Our speakers

Ashneer Grover, Co-founder & CEO, BharatPe

Ashneer Grover is the Co-Founder and CEO of BharatPe. A seasoned professional with strong strategic vision and proven expertise across domains in both start-ups and top-tier organizations, Ashneer donned the entrepreneurial hat and co-founded BharatPe in the year 2018 with the vision to drive financial inclusion by building ground-breaking financial solutions for the Indian economy. He is currently building BharatPe as India’s leading fintech company.

BharatPe has not only made mobile payments acceptance free and ubiquitous with a first-of-its-kind zero MDR payment acceptance product, but also launched innovative products in lending and Swipe category.

Within 2.5 years of its operation, BharatPe has emerged as the driving force for the fintech industry in India, with a network of over 6 million merchants spread across 100 cities. BharatPe has become the #1 offline acquirer for UPI QR transactions in the country. The company has been processing 8 crore+ UPI transactions a month with an annualized TPV of over US$ 7 bn). It has disbursed loans of over Rs. 800 crores to small merchants and kirana store owners. Under his leadership, BharatPe has already surpassed its target of facilitating disbursals of Rs. 1000 crores of business loans in FY21, to its merchant partners. BharatPe emerged as the largest B2B fintech lender in India, during the times of the pandemic.

Under Ashneer’s leadership, the Government of India and Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeiTY) recognized BharatPe’s efforts to help digitise India at the grassroot level and awarded BharatPe for Innovation in Digital Payment at its annual awards in August 2019. Ashneer won the ET Now Entrepreneur of the Year award in 2020. He has also won the Business World’s Young Entrepreneur Award. Recently, Ashneer won a place in the Business World Disrupt 40Under40 list of young achievers announced in January 2021.

A startup veteran and an accomplished leader, Ashneer has 15+ years of experience in operations, M&A, investments and business development. He is known as a result-oriented and decisive leader with proven success in new market identification and strategic positioning to establish successful multi-million-dollar start-ups.
In December 2019, Ashneer was invited to Yokohama, Japan, to be a part of the eminent and esteemed panellists who attended the Asia Pacific Initiative Forum, where business leaders from Asia exchanged notes on a common vision for growth and innovation for the next few decades.

Ashneer started his career with Kotak Investment Bank in 2006 after his MBA. His astute analytical skills and attention for detail helped him work his way through the ranks and become the Vice President for Kotak Investment Banking. During his stint at Kotak, Ashneer was instrumental in closing 10 deals that were worth over US$ 3 billion in transaction value. Post that, Ashneer also worked with American Express as Head- Corporate Development, with Grofers as Chief Financial Officer. He also led digital transformation and strategy as Head of Business at PCJ.

Ashneer Grover, Founder BharatPe | Third Unicorn, Shark at Shark Tank India, Author of Best Seller Book Doglapan

Ashok Jain, MD & CEO, Lifespan

Ashok’s own tribulations with diabetes and those of his various family members caused him to grapple with the question of how control over diabetes could be achieved. His work in the Healthcare field brought him in close contact with doctors, pharma companies, and patients.
And the crystallization happened.

An action plan started to take shape. Something that would reach out and check the alarming spread of diabetes, as well as improve the quality of life for diabetics. It had before it, four issues: the increased incidence of prediabetes, the poor doctor-to-diabetics ratio in India, the use of information to bring about change, and the creation of an extensive support system for those affected.

Ashok had noted the fact that India is among the severely affected countries, and there are now many more people with Prediabetes. This condition, where the blood sugar level is above normal, can't be ignored as long-term damage of the heart and circulatory system could have already begun. Therefore, the country should equip itself better to tackle prediabetes too.

Secondly, Ashok realised that any solution had to include and mobilise a large number of doctors in order to respond to the magnitude of the situation. Lifespan Clinic has started doing this.

And to get our society to give more attention to diabetes, Ashok strategically sought the support of a media giant. Lifespan clinic has the support of the Spring Board initiative of the Times of India group to propagate its message of timely action with regard to diabetes.

An eminent advisory panel of diabetes specialists at Lifespan Clinic ensures it has a strong and constantly updated knowledge base. Ashok has assembled a select management team to strengthen the brand in other functions. They bring a lot of experience in the Healthcare field and have contributed with their knowledge of logistics management, designing for service quality, IT systems and user interfaces, marketing and market research, and have abundant empathy with those affected by diabetes.

Lifespan Clinic has a clear set of standards to be maintained across locations. Its agenda includes training, educational materials, and the latest patient care procedures including electronic medical records. Ashok has put a special emphasis on support systems. In addition to personal consultation, clients can get help through e-mail, web chat, phone and video-conferencing.

The mission is to help those with prediabetes to prevent or delay the onset of diabetes, and to help diabetics to keep away its complications, and maintain their productivity and quality of life.

Ashok Kaul, Dy. Director-General, NIC, MeitY, Govt. of India.

Ashok Motiani, CMD, Freshtrop Fruits Ltd

Ashok V. Motiani is the founder & Managing Director of Freshtrop Fruits Limited. Established in 1992, Freshtrop was one of the first private sector companies to foray into the business of exports of fresh produce. The company initiated a successful trial consignment by sea of Kesar Mangoes from South Gujarat to UK in association with Gujarat Agro Industries Corporation. Freshtrop is today the largest Indian exporter of Table Grapes and Pomegranates to the EU. Its post harvest handling facilities are located in Nasik, Sangli and Satara.

Under the leadership of Mr. Motiani, Freshtrop has established a well reputed client base spread across Europe. ASDA (a subsidiary of Wal-Mart) & Tesco in United Kingdom (UK), Delhaize in Belgium and Migros in Switzerland are among its other major customers.

Before founding Freshtrop Fruits Ltd., Mr. Motiani had established a business for manufacturing corrugated boxes in the name of Capital Packaging Pvt. Ltd. in Gujarat. Mr. Motiani received his education in Aeronautical Engineering from IIT Mumbai.

Ashok MS, COO, Accentiv' India

Ashok has over two decades of sales and marketing experience, with the last 12 years focused entirely on loyalty and relationship marketing space. Ashok has worked with companies like Bharat Petroleum, Reliance Industries Ltd. and Direxions Marketing Solutions and has provided customer engagement solutions for various industry verticals including Retail, Oil & Gas, BFSI, Pharmaceuticals, Media, Telecom and Technology. Over the last 5 years, he has been guiding loyalty professionals in successfully conceptualizing and executing loyalty and relationship programs.

Ashok Rajgopal, Partner Recovery & Reorganisation, Grant Thornton Bharat

Ashutosh Garg, CMD, Guardian Lifecare Pvt. Ltd

Mr. Ashutosh Garg is an MBA and has worked in the corporate sector for twenty-five years. He spent seventeen years of his career at ITC Limited, where he rose to become the youngest ever managing director of any ITC group company. In January 1995, he was recognized as the &lsquoGlobal Leader for Tomorrow by the World Economic Forum at Davos, Switzerland. He left ITC the same year and spent eight years in the aerospace industry. In 2003 he started the chain of health and beauty retail outlets in north India under the brand name Guardian Pharmacy, which has now grown to over 117 outlets. He is also the author of the bestselling book &lsquoThe Buck Stops Here.

Mr. Garg is the member of the Young President Organisation since 1994 as well as a charter member of TiE (The Indus Entrepreneurs). He serves on the board of the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization and several companies.

Ashutosh Goel, VP- Group M&A, Mahindra

Ashutosh Khurana, Co-founder & CEO, Mind Edutainment Pvt. Ltd (ThotsLab.com)