Shri M Venkaiah Naidu, Hon’ble Vice President of India

V Muraleedharan, Hon’ble Minister of State for External Affairs, Government of India

S Niranjan Reddy, Hon’ble Minister for Agriculture and Civil Supplies, Government of Telangana

Mekapati Goutham Reddy, Hon’ble Minister for Industries, Commerce, and Information Technology, Government of Andhra Pradesh

Harish P, IFS, Additional Secretary - Economic Diplomacy and States Division, Ministry of External Affairs

Srini Raju, Managing Director and Co- Founder, Peepul Capital, and Member, ISB Executive Board

Rajendra Srivastava, Dean and Novartis Professor of Marketing Strategy and Innovation, Indian School of Business

D N V Kumara Guru, Director, External Relations, Indian School of Business

S Niranjan Reddy, Hon’ble Minister for Agriculture and Civil Supplies, Government of Telangana

Mekapati Goutham Reddy, Hon’ble Minister for Industries, Commerce, and Information Technology, Government of Andhra Pradesh

Globalisation, as nurtured by the post-cold war liberal order, transformed the organisation of international economic relations ushering an unprecedented level of interconnectedness and interdependence among all countries. But the tectonic geopolitical disruptions of the recent years – from the widening transatlantic rift to the shifting pivot to the Indo-Pacific, from the rise of China as a high power to the new power games in the Gulf – are all upending the established rules of economic engagement and forcing nation-states as well as business community to recast their strategies and search for alternative solutions. As the fastest growing emerging economy and at the same time facing a multitude of vulnerabilities, India is in a unique position to play a vital role in reshaping global economic governance and lead new partnerships. The panel will focus on navigating the geopolitical disruptions to trade and commerce and the challenges and opportunities for India in this context.

André Aranha Corrêa do Lago, Ambassador of Brazil to India

Harinder Sidhu, Australian High Commissioner to India

Harish P, IFS, Additional Secretary - Economic Diplomacy and States Division, Ministry of External Affairs, Government of India

T C A Raghavan, Director General, Indian Council of World Affairs

Chair: Suhasini Haidar, Diplomatic Editor, The Hindu

Cutting edge technologies like AI, machine learning, IoT and digital genomics are drastically changing industrial structures as well as the society at large. Many countries like Japan, Germany, Singapore and Estonia have come up with bold initiatives to accelerate the adoption of these technologies in diverse sectors from industry to governance and from individual to a community level. The anxiety over who would dominate and control such disruptive technologies is already manifesting in new-age tech and trade cold wars. Maximising the benefits and at the same time managing the negative impacts of such disruptive technologies would require new cooperative frameworks that balance concerns related to national security, individual privacy, economic interests and developmental priorities. Unfortunately, existing platforms like WTO have turned out to be ill-suited for facilitating such discussions. Panellists will share their views on how governments can negotiate and evolve new frameworks/models that benefit all stakeholders.

Ajay Kumar, IFS, Joint Secretary, DPA-I, Ministry of External Affairs, Government of India

Jayadev Galla, Hon’ble Member of Parliament and Vice Chairman and Managing Director, Amarara Raja Batteries Ltd

Jayesh Ranjan, IAS, Principal Secretary, Industries and Commerce and Information Technology, Government of Telangana

Joel Reifman, US Consul General in Hyderabad

Suresh Chukkapalli, Honorary Consul General of Republic of Korea, Telangana and Chairman Emeritus - Phoenix Group

Chair: Nandu Nandkishore, Professor of Practice, Indian School of Business

Ease of global travel, the rise of social media and an empowered diaspora have helped project India’s rich cultural and constitutional heritage making India a major soft power state in the world. Various facets of soft power like Bollywood, TV serials, Yoga, Ayurveda, political pluralism and religious diversity have facilitated in their significant way India’s economic engagement with the rest of world and also opened up new opportunities for Indian business. Cultural affinity plays a significant role in gaining trust and clinching trade and investment deals. Soft power and economic diplomacy go hand in hand. Businesses and policymakers need to pay more attention to these aspects. An agenda that calls for focused deliberations in this context is the internationalisation of higher education and how it can strengthen India’s stand as a ‘soft power’ and can be leveraged as a useful tool of economic diplomacy.

Kieran Drake, Minister Counsellor, Political and Press, British High Commission

Nitin Pai, Co-Founder and Director of Takshashila Institution

M V Rajeev Gowda, Hon’ble Member of Parliament

Rujuta Diwekar, Nutrition and Exercise Science Expert

Chair: Ashwini Chhatre, Associate Professor and Academic Director, Bharti Institute of Public Policy, Indian School of Business

The global economy is undergoing substantial structural shifts primarily driven by three megatrends – digital transformation, the economic strength of emerging economies and a possible breakdown of a multilateral framework, within which the global economy has functioned since World War II. Within this context, the salience of the Bretton Wood Institutions in the international monetary and financial systems is diminishing. New multilateral financial institutions like the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank and the New Development Bank have become attractive alternatives for meeting the daunting infrastructure investments needs of developing countries. At the same time efforts such as the Belt and Road Initiative have come with their own set of challenges related to transparency, sovereignty, national security and sustainability of debt. It is essential to see how the rules of international finance can be revisited and existing and new multilateral frameworks strengthened and made more representative.

Amartya Lahiri, Director, Centre for Advanced Financial Research and Learning (CAFRAL)

Shamika Ravi, Member, Prime Minister’s Economic Advisory Council and Director of Research and Senior Fellow - Governance Studies, Brookings India

Chair: Bhagwan Chowdhry, Area Leader and Professor of Finance, Indian School of Business

Krishnamurthy Subramanian, Chief Economic Advisor, Government of India

Shailendra Kumar Joshi, IAS, Chief Secretary, Government of Telangana

Harish P, IFS, Additional Secretary - Economic Diplomacy and States Division, Ministry of External Affairs, Government of India