India has long been a hotbed for entrepreneurship and business opportunity. But with a reported slowdown in its economy, compounded further by the widespread disruption caused by the Covid-19 pandemic, has the world’s largest democracy lost some of its sparkle, or has this opened the door to new possibilities? As multinationals look to both manage risk and explore new growth opportunities during these uncertain times, what steps have been taken to address some of the concerns - and perhaps misconceptions – around the ease of doing business in India? And, what else needs to be done to ensure India remains a preferred location for international investment?
TMF Group is bringing together some leading lights to discuss just that in a live webinar. The panel will include the Vice Chairman of India’s leading think-tank, Niti Aayog, and senior figures from global organisations, sharing their views and experiences on the challenges and opportunities of doing business in India. A senior news journalist will be moderating the panel to ensure a lively and informative discussion.
About our speakers:
Dr Rajiv Kumar – Vice Chairman, Niti Aayog
Dr Kumar took over as Vice Chairman, NITI Aayog, in the rank of a Cabinet Minister, on 1 September 2017. He also serves as the Chancellor of Gokhale Institute of Politics and Economics, Pune. He has wide experience of having worked in government, academia, industry as well as in multilateral institutions. He was a professor at Indian Institute of Foreign Trade, Delhi and worked with the Asian Development Bank, Manila for 10 years. His earlier stint in Government of India (1989-1994) was initially with the Ministry of Industry and subsequently in the Department of Economic Affairs, Ministry of Finance, as Economic Adviser (1991-1994). Dr. Kumar has a Ph.D. in Economics from Lucknow University and a D. Phil from Oxford University.
Mark Weil – CEO, TMF Group
Mark worked as a consultant for two decades, across Europe, North America and Asia. He rose to become a partner at Oliver Wyman, where he ran the global Retail Banking practice and latterly the EMEA region. Following this he became Marsh’s CEO, UK and Ireland, and during his tenure it became the largest insurance broker in the UK. He has led work on cyber risk for the government. Mark has a degree in Engineering from Cambridge University.
Amit Soni – Senior Managing Director, CVC
Amit Soni is a Senior Managing Director at CVC and leads CVC’s India investment efforts. Prior to joining CVC, he was a principal at General Atlantic where he spent nine years and led the firm's India investment strategy for internet, business services, software and financial technology. Amit holds an MBA from Wharton and a bachelor of technology degree in electrical engineering from IIT Delhi.
Shagun Kumar – Head of South East Asia, TMF Group
Shagun joined TMF Group in 2015 as Managing Director for India and is currently heading the South-East Asia market. Prior to joining TMF Group, Shagun spent half of his career consulting for Anderson, General Electronics and Microsoft. His experience includes leading business enabling functions and consulting across sectors like power, infrastructure, real estate, hardware, manufacturing, food & beverage, private equity. He sits on the board of several MNC clients as an independent director. Shagun had received a Bachelor’s Degree in Commerce from Sri Ram College of Commerce, Delhi University. He is a chartered accounted and a six-sigma black belt holder.
Raghava Rao – VP Finance and CFO, Amazon India
Raghava has 26 years of experience as a finance professional in the FMCG and E-Commerce industry. A career with Hindustan Unilever saw him complete assignments in seven locations and three countries before he took charge as VP, Finance and CFO for Amazon India. In his current role, he is in the center of India’s hottest industry and a senior leader in a team that is building Amazon’s customer franchise in the strongly contested e-commerce battle. He is a Computer Science engineer from IIT Bombay, and an MBA from IIM Calcutta.
Raman Sidhu – CEO, EBG Federation India
Raman is CEO of European Business Group Federation, India. He is also the Senior Adviser at the Accord Group India and an Independent Director on the board of Selan Exploration TechnologyLtd.as well of Cremica Food Industries Ltd. in India. Raman is also one of the 4 Life Trustees of Foundation for Aviation & Sustainable Tourism and a Co-Founder and Past President of the Public Affairs Forum of India (PAFI). He is a qualified Chartered Accountant of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England & Wales and of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in India.