ṚTA KAPUR CHISHTI

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Author, Sari Historian & Textile Scholar

Ṛta Kapur Chishti is a sari historian and a textile scholar. She is the co-author and editor of two books, namely Saris: Tradition and Beyond and Handcrafted Indian Textiles: Tradition and Beyond. Published in 2010 and co-authored by Martand Singh, Saris: Tradition and Beyond is a comprehensive compendium of different sari weaving and wearing traditions in India, covering 15 states of India and countless variations of color, weave, and pattern from each state, besides documenting 108 methods of draping a sari.

In 2009, Ṛta Kapur initiated “The Sari School” in New Delhi. The school conducts workshops for young locals, expatriate women, fashion designers and anyone who would like to learn different ways of wearing the sari. In 2011, Ṛta Kapur founded TaanBaan to preserve and enhance handspun and handwoven techniques.

Ṛta Kapur Chishti conducted her undergraduate studies in Political Science from Lady Sri Ram College. She then studied at the School of Drama. She then pursued a degree in Education from Delhi University in 1971.

SANJEEV SANYAL

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Principal Economic Adviser, Ministry of Finance, Govt. of India

Sanjeev Sanyal is an internationally acclaimed economist and best-selling author. He is currently the Principal Economic Advisor to the Government of India and also serves as the Co-Chair of the G-20 Framework Working Group. Prior to joining the government , he spent two decades in the financial sector and was Global Strategist & Managing Director at Deutsche Bank. He was named Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum in 2010. He is also a well known environmentalist and urban theorist. In 2007, he was awarded the Eisenhower Fellowship for his work on urban dynamics. He has been a Visiting Scholar at Oxford University, Adjunct Fellow at the Institute of Policy Studies, Singapore and a Senior Fellow of the World Wide Fund for Nature. In 2016, he served in the Future City Sub-Committee of the Singapore government tasked with building a long-term vision for the city-state and is currently a member of the committee tasked with writing a new National Urban Policy for India (to be published 2018).

Sanjeev attended Shri Ram College of Commerce, Delhi and Oxford University where he was a Rhodes Scholar (1992-95). His best-selling books include Land of the Seven Rivers, The Indian Renaissance and The Ocean of Churn, all published by Penguin. In addition, he had published around 200 articles, columns and reports in leading national/international publications. He was given the inaugural International Indian Achievers Award for contributions to Literature in 2014. He has been a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society, London and a Visiting Fellow of IDFC Institute, Mumbai.

LAVANYA NALLI

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Vice Chairman, Nalli Silk Sarees Pvt. Ltd.

Lavanya Nalli is a hands-on leader with 13 years of experience across retail, e-commerce, strategy and operations. She started her career with the Nalli Group – a $100M national retail chain – focusing on new business development and growth opportunities, retail store operations, and a private-label. She later launched a sub-brand that penetrated untapped markets and incubated a venture that empowered artisanal communities by bringing design-led products to market. During her tenure, Nalli doubled its revenues and expanded from 14 to 21 stores.

Lavanya graduated from Harvard Business School with an MBA in 2011 and worked at McKinsey & Company (Chicago) advising CXOs of Fortune 500 companies on issues ranging from top-line growth and profit improvement initiatives, change management programs and multi-channel strategy. She moved to India in 2013 into the e-commerce world as VP, Revenue & Shopping Experience at Myntra (Flipkart Group) and is now leading the e-commerce, private-label and expansion efforts at Nalli Group of companies and expanded its footprint to 38 stores.

The Economic Times named Lavanya as among corporate India’s fastest rising women leaders. She has also been named by Forbes as “Asia’s Women to Watch” in 2016. She is a frequent speaker at industry events and is an ambassador for Government of India’s innovation efforts and NITI Aayog’s “Champions of Change” program.

ADITI BHOSALE-WALUNJ

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Founder-Director, Repos Energy India Pvt. Ltd.

Aditi Bhosale-Walunj, 27, is the co-founder of Repos Energy and is spearheading the business strategy at Repos as the chief strategy officer. A Chemistry and Forensics student by education, she is an avid reader. Aditi believes that the purpose of her life is to make a positive impact in this world with her work. She is a firm believer of creating not just business but a brand, which will have an impact on humanity as well. Her motto in life is to “have right intentions, give your 100% and rest shall fall in place”. She is an entrepreneur without a business degree and no experience in the oil industry, but she believes in always creating and doing something larger than herself.

SHRI.S.SOMANATH

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Director, Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre (VSSC) – Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO)

S. Somanath, a distinguished scientist, is the Director of the Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre since January 2018. He also held the positions of Director of the Liquid Propulsion Systems Centre. While he was the Project Director of the GSLV Mk-III Launch Vehicle, their first experimental mission was successfully accomplished in 2014.

An expert in the area of system engineering of launch vehicles, he is also credited with the successful development and qualification of the CE20 cryogenic engine, the development of engines for Chandrayaan-2 and the electric propulsion system for GSAT-9.

S. Somanath took his B. Tech in Mechanical Engineering from TKM College of Engineering, Kollam, and Masters in Aerospace Engineering from IISc, Bangalore. He joined ISRO in 1985 and was a member of the PSLV development team.

A Fellow of INAE, AeSI, ASI and a member of IAA, he has traveled widely as a representative of India in UN-COPOUS and International Astronautical Federation (IAF). He is presently Vice President of the IAF and responsible for its technical activities.

ANAND KUMAR BAJAJ

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Founder and CEO, Nearby Technologies Pvt. Ltd.

An IIM-A alumnus and a Chartered Accountant, Anand Kumar Bajaj is the Founder and CEO of Nearby Technologies Pvt. Ltd. With over 18 years of experience in Digital Payments and Mobility, Anand holds 5 patents in banking technology and has previously worked at YES Bank, ICICI Bank, and Ernst & Young. In his last assignment, before launching Nearby Technologies, Anand was the President and Chief Innovation Officer at YES Bank, where he managed 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. Being on the board of BCFI, Anand also represents the industry body at the NPCI steering committee for AePS.

At Nearby Technologies, Anand and his team are committed to bridging the digital gap in India through scalable technology, grass-root level distribution and empowerment of the last mile. In this endeavor, he works very closely with RASCI, TRRAIN and other industry bodies to upskill and empower retailers, who form the hub of local communities and can bring about meaningful changes in their locality.

RAMAN ROY

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Chairman & Managing Director, Quatrro Global Services

Raman is Chairman & Managing Director of Quatrro Global Services. He is widely regarded as the Pioneer and fondly referred to as the “Father of the Indian BPO Industry”. Raman is a pioneer four times over, having successfully led the BPO initiatives of American Express, GE (now Genpact) and Spectramind (now Wipro BPO) before incubating Quatrro which commenced operations in 2007.

Raman is the Chairman of Executive Committee of NASSCOM for FY 2017-18, Past Chairman of BPO Committee of ASSOCHAM, Board Member of Indo-American Chamber of Commerce (IACC) and sits on the board of various committees formed by the central and state-level governments of India. Raman is also the founding member of “Indian Angel Network” – One of the largest networks of angel investors in India.

Raman is a Chartered Accountant and a Chartered Management Accountant with a Doctorate in Management Accountancy. In his career spanning 30+ years, Raman has extensive experience in spearheading diverse markets such as North America, Europe, Japan, Asia Pacific and Australia.