Adit Jain established IMA India, an economic & business research company in 1994. He continues to serve as its Chairman and Editorial Director. Previously he worked with Lazard, an investment bank, as Vice President & Head of M&A. Adit has advised companies on their India strategy; deposed as an expert witness, at several commercial litigations in the United States and given testimony at Parliamentary proceedings in India and Australia. He provides briefings to Company Boards, speaks at emerging market seminars and has lectured on Business Policy as Adjunct Faculty at the Indian Institute of Foreign Trade and International Management Institute.

He has over the years authored over a thousand articles in the domain of economics, politics, conservation, international affairs and business practices. He is Editor of IMA’s Quarterly Country Report, CEO Connect (a monthly magazine for the Finance Function) and IMA’s principal economic commentator. His writings frequently focus on the economic role of governments. He is a non-executive Director on the boards of Sanmar Chemplast, Cuddalore Vinyls, PR Pundit Public Relations and SAMHI Hotels. He previously served on the boards of Shriram Transport Finance, Mahanagar Telephone Nigam, Engineers India Ltd, Certification Engineers International Limited and Indosolar.

Adit works closely with forest authorities in Madhya Pradesh towards education, community and social initiatives. His foundation sponsors the education of thousands of school children across the Indian Subcontinent. In 2009, Adit was elected a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society, London. A keen wildlife photographer, he travels extensively in the Indian Himalayas and spends time at National Parks in India and East Africa.

He has authored a book – ‘Wildlife Chronicles’ on his travels in the forest of India, which is intended to create an awareness of our country’s national treasures. This was published by Rupa Publishers in October 2022. Written as a travel log the book contains information on various forests, their flora and fauna and the challenges they face in achieving the fine balance between the needs of conservation and the livelihoods of local communities. It is intended to explain the importance of conservation and generate an interest in the wider population to visit and generate opinion on their preservation. Over the past twenty years Adit has travelled extensively across wildlife reserves, spending on an average about one week each month.

He has a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from the Birla Institute of Technology, India and a master’s degree in business administration from the Henley Business School.

AK Bhattacharya, at present is the Editorial Director at Business Standard, a leading business newspaper of the country. He is based in New Delhi. He was born in 1956.

He has been an economic journalist for the last four decades. He has served as the Editor of Business Standard. Earlier, he was the Editor of The Pioneer and worked for The Financial Express and The Economic Times in different leadership roles. For many years, he has been writing a column, Raisina Hill, which appears in Business Standard and comments on government affairs, development issues and the economy. He is also a regular participant in economic policy discussions organised by different multi-media platforms. He is a distinguished fellow of Ananta Aspen Centre, a think tank with global affiliation, and a member of the Economic Affairs Council of the Confederation of Indian Industry.

A former general secretary of Editors Guild of India, he won the Shriram Lifetime Achievement Award for Excellence in Financial Journalism in 2017. He is the author of The Rise of Goliath: Twelve Disruptions That Changed India, published by Penguin in July 2019 and India’s Finance Ministers: From Independence to Emergency (1947-1977), published by Penguin in May 2023. His third book – India’s Finance Ministers: Stumbling into Reforms (1977-1998), also published by Penguin, was released in January 2024.

Karthik Muralidharan is the Tata Chancellor’s professor of economics at the University of California San Diego (UCSD). His research spans public finance and development economics with a focus on improving education, health, welfare, and public service delivery; and has been published in several world-leading academic journals. He has also actively engaged in policy advising and capacity building in India at both Central and state government levels, and in public communication of research insights through several op-eds and podcasts.

Professor Muralidharan is also the co-founder and scientific director of the Centre for Effective Governance of Indian States, a non-profit organization that works with multiple state governments across India to improve state capacity, governance, and service delivery.

Born and raised in India, he holds a bachelor’s degree in economics from Harvard, an MPhil from Cambridge (UK), and a PhD in economics from Harvard.

Rahul Bhasin is the Managing Partner of Baring Private Equity Partners India and a Senior Partner and Global Board Member of Baring Private Equity Partners (BPEP) International. Rahul is a member of the Investment Committees and Advisory boards internationally including for the Barings and ING group entities. He was part of a group of three executive global board members that led the MBO of Barings globally. He has chaired the board of several listed and unlisted companies in India and abroad. He has served as the Chairman of Mphasis Limited and oversaw its transformation from a loss-making start up to fast growing profitable company. Introducing several managerial, hygiene, productivity and growth drivers, followed by a roll up strategy, the company now enjoys a market cap in excess of $6 billion. He has been on multiple government advisory bodies and forums.

Prior to Baring, Rahul managed propriety and third-party capital and was part of the global Asset Allocation Committee of at Citibank, overseeing a $83 billion portfolio. Besides his experience in the developed markets, he has actively invested in the emerging markets including Latin America, Eastern Europe, Russia and Asia. He has also managed a portfolio of derivative securities investing in the developed markets. Rahul also had oversight of an 800+ strong IT department and oversaw a unit in charge of all new business launches for Citigroup worldwide. He was the youngest ever Independent Treasurer at Citibank worldwide. Rahul is an MBA from the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad. He has been a guest lecturer/visiting faculty at Harvard Business School, Wharton, ISB, IIM Ahmedabad and Ashoka University.

Sandeep Yadav has over 20 years of multi-dimensional experience across rates, forex, derivatives and structuring. His investment philosophy is guided by strong emphasis on data and probabilistic analysis. He maintains that a robust portfolio should minimize uncertainty and still be equipped to weather diverse market scenarios through identifiable exit strategies. He takes avid interest in leveraging technology with domain knowledge to minimize risk and improve investment performance. He has modelled forecasting and risk management techniques that help in better decision making.

Sandeep has been leading the Fixed Income team in DSP since September of 2021. Before DSP, he was Head of Primary Dealership & Fixed Income in YES Bank since 2006. Prior to that, he has worked in Cognizant Technologies, Hughes Services and Mahindra British Telecom.

Sandeep has a Bachelor of Engineering degree from Army Institute of Technology, Pune and Post Graduate Diploma in Management from Indian Institute of Management – Bangalore. He is also a Chartered Financial Analyst.

Sunil Golecha is the Vice President of Finance (CFO) for Japan & Asia Pacific at Palo Alto Networks based in Singapore. He leads financial management, regional growth strategy, FP&A, commercial excellence, and operational planning. He also heads Palo Alto’s global FP&A Centre of Excellence located in Bengaluru.

Sunil is an accomplished business leader with over 20 years of global experience. Prior to joining Palo Alto, he spent a decade as the Group CFO of Azentio Software and the Regional CFO of APAC and emerging markets at Thomson Reuters. He has held leadership roles in Finance, Strategy, Sales, and Commercial Operations across US, UK, Switzerland, Singapore, and India.

Sunil has a computer engineering degree from Madras University and got his MBA from Emory University in the US. Hailing from a Marwari business family in Tamil Nadu, he worked in various family ventures before joining Infosys as a software engineer and eventually finding his calling in Finance. Sunil lives in Singapore with his wife and 9-year old son. He loves traveling, exploring global vegetarian cuisine, swimming and biking with his son, and playing chess and poker.

Kalpana is a seasoned professional with over 24 years of work experience. She heads GT dGTL, the digital transformation venture of Grant Thornton Bharat, focusing on emerging technologies and digital finance. Prior to joining Grant Thornton Bharat, Kalpana ran her own digital consulting start-up for a year-and-a-half. She previously worked with a leading consulting firm for close to 21 years, heading emerging technologies there. She has over 15 years of experience working with UK-based clients in FMCG, retail, e-Commerce and financial services. She has helped start-ups and unicorns increase their value by working with them on finance and supply-chain processes. Kalpana is a mother of two children and is passionate about promoting diversity and inclusion. She has served as a coach for aspirants, helping them maintain work-life integration, across tech entrepreneurship and consulting. She believes in mindfulness practices and in innovation for the betterment of communities.

Amisha Shroff has a keen interest in alternative therapies. She has been practising Access Consciousness for the last 4 years and facilitates hands-on sessions and workshops for people across the world. Access Consciousness is a process that empowers people to create more possibilities in every area of their lives. She also conducts online book reading sessions. Amisha loves to spend time with her husband, Pulin and their two wonderful children, Urja and Dhruv, who are currently studying and pursuing their passions. ‘Follow your passion’ is her mantra and she imbibes the same for her children. Spending time in nature, reading soulful books and exploring modalities that contribute to creating ease in and around oneself is her happy space.