K. V Kamath is the chairman of Infosys and the non-executive chairman of ICICI bank, India's second largest bank. Mr. Kamath has a degree in mechanical engineering and did his management studies at the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad. He started his career in 1971 at ICICI, an Indian financial institution that founded ICICI Bank and merged with it in 2002. In 1988, he moved to the Asian Development Bank and spent several years in South-East Asia before returning to ICICI as its Managing Director & CEO in 1996. Under his leadership, the ICICI Group transformed itself into a diversified, technology-driven financial services group that has leadership positions across banking, insurance and asset management in India, and an international presence. He retired as Managing Director & CEO in April 2009, and took up his present position effective May 1, 2009. Mr. Kamath was conferred with the Padma Bhushan, one of India's highest civilian honours, in 2008.
He has received widespread recognition internationally and in India and was the President of the Confederation of Indian Industry for the year 2008-09. He is also an independent Director on the Board of Lupin Limited, The Great Eastern Shipping Company Limited and Schlumberger Limited. He has been a co-chair of the World Economic Forum's Annual Meeting in Davos and is a member of the Board of the Institute of International Finance.
Baba Kalyani is the Chairman of the Kalyani Group of companies and Chairman & Managing Director of the group’s flagship – Bharat Forge Limited - India’s largest manufacturer and exporter of automotive components. Born in 1949, Mr. Kalyani is a Mechanical Engineer from the Birla Institute of Technology and Science at Pilani, Rajasthan. He also has an M.S. in Engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, USA. The Kalyani group’s annual turnover has joint ventures with leading global companies that include ArvinMeritor, USA, Carpenter Technology Corporation, USA, Hayes Lemmerz, USA, FAW Corporation, China, Gerdau SA, Brazil, Alstom and NTPC. Baba Kalyani’s entrepreneurial capabilities have resulted in the company having achieved global leadership in the forging industry.
Under his leadership, Bharat Forge has transformed into a global company with 11 manufacturing facilities spread across India, USA, Germany, Sweden, and China.
He also pioneered export of automobile components from India to China in 2002. Bharat Forge is country's No.1 exporter of automotive components for eight consecutive years, with exports contributing almost 50% to company's total sales. Mr. Kalyani is the Founder Chairman of Pratham Pune Education Foundation, an NGO that is engaged in providing primary education to children belonging to under privileged sections of the local community. Since its inception in 2000, Pratham Pune has made a difference in the lives of over 100,000 children in Pune society. Mr. Kalyani is also steering a unique initiative to empower rural youth at a Taluka in Pune district by providing free technical and vocational training at a government Industrial Training Institute [ITI] that is being run as a Public-Private partnership. The pioneering model is being replicated in other parts of the country. Mr. Kalyani also supports various other NGOs and charitable institutes engaged in education and in uplifting quality of lives of the disadvantaged and needy.
Akhil K. Gupta is a Senior Managing Director and Chairman of Blackstone India and is based in Mumbai. Since joining Blackstone in 2005, Mr. Gupta’s primary role has been to manage private equity transactions in India. Before joining Blackstone, Mr. Gupta served as CEO – Corporate Development for Reliance Industries Limited and Reliance Infocomm Limited. During Mr. Gupta’s tenure, the Reliance group was India’s largest private sector business with diversified interests in petrochemicals, energy, power, telecom and financial services. Mr. Gupta’s efforts at Reliance were ocused on developing Reliance’s oil and gas, refining and telecom businesses. Mr. Gupta began his career at Hindustan Lever, India’s largest multi-national corporation. From 1981 to 1992 he worked in the United States, first in consulting with Strategic Planning Associates and ICF in Washington D.C., then as Senior Vice President and CFO of Krauses Sofa and then as CFO and COO of Stylus Inc.
Mr. Gupta received a B.Tech. in Chemical Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi, where he graduated with distinction, and an MBA from the Graduate School of Business, Stanford University. Mr. Gupta serves as a Director of AllCargo Global Logistics, CMS Computers, Emcure Pharmaceuticals, Gokaldas Exports, Intelenet Global Services, MTAR Technologies, Monnet, Moser Baer, Nagarjuna Construction Company and SKR BPO Services.
Janmejaya Sinha, managing director and chairman of Asia operations at the Boston Consulting Group. Mr Sinha’s primary focus is financial services and he has worked with clients in the United States, the United Kingdom, Europe, Australia and India on strategy, corporate governance, risk, operations, and organization. Before becoming a consultant, he worked for ten years with the Reserve Bank of India across various departments. He has a Ph.D. from Princeton University's Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs; a B.A. and an M.A. in economics from Clare College, Cambridge University; and a B.A. and an M.A. in history from St. Stephen's College, Delhi University.
Rama Bijarpurkar runs a market strategy consulting practice and works with an impressive list of Indian and global companies, guiding the development of their business-market strategies. She describes her mission as bringing "market focus to business strategy". She also serves as an independent director on the boards of Axis Bank, CRISIL, Give Foundation (a not-for-profit company) and Mahindra Holidays & Resorts India Ltd.
Rama is the founding Chairperson of NCAER-CMCR, the new research centre set up within NCAER to build and disseminate knowledge and insight on India's consumer economy for use in business strategy and public policy.
An alumna of the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad, Rama continues to be involved with her alma mater where she is a Visiting Faculty and also serves on the Board of Governors.
Rama's work experience has been in market research and strategy consulting and includes leadership positions with McKinsey & Company, MARG (now AC Nielsen India), and full time consulting with Hindustan Lever (now Hindustan Unilever India).
Her new book "We are like that only - Understanding the Logic of Consumer India", (The Indian edition, Penguin) has been well received and very favourably reviewed. The international edition is called "Winning in the Indian Market - Understanding the Transformation of Consumer India", (John Wiley & Sons).
