Our speakers

Amith Agarwal, Executive Director, Star AgriWarehousing & Collateral Management Limited

Amith Agarwal is the whole-time Executive Director - and one of the founder members of StarAgri. An entrepreneur with the right blend of managerial and business acumen, Amith plays a key role in realizing StarAgri’s vision of integrated development of India’s rural ecosystem.

He is responsible for managing corporate tie-ups, legal and financial matters and business development activities at StarAgri. Under his stewardship, StarAgri has evolved into a market-leading brand, building trusted long-term partnerships and creating value amongst various stakeholders. He drives the human resource and leadership development responsibility in the company with a key focus on building a professional organization.

He is a sought after management professional in the areas of warehouse receipt and collateral finance and is known for creating unique channel partnerships in the rural finance business. He has established numerous successful relationships with leading financial institutions for their rural lending and financing business. Known for his flair and drive in driving relationships and deploying innovative ideas, he is driving the creation of a global mindset within the company. His dual experience of dealing with rural India and corporates alike is helping in bridging the information divide and modernizing the rural sector.

Amith has attended an Advanced Management Development Program (MDP) at Harvard Business School and holds an MBA from Mumbai University. An innovative thinker and visionary, Amith’s views are often published in leading Indian and international magazines.

Amith Karan, Managing Director, Alvarez & Marsal

Amiya Pathak, Director- Product Management, Twitter

Amiya is passionate about disruptive business models involving products and technology to solve problems in a scalable manner. He is a firm believer that there is a lot of whitespace in current offerings for the markets, and the same could be addressed in a scalable manner through an understanding of users, eco-system, products and technology.

His areas of specialization includes, mobile based platforms for emerging markets, building and scaling distributed engineering and product teams at multiple early-stage startups to the next level and taking technology to the market through various partnerships and alliances.

Prior to Twitter, he was the Director- Project Management of ZipDial, a mobile first platform which drives user connections across all traditional media, product packaging, points of sale and also online media. In 2014, ZipDial was ranked the 8th most innovative company in the world in FastCompany's list of the World's 50 Most Innovative Companies, among industry leaders like Google, Apple and Twitter.

Amiya graduated from IIT Kanpur in Computer Science and did his MBA from IIM Kolkatta.
@amiyapathak

Amna Abbasi, Founder & CEO, Etashee

Amna Abassi, the founder and CEO of Etashee.com always had a sincere passion for women's fashion and it’s her zeal that led her to build Etashee.com. Academically, she holds a Master’s degree in Computer Applications (MCA) and a B.Sc (Hons) Mathematics graduate  from Aligarh Muslim University.

After 10 years working in top firms like IBM and TCS, she perceived that in spite of spending a lot on clothes, women have no space to keep clothes and nothing to wear. She thought it would be a great opportunity to provide a platform where they can share such clothes & earn money for it. She finally brought her dreams into fruition in 2014 and started Etashee.com.

Amna is shaping Etashee.com to emphasize each woman’s uniqueness and individuality. From clothing, footwear to accessories, Etashee.com endeavour to bring everything unique at throwaway prices.

Amol Arora, Vice-Chairman & MD, Shemrock & Shemford Group of Schools

Mr. Amol Arora (B.E. (Delhi College of Engineering), MBA (University of California, Irvine, USA), P.G. Researcher in Education Leadership & Management at University of Nottingham, UK) is the Vice-Chairman & Managing Director of SHEMROCK & SHEMFORD Group of Schools. He is a visionary person with a multi-dimensional personality.

Mr. Amol Arora is the prime force behind building the SHEMROCK brand on the strength of its franchise model and also in transferring the same stress-free and fun-filled learning environment to SHEMFORD Futuristic Schools. As a tribute to his contribution to the education fraternity in India, Mr. Amol Arora has been honoured for “Outstanding Contribution to the Indian Education System” by the Independent Schools Federation of India in 2006. He also received “Young Entrepreneur of the Year 2006” Award by the Lt. Governor of Delhi. He is a regular speaker at various Educational Leadership Conclaves, Conferences and Seminars in the country, including VCCircle, TiE, ICSI, Eduvision, DIDAC, World Education Summit (WES), One Globe, India Learning Expo etc.

Amrish Rau, CEO, PayU India

As the CEO of PayU India, India’s leading digital payment solution providers, B. Amrish Rau is at the forefront of driving digital transformations in the Indian financial services space. 

Amrish was the co-promoter and Managing Director of Citrus Pay, a leading consumer payments company, working to simplify payments for online merchants and consumers. Upon Citrus Pay’s acquisition by PayU, Amrish came on board as the CEO and reported directly to Global CEO, Laurent le Moal. Amrish has played a pivotal role in leveraging technology to disrupt the fast evolving payments industry and provide differentiated, contextual and experiential solutions.

Holding Bachelor’s degree in Engineering, Amrish has previously essayed leadership roles at several noteworthy organizations, extending top-notch payment solutions.  Working as the General Manager of ASEAN Region in NCR Corporation, Rau went on to serve as the Vice President and Country Manager of First Data Corporation, one amongst the largest electronic payment services companies in India. Owing to his grit and professional expertise, Rau grew to become CEO of the organization, overlooking First Data Merchant Solutions in Asia.

With his deep knowledge of internet payments and products, he worked to enable secure payments anytime, anywhere and any way for thousands of online businesses. He founded and led as the MD for ICICI Merchant Services (a JV between FDC and ICICI Bank ).

He brings a wealth of experience, having worked with large banks to implement payments and delivery channel strategies and improve their customer acquisition practices. Rau has worked closely with Indian telecom service providers to improve their business intelligence infrastructure and drive higher ROI through pro-active churn management and reduced revenue leakages.

He has 2 children and wife works for DBS Bank Singapore.

Amrish Rau, MD, Citrus Payment Solutions Pvt Ltd

Amrish is the MD for Citrus Payments one of India’s premier payments firm. He is responsible for leading and driving the business for internet and mobile payments. The Citrus Mission, is to simplify making and taking payments for millions of consumers and online merchants. Amrish brings the philosophy of “Mobile First” to the business. He continues to work with leading financial institutions and online retailers to aid the acceptance of electronic payments across India.

As CEO for First Data Merchant Solutions Asia, Amrish provided leadership for the company’s fastest-growing regions, covering many of the largest commerce markets in the world, from Singapore to China and India. Based in Singapore, he was responsible for increasing the company’s presence and local payment capabilities to capitalize on the explosive growth of e-commerce and m-commerce. With his deep knowledge of internet payments and products, he worked to enable secure payments anytime, anywhere and any way for thousands of online businesses. He founded and led as the MD for ICICI Merchant Services (a JV between FDC and ICICI Bank).

Prior to joining First Data, Rau was general manager of the payment services business for NCR Corporation in Southeast Asia. He worked closely with the Reserve Bank of India to develop and implement the image based payment system for cheques in India. During his tenure with NCR, Rau also held the role of general manager for Teradata India.

He brings a wealth of experience, having worked with large banks to implement payments and delivery channel strategies and improve their customer acquisition practices. Rau has worked closely with Indian telecom service providers to improve their business intelligence infrastructure and drive higher ROI through pro-active churn management and reduced revenue leakages. Before joining NCR, he worked with Siemens Nixdorf and was a part of their financial services line of business. Rau holds a degree in electronic engineering and is constantly pushing the envelope at CitrusPay.

Amrit Singh, SVP & Head of Business Strategy, Max Life Insurance

Amrit Singh is the Head of Strategy for Max Life Insurance and works on various mandates around growth and profitability. His responsibilities include driving the growth agenda through new business model innovations and new business incubation. He plays a critical role in augmenting the inorganic efforts for the organization. Overall he is responsible for strategy development, governance and execution at Max Life.

He has 14+ years of experience across financial services (Banks, NBFCs, Wealth Management, HFCs etc) sector in India. He has worked in core areas of execution such as new business scale-up, sales transformation, operational improvement, spend rationalization, merger integration etc. to strategic areas such as business development, capital raising, M&A evaluation efforts, portfolio decisions and strategy development

Amul Gabrani, Vice-Chairman & MD, Tecpro Systems Ltd

Amul Gabrani - Amul Gabrani, is Vice-Chairman & Managing Director of Tecpro Systems. He holds a bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering from Delhi College of Engineering and a master’s degree in business administration from the University of Delhi.

He started his career with Ingersoll Rand in 1981 and has more than 28 years of experience in the material handling industry. He was associated with Voltas Limited from 1984 to 1986 and thereafter worked with Fenner (India) Limited until 1990. He has been a member of Board of Directors since incorporation.

Amuleek Singh Bijral, Founder & CEO, Chai Point

Amuleek Singh Bijral is a full-time MBA graduate from Harvard Business School, class of 2006. He also holds a bachelors degree in Electrical engineering from T.I.E.T Patiala. He was the Managing Director, RSA for India and SAARC before starting this venture. Prior to his MBA, he worked in multiple roles at Microsoft Corporation.

He hails from Jammu & Kashmir and is a born Mountains person. For the past several years is based out of Bangalore and considers himself a native.

Mr. Amuleek Singh Bijral, brand custodian of Chai Point, and Founder and CEO of Mountain Trail Foods Pvt. Ltd, believes in scaling the market by building an emotive brand that leverages technology and an ever increasing digital lifestyle.