Our speakers

Parag Gupta, Country Head, Amazon Appstore

Parag is the country head for Amazon Appstore with over 15 years in the high-tech industry. He has delivered successful products in telecommunication, wireless networking, web commerce, e-Commerce, and consumer electronics markets, he has also built lasting strategic partnerships to achieve business objectives, and developed teams from ground-up.

With Amazon.com in India he is doing all this and more, such as provide a large global eCommerce platform with proven monetization benefits for Indian app developers, and let Indian users download a large global selection of apps on one of the most trusted channels in the world.

Parag has a bachelor's degree in Computer Science from BITS Pilani a top-10 engineering campus in India, and MBA from Kellogg School of Management (Northwestern University) where he graduated as a Beta Gamma Sigma scholar (top 10% of the class).

He holds a Wi-Fi patent that is used by every desktop, mobile and wearable technology today. It is on iOS, Mac OS, Android, Windows (PC / Mobile), Blackberry, Chrome, and many embedded OS - as of mid-2013,his patent is employed in over 5 BN devices around the world.

Parag Shah, Managing Partner, Mahindra Partners

Parag Shah is the Managing Partner of Mahindra Partners, the $750 Mn Private Equity division of the $16.7 Bn Mahindra Group. In a career spanning over 18 years, Parag has held various positions with the Mahindra Group. He has extensive experience in building new businesses, start ups, turn arounds, joint ventures and mergers & acquisitions.

Currently, he is a Director on the Boards of a number of companies of the Mahindra Group such as Mahindra Two Wheelers Ltd, Mahindra Logistics Ltd, Mahindra Intertrade Ltd, Mahindra Solar, Mahindra EPC, Mahindra Retail, Mahindra Namaste.

He is one of the chief architects of Mahindra Partners. The Division adapts the Group’s unique strengths of constant innovation, prudence and creative business models with a mandate of incubating new ventures for the Group. Mahindra Partners accelerates value creation through a diversified portfolio of emergent businesses spanning various industry sectors like Cleantech, Logistics, Steel, Retail, Consulting, Media, Speed Boat Manufacturing, Conveyor Systems and Vocational Education.

Prior to his current assignment, he worked for the Office of the Vice Chairman & Managing Director, and was involved in New Business Development and strategy for the Group. He was also Chief Executive Officer of Officemartindia Ltd., a consulting & e-trading company within the same Group. Before joining the Mahindra Group in 1999, he was Managing Director of Systems Marketing India Pvt. Ltd., a private business with interests in Manufacturing, Investment Banking and Trading.

He has been invited as a regular speaker across various Industry forums like IFC/EMPEA, FICCI, BCCI, CII, Solarcon, AON Hewitt, KPMG.

He holds a BS Degree in Computer Engineering from the Illinois Institute of Technology with special electives in Psychology and Manufacturing Technology. He is also a graduate of the General Management Program from Harvard Business School.

Parag is affiliated with various prestigious NGO associations such as Sabarkanta Relief Committee and JBS Trust. He is also a Founder Director of “Executive Without Borders” a NGO based in USA.

He is an Executive Committee Member of the CII National Committee on Private Equity and Venture Capital, FICCI Solar Energy Task Force, CII National Committee on Renewable Energy. He is also a member of CEO forum & Mumbai Angels.

Parameswara Krishnan, Managing Partner, EAM Business , Spark Capital

Parameswara Krishnan has about 28 years of experience in financial markets, much of it on the Buy side in public markets, in India and Asian regional markets. Krishnan was the portfolio manager for the first bank sponsored mutual fund scheme in India from SBIMF in 1990-92. He was also the fund manager of the first private sector MF in India – Kothari Pioneer MF. He managed the Kothari Pioneer Bluechip Fund in 1993-94.

Krishnan had a long career with DNB Asset Management group, one of the top five asset managers in the Nordic region. During the 19 year stint with DNB, he managed Carlson Asian Small Cap Fund and the India fund from the DNB range. The Asian Small Cap fund, with a concentrated focus on China and India, was the most successful public market fund from DNB with peak AUM of USD 1.3 billion. Krishnan helped establish DNB as the most credible India investment expert in Sweden and Norway between 1998 and 2017. He has extensive experience in Taiwan and ASEAN markets and as an asset allocator for small caps in Asian markets.

He holds a B.E in Computer Science and a PGDM from IIM, Bangalore. Krishnan has recently joined Spark Capital, one of India’s leading mid-market .focussed Investment Banking firm to roll out their Equity Asset Management business

Paras Arora, Founder and CEO, Qdesq Realtech

Paras Kaushik, CHRO, HT Media

Before joining HT Media, Paras was Head, Group HR at Motherson Group. He was responsible for managing the Human Resources function for the Group’s 1,35,000 employees across 41 countries.

Prior to this he worked for 17 years at Aditya Birla Group. His repertoire of experiences range from working for global to local, start-up to mature, manufacturing to retail, listed to not-for-profit organizations of the Group. He worked in various HR leadership roles at Hindalco, Group HR, Minacs Philippines, Madura Fashion & Lifestyle, Pantaloons, BITS Pilani, Columbian Chemicals and the Fashion & Retail Business of Aditya Birla Group.

Postgraduate from Symbiosis International University, Paras is passionate about telling stories and sharing his experiences in variety of conferences, webinars, B-School events and social media.

Paresh Patel, CEO, Sandstone Capital LLC

Paresh Patel is the Managing Director of Sandstone Capital, an India-focused hedge fund. Sandstone is a value-oriented investment partnership focused on long-term opportunities in India, with a preference for deep value, special situations, midcaps and complex opportunities. Sandstone Capital has offices in Mumbai and Boston. Prior to Sandstone Paresh Patel was Managing Director of Sparta Group, the private investment office of Gururaj Deshpande, founder of Sycamore Networks. At Sparta, Paresh invested with Desh in early-stage ventures in the US and India - including A123 Systems, Indian Lotus, Relicore and Tejas Networks. Paresh Patel is a director of Tejas Networks (Indian telecom equipment company). Paresh is a graduate of Harvard Business School and Boston College.

Paresh Rajde, Founder & Chairman, Suvidhaa Infoserve

Paresh is the Founder of Suvidhaa Infoserve, India’s largest & fastest growing S-Commerce® company engaged in digital distribution of customer-centric services and payments. Paresh founded Suvidhaa in 2007 and raised an angel investment from Mr Shapoorji Pallonji Mistry, Chairperson of one of India’s largest construction conglomerate. Paresh led from the front in successfully build the company as CEO for first 5 years and securing 3 Series of funding for Suvidhaa from globally acclaimed investors viz., Norwest Venture Partners (NVP), Reliance Capital (ADA Group), IFC, the World Bank Group and Mitsui & Co., Ltd. Suvidhaa today has a footprint of over 65,000 small retail touch points across 2800+ towns in India and services over 15mn unique customers. Suvidhaa was ranked by Red Herring Inc., amongst Asia’s Top 100 Start-ups in 2009 & nominated for Global 200 Start-ups in 2010 and more recently, as per The Brand Trust Report - India Study 2013, Suvidhaa has been acknowledged & recognized as the “Most Trusted Retail Services Brand”. He was elevated as Chairman last year and leads Suvidhaa’s innovative & strategic initiatives envisioning the Company’s growth path.

Prior to starting Suvidhaa, Paresh founded Forbes Infotainment Limited and as CEO of Forbes Infotainment, Paresh launched “DhanDhanaDhan” Online lottery, a brand that achieved Rs.3000 mn turnover in its inaugural years. He successfully exited from the business and sold the venture to Shapoorji Pallonji Group.

A qualified Chartered Accountant, Paresh began with his own Firm in 1991 & later became an Advisor to several State Govts., for online lotteries. Paresh then joined the Board of Turbo Technologies & as an exclusive IT Consultant to Indo-French Chamber of Commerce & Industries promoted IT Projects in France & other European Countries. Paresh pioneered his small ventures like www.taxationindia.com and www.yellowpagesmumbai.com in initial career.

Paresh has received several Indian & International Awards & accolades. The “Best Business Achiever (SME) Award 2009” by Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI), the Girnar Award (2007), the SKOCH Awards for Digital Inclusion in 2010 & Financial Inclusion in 2011, to name a few. Acknowledging Paresh’s vision of an inclusive growth & livelihood promotion of rural & urban poor, the International Finance Corporation (IFC) honoured Paresh with its “Inclusive Business Leader” Award in 2011 and in October 2012 featured him as “Inclusive Business Pioneer” in its Report “Being the Change: Inspiring the Next Generation of Inclusive Business Entrepreneurs impacting the Base of the Pyramid”.

Paresh is a member of several Committees of various Industry Bodies & Institutions like FICCI, IAMAI & ICAI; has addressed several prestigious Government & Industry Forums worldwide and the IFC’s Inclusive Business Leaders Forum at Washington, USA (2011) & Tokyo (2012), the GSMA NFC Mobile Money Summit at Milan (2012 & Oct 2013), the Money2020 Conference in Las Vegas are but to name a few.

Paresh Thakker, Managing Partner, ValueQuest Capital

Paresh is the Founder and Managing Partner of ValueQuest Capital LLP. ValueQuest Capital is a boutique investment management firm specializing in identifying listed businesses with strong competitive advantage (“Moats”) run by able and honest managers.

Paresh has over 21 years of experience in investment management and has been involved in many transactions both in private equity and public equities including majority interest transactions and minority interest transactions.

Prior to ValueQuest, Paresh was the Head of Religare Global Asset Management (a multi boutique asset management firm with AUM of USD 19.6 billion). During his tenure he led the majority interest transactions with both Landmark Partners (Pioneers and leaders in the private equity and real estate secondary space, with the AUM of USD 12.5 billion), and Northgate Capital (leading private equity and venture capital firm with global presence). He was also the founder Managing Director of Evolvence Advisory Services Pvt. Ltd. and was also an Investment Principal with Infinity Ventures.

Over the course of his career he has been on investment committees and boards of various portfolio companies. Earlier, he was on the investment committee of IL&FS Private Equity – Leverage India Fund, Ascent India Fund, JM Financial India Fund, and the advisory board of IL&FS Private Equity – Leverage India Fund, NYLIM Jacob Ballas II & III, and Baring India Fund II. He has also served on the operating committee of Landmark Partners and Northgate Capital.

He is a qualified CFA (AIMR, USA), Chartered Accountant (India), Cost Accountant (India), Company Secretary (India) and Bachelor of Commerce from Mumbai University.

Parimal Pandya, Senior Director, Emerging Customer Group, Akamai

Parimal runs the Emerging Customer's Group at Akamai where he is responsible for sales, marketing and services for global mid-market customers. Previously, he helped start Akamai's application acceleration business and led product management, business strategy and operations.

Prior to Akamai, he cofounded two start-ups in consumer media software and ecommerce sectors in New York City. He later served as an investment associate at a New York City based venture fund where he assessed and advised early stage venture capital investments in mobile, media and cloud infrastructure sectors.

Parimal earned an MS in Electrical Engineering and Management from Columbia University in New York. He lives in Bangalore now and  is an active participant in the Bangalore start up community.

Parinita Gohil, Partner, Learning Delight

With a strong education in Biotechnology and a Masters in Business Laws, Parinita, saw Learning Delight as a natural next step for her career. Joining forces with Harshal and Vandan as the marketing force for the team, Parinita was able to quickly help bring life to the vision for the company, the small team of three started not only implanting solutions across rural schools in Gujarat but also managing services for them. Coming from a tier 3 city herself, Parinita felt a strong connect with some of the challenges many schools from the rural areas face, and was able to tackle them not only from an operational perspective but also build strong relationships with most of the schools that Learning Delight worked with in a short span of time.