Our speakers
Raju Narisetti, Senior Vice President, Strategy, News Corp
Raju Narisetti is Senior Vice President, Strategy, for News Corp. He is primarily involved in new ventures and acquisitions that help drive digital growth and ongoing reshaping of News Corp., through new companies or by expanding existing operating units.
Mr Narisetti directly oversees News Corp’s India businesses, which include a significant stake in PropTiger.com, a digital real-estate business; The VCCircle Network, India’s oldest and largest startup/private equity/venture capital focused information, data, events and training company; and BigDecisions.com, a startup that demystifies personal financial decision-making. He Chairs the Board of Singapore-based Elara Corp., which owns PropTiger, and also NWS Digital Asia Pte Ltd., the News Corp Asia investment vehicle.
Previously, Mr. Narisetti served as a Deputy Managing Editor of The Wall Street Journal and Managing Editor of The Wall Street Journal Digital Network. In this role, he headed editorial teams and content strategy for WSJ.com, MarketWatch.com, WSJ Live video platforms, and Wall Street Journal and MarketWatch Radio Networks.
Mr. Narisetti also served as Managing Editor of Washington Post Co. 2009-2011, overseeing digital content, news products and new businesses, as well as its editing, design, photo, video, engagement and social media teams. Teams he oversaw won three Pulitzer Prizes during his tenure.
Prior to joining the Post, Mr. Narisetti served as Founder/Editor of India's Mint newspaper, which is now India's second-largest business newspaper, by circulation.
During his previous journalism tenure with WSJ, starting as a Summer Intern in 1991, Mr. Narisetti held multiple roles, eventually becoming Editor of The Wall Street Journal Europe in 2006, where he led the re-launch of the European and Asian multi-platform editions of the Journal. He began his journalism career at The Economic Times in New Delhi, India, and later worked as a Staff Writer at The Dayton Daily News, Dayton, Ohio.
Mr Narisetti was named a Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum in 2007, where is on the Alumni governance board. He is a trustee of the International Institute of Education (IIE), which administers the Fulbright fellowships and the Scholar Rescue Fund, and a Vice Chairman on the board of ICFJ.org, the International Center for Journalists.
Mr. Narisetti holds a BA degree from Osmania University in Hyderabad and an MBA from the Institute of Rural Management in Anand; a Post Graduate diploma from The Times School of Journalism in New Delhi; and an MA in Journalism from Indiana University.
He lives in Brooklyn, New York, with his author wife Kim Narisetti and two daughters Leila and Zola.
He is often found @raju.
Raju Vegesna, Chairman & Managing Director, Sify Technologies Ltd.
Raju Vegesna’s vision and accomplishments serve as aspirations for an entire generation in the middle of India’s technological advancement.
Raju’s academic excellence in India led him to Wayne State University, Detroit, USA, where he earned a Master's degree in Computer Engineering and was recruited by Motorola where he played a pivotal role in writing the microcode for their microprocessors.
Raju is a highly successful serial entrepreneur. He co-founded and served as Chief Architect of Ross Technology Inc. and his expertise is reflected in multiple patents and publications on microprocessor technologies. He built and exited two multi-billion-dollar enterprises; ServerWorks, which significantly contributed to Internet penetration, and ServerEngines, which advanced cloud technology.
Raju’s investment in Sify Technologies is focused on positioning India’s digital infrastructure to global standards. Under his leadership, Sify has become India’s most comprehensive ICT player, pioneering India’s first Made-in-India cloud platform and a full stack of managed services. A world-class network infrastructure, state-of-the-art data centers, and AI cloud solutions today make Sify the first choice for enterprises undergoing digital transformation.
Raju’s venture capital fund, Sify Ventures, empowers global entrepreneurs who are building cutting-edge technologies.
Raju’s philanthropic initiatives through RV Foundation focus on providing drinking water, supporting the elderly and marginalized children, and promoting sports at grassroots level, all aimed at creating lasting societal impact.
Rakesh Anand, Ex-Chairman & MD, Mazagon Dock
Rakesh Bhardwaj, Group CIO, & SVP, Ola
In his role, Rakesh works closely with businesses, corporate functions and partners, providing strategic direction to the Group's IT initiatives. These initiatives cover the broad spectrum of Information Systems, Tools, Security, IT infrastructure & assets across the group. In today’s connected and tech-led world of mobility, we are building not just a global talent organization but a world class business processes enabled by IT, which will serve as the backbone to help our businesses deliver higher growth and superior customer experiences.
Rakesh has over two decades of experience with expertise in Global IT software outsourcing, vendor management and Lean Six Sigma. In his last role at Cognizant as SVP & Global CIO, Rakesh played an instrumental role in keeping the company at the forefront of innovations by enabling digital capabilities further allowing the organization to be more flexible and resilient. Under his leadership, Cognizant rapidly developed new analytics tools to respond to COVID-19 at various levels of businesses. He has also worked in leading companies such as Microland Limited, GE Healthcare and GE Aviation & Transportation.
Following his graduation in Computer Science engineering, he did his Business Administration and Management from GE Management Development Institute - Crotonville. He has received an accolade for Digital leadership by Dataquest in 2018.
In his spare time, Rakesh loves to listen to music, exercise and play volleyball. He is happily married to Sangeeta and has a daughter and a son.
Rakesh Jain, Chief Executive Officer, Reliance General Insurance Company Limited
A Chartered Accountant and Cost Accountant, Rakesh Jain is the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Reliance General Insurance Company Limited.
Since the past 8years, Rakesh has been instrumental in driving Reliance General Insurance's continuous growth, innovation and expansion and the company today is ranked amongst the leading private general insurance companies in India. In addition, under his leadership, Reliance General Insurance has been recognized at various prestigious forums and received several accolades.
He strongly believes in cultivating Pure Relationship and Risk based approach towards sustainable growth with Technology playing the role of an operating integrator in the evolving General Insurance industry in India.
Rakesh has a rich and varied work experience of over 20 years in leadership role in business development, corporate accounting, risk management, etc. Rakesh has been conferred with prestigious accolades like 'Best CFO award in the Financial Services Sector' by the Institute of Chartered Accountants (ICAI).
Rakesh Jain is an avid reader and is a technology enthusiast. His futuristic outlook and technology bend has helped in propelling the success of Reliance General Insurance
Rakesh Kalra, Founder & CEO, UrbanPro.com
Rakesh has over 15 years of experience in working with different Internet startups in US and India. Prior to founding UrbanPro.com in 2011, Rakesh was the Vice President of Technology at Care.com.
Rakesh holds a BE degree from PEC, Chandigarh, and a Masters degree in Computer Science from Boston University. When not working, Rakesh loves to play badminton and spend time with his 8-year old son and 5-year old daughter.
Rakesh Kapoor, Managing Director, IFCI Factors
Rakesh Kapoor is a Techno-financial professional with over 30 years experience in the Corporate and Financial sector. He has experience for about 20 years in project financing with IFCI, a premier financial Institution in various capacities (presently Chief General Manager) and dealt with various projects across different sectors viz. Steel, Cement, Chemicals, Textile, Sugar/co-generation/ethanol and also oil and infrastructure projects. He has also represented IFCI on various High Level Committees set up by Government of India relating to Sugar/Co-generation/ ethanol and textile sector. With effect from July, 2008 Rakesh has been deputed as Managing Director with IFCI Factors Limited, a subsidiary of IFCI, which is involved in the business of factoring i.e. short-term receivables financing.
Rakesh Malhotra, Founder, SAR Group & Managing Partner, Ncubate Capital Partners
Mr. Rakesh Malhotra studied to be an engineer and after a brief stint in the industry, decided to become an entrepreneur. Starting in 1998, he built Luminous Power Technologies into a leading Indian brand for inverters and Uninterrupted Power Systems.
After divesting a 74% stake in Luminous Power Technologies to French major Schneider Electric for INR 1,400 crore in 2011, Mr. Malhotra has expanded the SAR Group across sectors like Water Purification, Energy Storage, Clean Energy, Telecom and Electricals.
The Group’s investment arm, Ncubate Capital, partners with PE/VC firms to invest capital across multiple entrepreneurial ventures.
Apart from his strong capabilities in technology, manufacturing, supply chain, distribution and brand development, Mr. Malhotra has a very deep understanding of entrepreneurial environment in the country.
Rakesh Malhotra, Founder, SAR Group of Companies & , Managing Partner, SAR Family Office
Range of Experience
Mr. Rakesh Malhotra, Founder, SAR Group, carries an illustrious business background spanning close to 28 years of experience in the field of design, development & marketing of power conditioning & electronics products, telecom equipment & projects, corporate management, human resource development, financial management, venture negotiations and business leadership. Mr. Rakesh Malhotra studied to be an engineer (B.E.) and after a brief stint in the industry (Siemens, Nelco and Mitsui) decided to become an entrepreneur who built Luminous Power Technologies (founded in 1988) from scratch. After entering into a joint venture with Schneider Electric in 2011 through majority stake sale of Luminous Power Technologies, he decided to start all over again. He is incubating a number of new businesses - Water, Energy Storage, Renewable Energy and B2B Ecommerce. He brings strong capabilities in technology, manufacturing, supply chain, distribution and brand development, besides a very deep understanding of entrepreneurial environment in the country. He also has wide experience in building brands and distribution in India, Asia and Africa with five successful businesses. Livpure Pvt. Ltd., (founded in 2012) one of the key ventures in the SAR Group, was established by him with a vision to be a global leader in water purification driven by innovative technology and excellence in manufacturing and services. Livguard Energy Technologies Pvt. Ltd. (founded in 2014) is the second incubation of the Group established with a vision to become a global energy storage venture.
Additional Background Information
Rakesh is a B.E. (Electronics & Telecom) graduate from Jadavpur University in West Bengal and a highly successful serial entrepreneur, Since then he has been instrumental in founding several other ventures in areas such as Electric Vehicle and Electric Drive Train, Engineering Design Outsourcing, Telecom Energy Efficiency and Mobile Handsets Manufacturing.
Mr. Malhotra regularly spends time with B school /engineering students across the country to share experiences and to develop interest in entrepreneurship among students. He serves on various industry and technology committees and regularly presents papers at conferences in the power space. He has many patent applications to his credit in the field of power electronics, storage and renewable energy.
Mr. Malhotra is a family person & loves to spend good quality time with his family. He is very fond of travelling, listening music and business reading.
Rakesh Pande, CEO, Kaya Skin Care Ltd
Rakesh Pandey, 50, is the Chief Executive Officer, Kaya Ltd. A Bachelor of Technology (Honours) in Chemical Engineering from ITBHU, he has also attended Management Development Programmes at University of Michigan (USA) and IIM-Ahmedabad amongst other centres of management excellence.
Rakesh has over 25 years of experience in India and Europe in the arenas of Projects, Manufacturing, Business Development, TQM, HR and Business Strategy. This included stints at British Oxygen, UK, Indian Oxygen and Hindustan Levers Ltd.Through his experience and knowledge, Rakesh has contributed hugely to the success of the companies that he has been with.
Rakesh Pandey has been the Chief Executive Officer of Kaya Skin Care ltd since 2002., the first service business foray for the company. As CEO of the Kaya Skin Clinic both for India and International, he aims to bring effective and innovative skin solutions to the Indian consumer, backed by world class technology and service and also extend the Kaya brand to other innovative solutions for the consumer.