the Europe head of financial services for one of the recent unicorns - Fractal Analytics. In 2016, he permanently moved back to India to be a part of the emerging FinTech landscape and founded FlexiLoans.com.

Co-founder, CBO & Global Head BFSI
Ayekart Fintech
Vaibhav Joshi
A proven strategist, planner & able business leader with strong experience in creating and implementing predictable revenue & sustainable business models. Proficient in Business & Product functions with key domain expertise across Digital Banking. Has recognised proficiency in spearheading a product or business with an aim to accomplish corporate goals successfully, having successfully led small to mid-size teams from diverse backgrounds across different geographies.
An enthusiast for Innovations with a result oriented approach, achieving product innovations within regulatory compliances. A result oriented leader with a strong focus on new technology innovations and changing market realities.
An avid learner/ student of life with a flare for all things digital. A BFSI Industry expert who participates across various industry forums as a panelist/ speaker for sharing his knowledge.

Founder CEO
HiSAVE
Sandeep Sharma
Hands on management professional with tenacity to handle large and complex business environment. Track record in top notch banks and financial institutions, to grow top line with enhanced focus on bottom line. Proven leadership in handling large branches network/ distribution , with expertise in driving complex roles in area of operation , sales across all client segments including microfinance , fintech, retail, MSME & digital initiatives. Have scripted successful roll out of platform based digital banking, International and proprietary cards, agent banking – mobile wallet strategy, and full services on NeoBanking , leading to enhanced innovations in all market segments, with special focus on the bottom of the pyramid.

CEO
Business Correspondents Federation of India (BCFI)
Sunil Kulkarni
Sunil is the CEO of Business Correspondents Federation of India (BCFI), a member institution with over 60 Corporate BCs servicing 20 Lakh BC Agents pan India. He is also Strategic Advisor – Payments & Digital Banking to select banks. As a Fintech Professional, he provides strategic advisory services in Fintech & Payments space to select initial & growth stage start-ups, Sunil has over 35 years of cross-industry experience in technology-led businesses. In his last assignment (Dec 2019), he was the Joint Managing Director for Oxigen Services, a company he helped build over 15 years.
Sunil is referred to as the techno-savvy brain behind developing a successful business model, using technology, for varied services & products, including the Oxigen Mobile Wallet, an innovative payment mechanism and prepaid wallet, accessible online/on-mobile. He successfully led the company's Business Development and was also the architect for the technology solutions in the initial phase. He, alongside the Oxigen core team, converted Oxigen from a Recharges/BillPay company, to an integrated Branchless Banking & Payment Solutions company with state of art Oxigen SuperPoS MicroATM. He was responsible for taking the company in 2010-15 period to its next greenfield opportunity in Domestic & International Remittances, Merchant Payments, Aadhaar enabled payments, Loyalty & Corporate Expense Management Solution using Mobile Wallets/cards.
Before taking the role of CEO-BCFI, he was the founding member & Director on board of the BCFI and also co-chaired Prepaid Payments Instruments (PPI) committee in Payments Council of India (PCI). He has contributed through PCI, enabling environment for PPI industry with his interactions with government (Ministry of Finance) and regulator (Reserve Bank of India). He actively participated in Mobile Payments Forum of India (MPFI) in 2007-10 for facilitating RBI’s first prepaid payments instruments (PPI) guidelines in 2009. He also co-chaired the Prepaid Payments Instruments (Mobile Wallets) Committee in the Payments Council of India (PCI) and through his interactions with government and regulator during and post demonetisation, made an immense contribution to creating an enabling environment for the Digital Payments/Wallet industry.
Prior to joining Oxigen, Sunil served as General Manager - Marketing & Business Development in Motorola India Wireless Infrastructure business. He started his professional journey with Siemens Ltd., where he last served as the Head of Semi-Conductor Division. Sunil is an Engineering Graduate in Electronics & Communication with Gold medal in 1986 from Jodhpur and completed his Management Education from Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad in 1992-93.

Chief Executive Officer
Block Stack
Prasanna Lohar
Prasanna Lohar : I have Over 22+ Years of Industry Experience in Engineering and Development, Product Development, Organization Strategy & Governance, Risk Audit Compliance Management, Business Process Management, Enterprise Architecture, Mobile Apps, Digital Transformation, Fintech, E-Commerce, Payments, Platform & Product Innovation, Data Science, Automation, AR & VR , Artificial Intelligence & Machine Learning, Open Stack, Cloud Computing, Analytics, Big Data, IOT, Blockchain, UI-UX & Business Development.
As part of Professional career into worked Globally for Bank, Fintech, Micro-Finance, Engineering, Multi-National companies for Digital & Architecture Transformation, I am closely associated with New & latest technology Strategy, Assimilation, Experimentation, Innovative Customer Servicing & Engagement, Robust Architecture Implementation, Fintech & Startup Alignment, Open Innovation practices, Collaboration with other Banks on various initiatives.
I have done 100+ Digital Deliveries on Digital Front for My DCB bank into Innovation, Digital Channels e.g. ATM, Internet banking, Mobile banking, SMS Banking, Social Command Center, Enterprise Innovation for Operational excellence, ATMChain, Smartstart an Blockchain Initiatives, Zippi – Straight thru A/c Open with API Banking, DCB Remit, Video KYC.
I am Part of various deliveries like India’s first Aadhaar & Biometric enabled ATM, Paperless A/c Opening India’s first Omni-Channel Framework for Bank, KYC, Blockchain, Mobile banking & Mobile Apps, Virtual Reality based App, Open Banking & Internet Banking Initiative, Unified Payment Interface (UPI), Bharat Bill Payment, API Management, Blockchain, Switch & Cards relevant initiatives

Head – Startup Engagement & Investments
ICICI Bank Limited
Hitesh Sachdev
Hitesh Sachdev is a veteran banker with ICICI Group. He has spent more than 20 years at ICICI Bank building and leading diverse verticals including Innovation, Fintech, Private Equity and Investment Banking. Presently, Hitesh heads the Startup Engagement and Investments team at ICICI Bank. He has played an instrumental role in setting up the Innovation team and executing cutting-edge technology projects for ICICI Bank in collaboration with startups.Hitesh leads the Startup Investment Fund at ICICI Bank. The Fund invests Bank’s own capital into promising startups. Currently, the Fund has made more than 20 investments into startups including Open, CarDekho, Refyne, Kredit Bee, Fingpay,EQL Fintech and Credgenics. Hitesh is a mentor and guides founders actively on domains including Payments, Digital Lending, SaaS, API Banking, Banking applications of emerging technologies such as Artificial Intelligence, Metaverse and Blockchain.
Hitesh is Director and Chairman of the Board of Indian Banks’ Blockchain Infrastructure Company (IBBIC): India’s first blockchain based banking consortium. Hitesh conceptualized IBBIC in early 2018 and since then he has been the primary evangelist of the IBBIC consortium in India and overseas. Hitesh has been instrumental in bringing together 18 private, PSU & foreign banks to participate in IBBIC as founding members as well as shareholders. Prior to this, Hitesh has played a pivotal role in setting up a private equity fund called Emerging India Fund (EIF) and has successfully led the investments in sectors including Agri-business, Logistics, Education and Healthcare. Prior to setting up EIF, Hitesh led the investment banking practice at the Bank where he specialized in M&A and PE fundraising for mid-market enterprises and executed multiple M&A and private equity transactions. Hitesh has continuously mentored startups from elite accelerator programs from institutions such as IIM Lucknow, BITS Pilani (RBI Innovation Hub), SPJIMR, FICCI
Flo, I3 Launchpad (in partnership with Infosys & India Accererator) and 100X VC Hitesh has received several Awards and has been an active Keynote Speaker and participated alongside reputed Panelists at many marquee events.
List of Marquee Engagements
1. Member of Advisory Council at IAMAI’s Global Fintech Festival 2023
2. Blockchain Leader of the Year Award at BFSI Leader Meet & Awards, May
2023
3. Award for Excellence in Business Model Innovation by Retail Banker
International Asia 2016
4. Founding Member of CAstartups.org: a platform for accelerating startups
for CA founders
5. Keynote Speaker at BFSI Gamechanger Summit, June 2023
6. Keynote Speaker and Panelist at BFSI Leader Meet & Awards, May 2023
7. Speaker in 2 panels at Fintech Festival India, May 2023
8. Award Jury and Panelist at W3, Tech & Innovation Summit, March 2023
9. Panel Speaker at DLAI Conclave, Jan 2023
10.Panel Speaker for Bharat Fintech Summit, Jan 2023
11.Panel Speaker for ETBFSI Converge, Nov 2022
12.Panel Speaker for India Fintech Awards, Nov 2022
13.Panel Speaker for India Startup Festival 2022, October 2022
14.Panel Speaker for Singapore Fintech Festival 2022, September 202

Founder & MD, Vivriti Capital
Vineet Sukumar
Vineet Sukumar is the Promoter, Founder and CEO of Vivriti Group that comprises of Vivriti Capital (VC), a fintech NBFC incorporated in 2017 and Vivriti Asset Management (VAM), a registered asset manager of fixed-income alternative investment funds which was incorporated in 2019. Vineet has over 20 years of experience in financial services and is an industry expert in debt capital markets, performing credits, financial inclusion and digital fund management. Vineet has completed his education from IIT, Kharagpur and IIM, Bangalore.

AVP – Head of Application & IT Security Nuvama Wealth Management
Sanjay Jaiswal
a renowned expert in cybersecurity industry with an impressive track record, Sanjay Jaiswal has made significant contributions to the industry, His visionary leadership and groundbreaking initiatives have left a lasting impact. He comes with more than 18+ years of progressive experience covering wide spectrum of operating group such as Banking, Finance, Software companies and Health & Public Services.
Highly innovative and goal-oriented Technical Leader with functional expertise in Information Security Strategic framework implementation, Application Security Architecture, Information Security Policy, Procedure & Standard development, Information Security Awareness programme implementation, Identity Access Management, Governance, Risk and Compliance, Vulnerability Management, Assessment & Penetration Testing, Regulatory, Compliance & Audits, Third Party Risk Management.