Our speakers
Rajnish Dhall, CEO & MD, Micro Housing Finance Corporation Ltd
Rajnish completed his P.G.D.M from IIM (Ahmedabad), after which he worked with American Express Bank in a variety of roles and locations (Mumbai, Singapore, London) for 17 years. He left the Bank as a Senior Director in 2006 and returned to Mumbai to work in the social sector and initially joined Aangan, an NGO which works with children in state run children homes.
In 2008, he co-founded (along with Madhusudhan Menon and Nachiket Shelgikar) Micro Housing Finance Coproration Limited ("MHFC") to provide housing finance to lower income households (mostly from the informal sector) in urban India. The promoters believe that one of the issues stalling the development of low income housing is the lack of finance available to lower income families (especially those without documentation to prove incomes) to buy such homes and hence set up MHFC to specifically address this gap. Over the last 5 years, operating in 5 major states, MHFC has sanctioned home loans aggregating about Rs 150 cr to about 3500 financially excluded families. The company has not had any NPAs till date.
Rajnish is also on the Justice Dhanuka court appointed committee to look into the infrastructure of Mumbai municipal schools, and the Boards of Aangan and Ummeed (an NGO which helps children with development disabilities).
Rajnish Khare, Head - Digital Transformation & Mobility Banking, HDFC Bank Ltd
Rajnish Khare is a senior Banking Professional, having 20 years of experience with HDFC Bank, Citibank, Standard Chartered, Reliance Retail and ICICI Bank.
He is currently, Head Digital Transformation, Social Business & New Media and Mobility Banking and is responsible for Digital, Social & Mobility Strategy for HDFC bank and inculcating Innovation as a culture & using innovation as a strategic differentiator to gain leadership position in chosen markets.
Earlier, he was Chief Innovation Officer for Citibank and prior to that Head - Remote Banking. Digital Payments & Business Innovations, at Standard Chartered Bank, a leading UK based Bank with strong presence in Asia. He specializes in Digital, Mobile, Social Strategy Formulations and Execution and has a versatile domain knowledge in BFSI sector.
He has extensive depth in Digital, Social, Mobile, Self Service Industry, Digital Payments, Business Innovations, Technology Space, Outsourcing Models, IT Networks set up & management and Purchase/Partner Management.
Rajnish Kumar, CTO/Co-Founder, Ixigo.com
Rajnish would better be known as a Code Ninja (Kiai!), considering his history of technology lifecycle management and several J2EE applications to his credit (used by Amadeus even to this date). Sticking close to his love for both technology and travel, he co - founded ixigo.com with Aloke in June 2006. He is the mean - lean - and - codes - clean kinda guy, heading the Technology process at ixigo.
Rajnish Kumar, Head Digital and Direct to Consumer, ITC Limited
With over 20 years’ experience in the business of International Sourcing, Retail Merchandising, Business Consulting and Digital Transformation of large enterprises, Rajnish has a knack for delivering profit oriented results in a short span of time. Being in leadership roles for two decades, Rajnish has started businesses from the scratch, built winning global teams, and added profit lines successfully across many different industry segments. His varied experience from sourcing products internationally to setting up retail businesses in rural India to consulting the worlds biggest brands on Tech transformation and finally driving the digital and direct to consumer strategy for India's most admired company, enables Rajnish to have a unique perspective, unbound by traditional thought and ways of working.
Rajnish is a published author and loves to pen down short stories in his free time.
Rajshekhar Joshi, Head (Digital Technologies and Transformation), Group IT, Aditya Birla Group
Rajshree Bakshi, Global Vice President - Marketing , Taj Hotels Resorts and Palaces
Rajshree is an experienced hospitality professional with over 18 years of hospitality insights. She has a master’s in marketing and finance and joined the Taj in 1997. Overseeing the company’s worldwide marketing, brand communication, advertising and Loyalty-CRM, Rajshree plays a role in balancing the structured, analytical thinking of science, plus the creative processes of communications, with a bottom-line focus of finance.
Her career highlights include setting up the first online customer feedback system for Taj Hotels Palaces Resorts Safaris, the first Sales force automation system and also the first enterprise level data warehouse system as a stepping stone to customer analysis.
During her tenure, she has contributed to the organization by working on various strategic initiatives including the new brand architecture, and the earlier one. She has also been involved in development of several key award winning global advertising campaigns, creating new products including Taj Weddings, Kids@Taj, Taj Safaris, Vogue Wedding Shows, Taj Wedding Studio and anchoring many customer research and focus groups. Actively involved in brand standards and brand frameworks. Rajshree and her team work closely with hotels to ensure authentic and on brand customer experiences. Her recent milestones has been the unveiling of Tajness philosophy across all Hotels.
Actively involved in community development in India, Rajshree has been championing the cause of education for girls over the last few years.
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.
Rajul Bohra, Partner, JSA
Rajul specializes in General Corporate Commercial, Mergers & Acquisitions, Domestic & Cross Border Investments, Corporate Restructuring and Compliance, Employment and Anti-Corruption & Investigation. She has extensive experience in FDI investments, outbound investments, joint ventures, setting of business operations in India across various industry sectors such as FMCG, healthcare, infrastructure, ecommerce, energy, media, real estate and construction, technology, medical devices, IT/ITes, manufacturing, retail.
She has also advised clients on commercial contracts such as MOUs, supply agreements, distribution and supply agreements, toll manufacturing agreements, non-disclosure and confidentiality agreements, lease deeds, sale deeds, license agreements and service agreements. She regularly advises on Companies Act, 2013, foreign investment and exchange control laws, anti-bribery, contract law, information technology, data privacy & consumer laws.
As part of the employment practice, she is actively advising on labor laws and employment contracts. She has been involved in investigations relating to misconduct of employees.
Rajul also has worked actively on anti-corruption and white collar crime investigations, has conducted trainings and has advised clients on establishing effective compliance mechanisms.
Rakesh Anand, Ex-Chairman & MD, Mazagon Dock