Our speakers

Eric Vas, President, Bajaj Auto Ltd

Eric Vas is an alumni of the College of Engineering Pune, and the Indian Institute of Management, Calcutta.

Mr. Vas started his career as an officer of the Tata Administrative Service (TAS) and spent 18 years with the Tata Group. From 1999 Mr. Vas has been associated with the automobile industry when he joined Tata Motors Ltd.  Mr. Vas currently works at Bajaj Auto Ltd. where he has, over the past 11 years, held various leadership roles. Presently, Mr. Vas leads the Urbanite Business (electric Chetak) of Bajaj Auto Ltd.

Eshan Kaul, Global Investments Head, Sinarmas Technology

Eshan Kaul is one of India’s leading voices on AI.  Spent 10 years leading AI research at JP Morgan.

Regularly features in leading global publicaBons, wriBng on the future of AI. Invested in over 20 AI companies. 

Currently Investment Partner- Sinarmas technology- one of South East Asia’s leading investors in AI

Eshan led Artificial Intelligence research at JP Morgan India for over eight years, playing a key role in transforming how the bank used technology. At JP Morgan’s Payments division—which handles over $10 trillion in transactions every day,he introduced AI solutions that made operations faster, safer, and more efficient.

He was the driving force behind several major projects, including automated customer support, signature verification, fraud detection, and anti-money laundering systems—all designed to make the bank smarter and more secure.

Eshan also led JP Morgan’s global hackathon, a major competition among over 40,000 technologists across the company. It brought together teams to create bold, new ideas in areas like AI, blockchain, quantum computing, and digital finance.

Today, Eshan heads AI investments at Sinarmas Technology, the tech arm of the $60 billion Sinarmas Group. He helps the company discover and invest in the most advanced and promising technologies around the world.

In addition to this, Eshan is a passionate angel investor. His portfolio includes early investments in groundbreaking companies like Anthropic, SpaceX, Perplexity, and Replit—all of which are shaping the future in their own fields.

Many leading AI companies in India and globally consult Eshan on their technology implementation.

Eshan Kaul, Global Investments Head, Sinarmas Technology

Eshwar Karra, CEO-Kotak Special Situations Fund, Kotak Investment Advisors Limited

Eshwar joined the Kotak Mahindra Group in 2000 and brings with him over two decades of financial services experience. He is part of the core leadership team at Kotak Investment Advisors Ltd.

Eshwar is the CEO of the Kotak Special Situations Fund where he oversees investments across all special situations, distressed and credit opportunities. The fund strategy is to invest in opportunities across all asset classes and participate in the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC) initiated resolutions.

Prior to Kotak Special Situations Fund, Eshwar was the CEO of Phoenix Asset Reconstruction Company (a Kotak sponsored ARC) which had an AUM of US$1 billion. During his 5 year tenure at Phoenix, he made investments across all major sectors and successfully resolved investments.

Eshwar was the founding member of the distressed assets business at Kotak and has helped the group in successfully investing over INR 2,500 crores (US$417 million) of its proprietary capital in distressed assets. He has built time tested expertise in identifying distressed opportunities, structuring and executing complex financial transactions as well as securing profitable exits.

Prior to Kotak, Eshwar has worked at Ceat Financial Services (RPG Group) and Sundaram Finance Ltd.

Eshwar holds a Bachelor's degree in Commerce from the University of Pune and is a Management graduate from the Institute of Management Development and Research, Pune.

Faisal Ali, Group CIO, Gargash Group

Faisal Farooqui, Founder, MouthShut.com

Faisal Farooqui is a highly recognized IT entrepreneur who is among the trailblazers of his generation. He was among the lead petitioners who challenged the various sections of the IT Act, which finally resulted in a victory for the entire nation, when the Supreme Court declared 66A as illegal and diluted many other sections. As a result no more arrests for speaking your mind. No more content takedown without a court order. 

Faisal is the founder and CEO of MouthShut.com
MouthShut.com is India’s largest consumer review and recommendation platform, with reviews on lakhs of products

Faisal has addressed and presented at more than 300 national and international conferences and seminars including at IIM Ahmadabad and IIT Mumbai. His work on Internet Technology, Branding, Entrepreneurship, social media and e-commerce has appeared or been profiled in almost all major newspaper and magazines and TV channels in India as well as Wall Street Journal, CNN, BBC and Financial Times. He is also internationally recognized for his thoughts on integrating consumer-generated content with mobile and social media. He served on the   Internet Task Force of NASSCOM and was an advisor to TIE for India’s new Copyright Act. The British High Commission has included Faisal among the list of top 50 young leaders who’ve demonstrated potential to change the country.

Faisal has a degree in Information Systems and Finance from State University of New York. He is a self-confessed tech geek, enjoys growing vegetables and loves horse-riding.

Faiz Shakir, Managing Director, Nutanix India & SAARC

Fakhri Ahmadov, CEO & Managing Director, Ahmadoff & Company

Fakhri Ahmadov is CEO and Managing Director of Ahmadoff & Company and Founder of Private Wealth Insitute. In his role, he advises wealthy individuals and families on capital transformation, multi-generational structuring, strategic industry selection and philanthropy across Europe, Middle East and Africa and Central Asia. Previously, he has been risk advisor for several banks and a family business. Mr. Ahmadov is contributor to the Agenda of the World Economic Forum. His private wealth related researches are featured in Forbes frequently. He is a Certified International Wealth Manager (CIWM) and full member of Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners (TEP). Fakhri holds bachelor degree in economics from ASAU.

Falguni Nayar, CEO, Nykaa.com

After a highly successful career spanning over 25 years in financial services, 18 of which were spent with the Kotak Mahindra group, Falguni Nayar decided to pursue her entrepreneurial drive with the launch of Nykaa.com, a women-centric beauty and wellness e-commerce portal.

Targeted exclusively at the contemporary urban Indian woman, Nykaa.com will offer a wide range of carefully selected, global beauty and wellness products. At Kotak, Falguni was the Managing Director of Kotak Investment Banking, a position she assumed in 2005, and Director of Kotak Securities.

Falguni holds a Masters degree in Management from the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad where she majored in Finance. She graduated with a Bachelor of Commerce degree from Sydenham College of Commerce and Economics. Falguni received the FICCI Ladies Organisation (FLO) award for top woman achiever in the field of banking. She is a founding member of the Asia Society in India.

Faris AlRashed Alhumaid, CEO, Sharaka Financial