The inaugural ceremony was graced by dignitaries including

·         Shri Arpit Chadha, Vice Chairman, I.T.S.  The Education Group; 

·         Honorable Chief Guest, Shri Harivansh Narayan Singh, Deputy Chairman, Rajya Sabha, New Delhi;

·         Guests of Honour, Prof. S. K. Kak, Former Vice Chancellor, Mahamaya Technical University (Now AKTU) Lucknow and CCS University, Meerut

·         Guests of Honour, Dr. Manoranjan Sharma, Chief Economist, Informatics Rating, New Delhi.

The ceremonial lamp lighting and Saraswati Vandana was followed by the welcome address by Dr. V. N. Bajpai, Director. He formally welcomed all the dignitaries and participants from various institutes and elaborated on the focal theme of the conference.

Shri Arpit Chadha described the importance of the topic in the current scenario. He encouraged the students to listen actively to the assembled guests.

Dr. Manoj K. Jha, Conference Convenor, briefed about the objectives and shared the overview of the two day conference.

During the ceremony, the commemorative journal of the conference was released by the Chief Guest and  Dignitaries.

Shri Harivansh Narayan Singh spoke about living in an age of rapid technological evolution with AI, ML, Cloud Computing and Data Analytics affecting almost every field.

Prof S. K. Kak, provided food for thought on the conference theme, advising participants to evaluate whether disruption is due to Data Analytics and Digitalization, and whether these two are the solutions for the disruption.

Dr. Manoranjan Sharma commended India’s financial and banking sector for embracing digitalization and technology. He also quoted Indians as being resilient for fighting back through difficult times and motivated participants towards a brighter future.

The session concluded with mementos being presented to all the distinguished guests as a token of appreciation. 

The Program was initiated under the presence of Mr. Ramesh Bharti, Product Head, Equity at Geojit Financial Services Ltd,  Mr. Manish Kumar, State Head, Geojit Financial Services Ltd, Mr. Bhavuk Garg, Senior Manager, Geojit Financial Services Ltd, Ms. Moumita Goswami, BSE, Geojit Financial Services Ltd, Mr. Sachin Narang, Senior Manager – HDFC AMC, Dr. V.N. Bajpai, Director, Dr. Anusha Agarwal, Chairperson PGDM and Dr. Neeraj Sanghi, Professor (Finance).

Dr. V.N. Bajpai and Dr. Anusha Agarwal welcomed the distinguished guests of the session, by giving plaques and gifts. Dr. Bajpai discussed the importance of such seminars for participants in his inaugural address. Dr. Anush Agarwal emphasized on importance of investment for participants in her address. Dr. Neeraj Sanghi, in his seminal introduction, discussed traditional and modern investment behavior of the investors and its implications.

Mr. Ramesh Bharti, disseminated the knowledge of various investment avenues to the participants in his session. He briefly introduced the participants about investment in banks, post office schemes, public provident fund, equity shares, mutual funds etc. He discussed the power of compounding and rule of 72 and their importance in equity and mutual fund investments with the participants.

Mr. Sachin Narang explained the concept of mutual funds to the participants. He discussed the types of mutual funds and expected returns of mutual funds and equity in long run. In his session, he emphasized on long term investment and clarity of investment goals for mutual fund investment.

It was an interactive session as participants asked their quires related to the contents covered during the seminar. The resource persons answered the quires of the participants. In concluding remarks, Dr. Neeraj Sanghi extended thanks to all the guests for their benign presence.

This one day Convention was organized under the aegis of Institution’s Innovation Council (IIC), MIC-MoE and MSME. The convention witnessed a huge participation from industry and academia along with the students.

The event began with the auspicious lamp lighting ceremony and invocation of Goddess Saraswati. The convention commenced with the enriching address by Shri Arpit Chadha, Vice Chairman, I.T.S - The Education Group. He warmly welcomed all the eminent speakers and shared his valuable insights on the emergent theme of the convention, its role and importance to the Indian economy and involvement of youth to drive it coming years. He emphasised participants to take maximum learning from the deliberations of all the experts and practitioners to be shared across various sessions.

Prof. (Dr.) V.N Bajpai, Director Management presented the welcome address where he introduced the theme of the convention and shared his viewpoints on the informal economy and its relevance in today’s scenario. Dr. Rajeev Johari, Convenor provided the overview of the convention and the program flow.

The Inaugural session was graced by Mr. Anil Patni, Team Leader EU Policy and Outreach Project (India & France) as Chief Guest, Mr. Rahul Sharma, Managing Director, APCO World Wide and Dr. Rajat Kathuria, Professor & Dean, Shiv Nadar University, Former Director and Chief Executive Indian Council for Research on International Economic Relations (ICRIER).

Mr. Anil Patni, Team Leader EU Policy and Outreach Project (India & France), Chief Guest of the convention deliberated upon the importance of Informal Economy as being informal doesn’t means non-existent, and importantly it has a major part to play in GDP.

Mr. Rahul Sharma, Managing Director, APCO World Wide, as the keynote speaker expressed his thoughts over the emergent ‘Knowledge Economy’ giving its way to the gig economy wherein technology has proved to be the major enabler.

Dr. Rajat Kathuria, Professor & Dean, Shiv Nadar University, Former Director and Chief Executive Indian Council for Research on International Economic Relations (ICRIER), was the other keynote speaker who expressed concern over greater urbanisation and new characteristics of the city and its people who do not prefer to own assets.

The session was quite interactive as participants asked many relevant questions and the eminent speakers answered them to their satisfaction. At the end of the inaugural session, Dr. V.N Bajpai presented virtual plaques to all the honorable speakers as a token of remembrance and gratitude.

The first panel discussion involved Mr. S. K. Gautam, CEO, UDYAM; Mr. Ramanan Ramanathan , Former Additional Secretary NITI Ayog, New Delhi; Dr. Raj Agarwal, Professor and Director, CME-AIMA, New Delhi; Mr. Anand Mirani, Director & Lead Advisor, Simplus Exim & Corporate Advisory LLP;and Ms. Hanadi Khalife, Senior Director- IMA, Middle East, Africa & India Operations.

Mr SK Gautam initiated proceedings by speaking about “Informal Economy & Invisible Hand”. He shared data on the Indian government’s  contribution to the startup ecosystem, also taking time to stress upon women entrepreneurship and their contribution to Indian economy.

Dr Raj Agarwal emphasised upon the collaboration between academia and industry for promoting an environment of entrepreneurship. He also spoke about the culture of entrepreneurship during the course of the globalisation, privatisation and liberalisation process.

Mr. Anand Mirani started his deliberation with a story of ants and stressed upon becoming butterfly in the times to come. He hoped that students would take the chance to explore possibilities. He highlighted entrepreneurial attitude, adaptability to change and VUCA world through various examples.

Mr. Ramanan Ramanathan stressed on various features of the Atal innovation mission along with the demographic dividend being exploited by India. He shared examples and quotations of Steve Job, Dr A.P.J Abdul Kalam and Swami Vivekananda to reinforce his concepts on innovations, creativity and entrepreneurship.

Panel Discussion 1 ended with the vote of thanks by Dr V.N. Bajpai and sharing of Plaque of Honor to all the panel members.

The second panel discussion included Mr Surendra Nath, IAS, Former Secretary, Govt. of India; Dr Vipin Kumar, Director and Chief Information Officer, National Innovation Foundation, DST, Govt. of India; Prof. Birendra Kumar, Dr Rajendra Prasad Agriculture Central University Bihar; Mr Ashwinder R. Singh, CEO, Bhartiya Urban; Dr Sanjeev Kumar Saxena, Assam University; and Mr Ankur Bisen, Senior Partner, Technopak Advisors.

Mr. Surendra Nath initiated the session by explaining the background of informal economy; how to increase the productivity of the informal economy; the working population of the country, core issues of employment & productivity; and how 40 crore people are engaged in different industries of which 20 crore in agriculture, 8 crore in construction, 5 crore in forestry, 4 crore in hotels, 2 crore in animal husbandry and 1 crore in handicrafts.

Mr. Sanjeev Kumar Saxena discussed about the resilience of the hospitality industry in Covid-19, including how the industry coped with revenue downfall because of foreign restriction and lockdowns. He further discussed how they have planned the strategic approach during the pre and post pandemic era.

Mr. Ashwinder R Singh expressed his views about the role of technology in the real estate sector and how residential real estate has grown in the last couple of years during the pandemic. He further explained some of the challenges for the real estate industry, such as the low rental rates.

Mr. Vipin Kumar discussed about the startups in the services sector and how they have grown into unicorns in a very short time. He went on to talk about employment generation with startups and experimentations in the food industry.

Mr. Ankur Bisen highlighted the importance of the informal economy in pandemic and how society needs to invest more in defining the informal economy. He also addressed issues like quality of employment, human rights, lack of framework in informal economy and economic growth of India.

Panel Discussion II was then concluded with the presentation of a virtual plaque of honour as a token of gratitude.

Overall the various sessions of the convention were very lively and instructive for all present. Students gained a variety of insights which are expected to broaden there horizons while also apprising them about opportunities coming up in a growing job market.

The Virtual Business Summit had an enlightening Inaugural session followed by insightful panel discussions. All the renowned resource persons presented deep insights on the focal theme of “Resilience & Reinvention of Business in the GIG Economy”

Following renowned Experts deliberated on the given theme-

·         Mr. Venkatesh Mahadevan, Chief Information Officer, Dubai Investments, PJSC, Dubai, U.A.E 

·         Mr. Naresh Priyadarshi, CEO, IIITD Innovation & Incubation Center, IIIT Delhi -

·         Mr. Amit Kumar, CEO, OLX Auto, 

·         Mr. Anupam Saronwala, Advisor Mentor, Angel Investor, Former Country Leader, IBM Research

·         Ms. RashmiMansharamani, CHRO, Wave Group

·         Mr. Gursharan Rai Bansal, CGM & Chief Sales Marketing officer, India Post Payments Bank

·         Mr. Prashant Pal, CEO & Founder, Pure India Trust, Jaipur

·         Mr. Kaushal Mahtani, Senior Principal, Accenture Strategy

·         Ms. Lakshika Joshi, Global Lead IP Counsel & AVP Legal, Capgemini Engineering

·         Mr. Amit Katariya, Global CHRO, Hanu Software

The event commenced with the virtual invocation of Goddess Saraswati. The program commenced with the enriching address by Shri Arpit Chadha, Vice Chairman, I.T.S - The Education Group. Prof. (Dr.) V.N. Bajpai, Director- I.T.S Ghaziabad warmly welcomed all the eminent speakers and shared his valuable insights on the focal theme with the audience. An overview of the summit and introduction of the theme was given by Business Summit Convener, Dr. Anusha Agarwal.

The inaugural session was graced by honorable Chief Guest Mr. Venkatesh Mahadevan, Chief Information Officer, Dubai Investments, PJSC Dubai, U.A.E.He motivated the participants to embrace the practical knowledge and use their inquisitiveness for building agility and for betterment of their future.

Mr. Naresh Priyadarshi, CEO,IIITD Innovation & Incubation Center, IIIT Delhi distinguished Guest of Honor the day, described digital marketplace, listing platforms and asset sharing as the three pillars of GIG Economy and inspired participants to look for other options to become a disruptor themselves.

Mr. Amit Kumar, CEO,OLX Auto the keynote speaker of the inaugural session, delivered his keynote address highlighting the meaning of GIG economy as having virtual workers doing temporary jobs at their freedom. He also stressed that disruption is around the corner for most of the sectors and they need to embrace the change to be successful.

During the first Panel Session, Ms. Rashmi Mansharamani, CHRO-Wave Group introduced the theme Innovate, Integrate and Motivate for Sustainable Organizations. She explained why resilience and reinvention are important in an organization and how pandemic has impacted the organizations through the hybrid workplace. She further emphasized that empathy and trust along with relevant decision making can build socially sustainable organizations.

Mr. Gursharan Rai Bansal, CGM & Chief Sales Marketing officer,India Post Payments Bank discussed how technology is helping organizations to be agile and adaptable in order to sustain in this pandemic era

During the Panel Session-II, the summit witnessed stimulating discussions from the esteemed panelist on the theme of Entrepreneurism and Business Growth – Thriving in Turbulent Times.

Mr. Anupam Saronwala Advisor Mentor, Angel Investor, Former Country Leader, IBM Research, highlighted some important characteristics of GIG workers and emphasized that the biggest characteristic of GIG economy is absence of the fear of failure. Mr. Prashant Pal, CEO & Founder, Pure India Trust, Jaipur, briefly discussed about the upcoming contractual and freelance work environment. Mr. Kaushal Mahtani, Senior Principal, Accenture Strategy stressed on the changing nature of work which is giving way to contractual jobs and agile workforce. Ms. Lakshika Joshi Global Lead IP Counsel & AVP Legal, Capgemini Engineering, talked about legal protections available globally for GIG workers which India can adapt during its journey on the challenging growth path.                         Mr. Amit Katariya Global CHRO, Hanu Software, elaborated on the efforts of organizations in managing and engaging their workforce towards the transition from pandemic to post pandemic scenario.

The 6th Edition of I.T.S Business Summit 2022 thus concluded with the Institute’s students and guests learning through the combined experience of various Industry stalwarts from a variety of fields. The young leaders of tomorrow were left with a refreshed sense of motivation to work towards a brighter and smarter India. Prof. (Dr.) V N Bajpai presented virtual plaques to all the eminent guests as a token of gratitude. The beauty of the summit was evident from the way the audience kept peppering the sessions with different questions aimed at the panelists and the speakers’ enlightening remarks on the same.

with an objective to understand the changing face of HR and disruptive development during pandemic.

The inaugural session was graced by the benign presence of Shri Arpit Chadha, Vice Chairman, I.T.S - The Education Group, Chief Guest Mr. Ashutosh Anshu CHRO, Hitachi India, Guest of Honour Mr. Subir Verma, CHRO and Head HR & IR Tata Power, Shri Surinder Sood, Director (PR), I.T.S - The Education Group, Dr. Vidya Sekhri, Former Director & Professor Emeritus, I.T.S Ghaziabad and Prof. Durba Roy, Program Convener.

The inaugural ceremony commenced with the lamp lighting followed by Saraswati Vandana. The Welcome address was presented by Dr. Vidya Sekhri, and Session Overview was given by Prof. Durba Roy.

The session also witnessed the energetic opening remarks by the Shri Surinder Sood and an inspiring and motivational inaugural address by Shri. Arpit Chadha.

Honourable Chief Guest Mr. Ashutosh Anshu, shared his valuable experience with the students and focused on three Cs in terms of Communication, Coordination and Collaboration to be successful in the professional arena.

Guest of Honour Mr. Subir Verma discussed with the students about the major technical, digital and HR disruptions and how budding managers should handle these disruptions.

At the end, I.T.S plaques were presented to the eminent guests of the inaugural session as a token of respect.

Inaugural session was followed by two panel discussions.

Panel Session 1 - "Work From Home - A new Paradigm"

Speakers from different fields and vintage shared their experiences of navigating adversity and turning disruption that they faced during the pandemic.

- Mr. Agniwesh Thakur, Lead HCM, Accenture

- Mr. Debargha Deb, Head HR - North, Dabur Ltd.

- Ms. Nidhi Jain, MD, Apex P. Ltd.

- Ms. Richa Sahay, Head HR, Human Circle

- Ms. Sincy Joseph, HR-OD Professional, ICF-ACC Coach (Leadership and Life); Group Dynamics Trainer (ISABS)

Dr. V N Bajpai, Dean welcomed all the speakers by presenting the plant saplings.

Students also raised various questions which were nicely answered by the speakers.

At the end Each speaker was honored with a plaque at the conclusion of the panel discussion.

Panel Session 2 - "Digital Disruptions and HR"

- Mr. Neeraj Narang, Director – HCM Strategy, Oracle

- Ms. Priyanka Srivastava, AGM HR, CNH Industrial India Pvt. Ltd.

- Mr. Manoj Kumar, AVP & Head HR, Indiannica Learning Pvt. Ltd.

- Mr. Shivshant Kumar, Sr. Director & Head HRIS,Jubiliant Pharmova

- Mr. Devmani Pandey, Head HR Operations, Dalmia Cements & Hippo Stores.

After the end of the panel discussion, each speaker was felicitated with the plaque as a token of remembrance.

At the end of HR Conclave 2021, Prof. Shilpi Rana, conclave coordinator offered a vote of thanks to all esteemed guests for their insightful words discussing current HR trends.

HR Conclave 2021 panel discussions contributed to the success of the conclave and ensured lively discussion of the issues.

This was the platform where we had opportunity to interact with the top leaders and stalwarts of different organizations from academic institutions/universities, business houses and non government organizations of national and international repute.

Inaugural Session:

The Inaugural Session commenced with welcome Address of Director Management Prof.(Dr.) Vidya Sekhri.  Director (Management) mentioned how the lockdown restrictions halted most economic activities and led to job losses for millions of people with revenue streams being affected for sectors like hospitality, travel and tourism. The honorable Vice Chairman Sir Shri Arpit Chadha thanked all the distinguished guests and expressed the hope that the two day deliberations would lead to dissemination of new ideas while laying down the path for future research.  Convener of the conference Prof. (Dr) Manoj Kumar Jha laid down overview, objectives, agenda and features of the event and described the conference as a forum for the confluence of ideas. Guest of Honor Dr. Rakesh Mohan Joshi mentioned importance of Indian culture. He also talked about India as the fastest growing economy. He emphasized on various milestones that have been achieved by the India during this pandemic despite all the barriers. Chief Guest of the conference Prof. Anil D. Sahasrabudhe, Chairman, All India Council of Technical Education (AICTE) elaborated on how cooperation and collaboration are more important than the competition. He also spoke about how AICTE is providing training to the teachers through ATAL training, training for AI, 3D printing, Robotics, Augmented Reality etc. and how UGC, AICTE, Council of Architecture and Council of Pharma are working together under the Higher Education Commission of India so as to improve the quality of education and research for the betterment of the nation. Conference Special International E-Journal titled “International Journal of Advance Innovative Research” published by “Indian Academicians and Researchers Association” was released in presence of esteemed Chief Guest, Guest of Honor, dignitaries and participants of the conference during inaugural session.

 Technical Session 1:  Marketing

 1. Session Chair: Dr. Pankaj Priya, Professor BIMTECH, Greater Nioda

 2. Distinguished Speaker: Dr. Ajay Rathor, Director, TIAS, New Delhi

 3. Session Cordinator: Dr. Garima Srivastav, I.T.S Mohan Nagar, Gaziabad

 Dr. Pankaj Priya ( Professor, BIMTECH, Gr. Noida) shared opening remarks and  addressed the audience, how it has impacted in pre and post covid phase of business and industry. Dr. Ajay Rathor mentioned ongoing changes due to Reform, Perform and Transform in service, manufacturing and infrastructure sectors. Nineteen (19) Research papers were online presented in this session by faculty members and researchers of various institutions of the country.

Plenary Session by Distinguished speakers

Prof. Ronnie Figueiredo (Professor at Europeia, Associate Editor INMR JournaL) explained Spinner Innovation Model, which is developed by himself. He said that the Spinner Innovation Model is a model based on Knowledge Intensive services. Dr. Souha Akiki Svahn President and Founder of Innovative knowledge Institute & Paris Graduate School, France) emphasized on the future of education. She talked about how we need to improve the education system and align the education with industry needs. Prof David Wittenberg ( ISME College of Management and Entrepreneurship Mumbai)  used a very simple and relevant analogy of cricket to make us understand how to win India in the Global Economy. He told three steps i.e. Strategize, Equip and Execute to make India a successful global player.Prof. Justin Paul (Distinguished Professor UPR, IIMK, Editor in Chief International Journal   of Consumer Studies)  talked about Survival versus Success. He said that in these challenging situations, first we need to survive and subsequently try to succeed. Lastly, Mr. Ivan Muniz Rothgiesser (Director en ACCEDU),Peru threw lights on the change and collaboration. He emphasized on collaboration rather than competition to deal with any situation.

Technical Session 2:  Finance and General Management

1.Session Chair: Dr. Deepak Tandon,  Senior Professor, IMI New Delhi

2.Distinguished Speaker: Dr. Jyoti Rana, Dean, Vishwakarma Skill University, Girgaon

 Session Coordinator: Dr. Anusha Agrawal , I.T.S Mohan Nagar

 Dr. Deepak Tandon shared opening remarks and  addressed the audience on topic of innovation for using business & corporate finance, corporate credit, credit management ,syndicate finance, banking and insurance, Behavioural research ,taxation on digital goods and  E-auctions. Dr. Jyoti Rana emphasized on need and promotion of research in educational institution and motivated scholars and students for qualitative research work in their respective areas. Fourteen (14) research papers were presented researchers from different.

Technical Session 3 HR and General Management

1. Session Chair: Dr. Amit  Srivastav, Associate Professor, TAPai Management institute

2. Session Co Chair: Dr. Amita Shivhare, NMIMS Mumbai

3. Distinguished Speaker: Dr. Anoop Pant, Professor and Program Director, Sharda University Gr Nojda

Session Coordinator: Dr. D. K. Pandey, I.T.S Mohan Nagar, Ghaziabad

Dr. Anoop pant gave opening remarks on contemporary Human resource management practices and emphasized on changing role of Human Resource Department during the covid-19 outbreak and its strategic role in achieving global competitiveness and sustainable development. Fourteen (14) research papers were presented during the session and was duly examined by jury members based on the evaluation criteria. A parallel track for students was also organized for paper presentation by students in which 11 papers were presented by students from various institutions. Lastly, Valedictory speech was given by Director Management Dr. Vidya Sekhri followed by announcement of result made by Prof. Yachna Malhotra and finally event was closed by vote of thanks by Dr. Vivek Pachauri.                   

 Best Paper Awards;

Dr Badal B Rath Product Manager, Webinar Planet, bhvaneshwar  1st Position (Marketing Track)

Prof. Ambili K P, Zamorin’s Guruvayoorappan College, Calicut- 2nd Position (Marketing Track)

Ms. Sana Vakeel, ITS Engg College, Greater Noida- 1st Position (Finance Track)

Dr. Ajay Singh, ABES Engineering College, Ghaziabad-2nd Position (Finance Track)

Prof. Anita Ramrakhyani, -1st Position (HR Track) Research Scholar RKDF University Bhopal

Prof. Mala Sharma I.T.S Ghaziabad

The program commenced with the enriching address by Shri Arpit Chadha, Vice Chairman, I.T.S - The Education Group and welcome address by Prof. (Dr.) Vidya Sekhri, Director- Management. The overview of the summit was delivered by Convener, Dr. Anusha  Agarwal. The inaugural session was graced by the presence of Mr. Ashish Patel, Managing Director- Morgan Franklin (U.S), as the Guest of Honor; Mr. Rajendra Shrivastav, President, AES India, Chairman & MD of JV, as distinguished Guest of the day and Mr. Phoram Mehta, Senior Director, APAC CISO PayPal, President ISACA, (Singapore) as the chief Guest of the ceremony.

Followed by the Inaugural Ceremony, the summit highlighted very prominent points via Panel Discussion- 1with the subtheme – New Frontiers of Environment, Sustainability & Governance deliberated by eminent speakers from Industry. Mr. S.K. Sethi, Founder &CEO, Insurance Foundation of India discussed how environment is changing rapidly and how each one of us should contribute towards it. He talked about three pillars, primarily, Government, Industry and Society whose combined contribution play a major role towards environment sustainability.

Next speaker of the session, Mr. Saurabh Jain, Vice President PAYTM discussed about how the environment changed during lockdown. He emphasized that “future belongs to entrepreneurs” and quoted the example of Elon Musk, how his idea Tesla and SpaceX contributed towards sustainability and made him a success.

Mr Sahil Nayar , Senior Associate Director, KPMG (Mumbai) talked about how Covid become best example of VUCA. He redefined the term NEW NORMAL as NEO NORMAL. Mr Nayar gave a wonderful insight to audience about work life balance, work life harmony, gratitude, multi-tasking and switch task.

Then session was carried on by Mr Sulabh Goel, VP, Ernst & Young. He focused on sustainability and talked about before-covid era and after-covid era. He also talked about how people are adjusting and adapting to the new normal, private financing for infrastructural development and work from home culture.

 Last Speaker of the session was Ms Ritika Mathur, Director, Grant Thorton. She discussed how our policy makers needs to think differently and quoted the point that equity and environment go hand in hand together.  She discussed about the importance of investment in clean technology, the new area of health care technology, drivers of sustainable environment& new transformation that can be helpful. The Moderator of this panel discussion was Prof Yachhna Malhotra.

Panel Discussion 2 followed the Inaugural Session and Panel Discussion 1.The theme for this session was “Direction and Pace of Post Pandemic Period”. The Moderator of this panel discussion was Prof Shikha Arora. The eminent speakers joining the session were Mr. Peter Dorrington, Founder Director, XMplify Consulting Ltd.; Mr. Ankush Gadi, Director, CRISIL (Mumbai); Mr. Atul Shukla, Vice-President, JPMorgan Chase; Mr. P Kannan, Senior Regional Manager, Bajaj Finserv; Mr. Manigandan Ramesh, Head- Sales Automation Business Excellence, Haldiram Foods International Ltd.; and Ms. Neha Shukla, Associate Vice-President, NatWest Bank.

Mr. Peter Dorrington flagged off the session by discussing about human behaviour, digital transformation, hybrid working and different ecosystems. During his discussion he quoted Warren Buffett while focusing on customer satisfaction.

Next Mr. Ankush Gadi started on a positive note by stressing that there is always light at the end of the tunnel. He mentioned 23.9% fall in GDP during April to June period followed by the V- shaped recovery now. He also spoke about the three major challenges facing India,viz.,labour intensive manufacturing, climate change and human capital.

Mr. Atul Shukla briefed about decreasing consumer confidence index, household GDP, rural base growth and government contribution to the GDP.  He also referred to the three pillars of any economy, i.e., government, corporate and the consumers.

Mr. Kannan spoke of many sectors that are still improving, not improving and/or struggling. He provided an example by pointing out how two million loan applications in June had now increased to twenty million.

Mr. Manigandan Ramesh offered that the storm may have gone but it was time to perform. He was very positive & optimistic throughout and talked about the 5Rs (Resolve, Return, Reform, Resilience & Re-imagination). He spoke about how automation helps us in increasing productivity.

Finally Ms. Neha Shukla held forth on four major points, viz., - rebranding of portfolios, cost structures, work place changes, and digitalisation. She referred to digitalisationas the biggest gift of Covid-19 and the fact that now people are looking for safe places for work rather than great places for work.

During the sessions, many pertinent queries and doubts were raised by the students which were handled and satisfied very effectively by the all distinguished speakers.

At the end of the session Prof. (Dr.)Vidhya Sekhri, Director (Management), I.T.S Mohan Nagar put on record her concluding remarks and presented a digital plaque to each of the guests as a token of gratitude and remembrance.

The inaugural session of the convention was graced by luminaries like Mr Satya Gupta, Chairman – India, IPV6 Council, who joined as the Chief Guest; Mr Anil Khaitan, Chairman, Sunil Health Ltd., and Former Chairman, PHDCCI; and Prof. (Dr.) Shailendra Singh, Director, IIM Ranchi. The latter two were participating in the capacity of Guests of Honour.

The session was opened by Director (Management) Prof. (Dr) Vidya Sekhri, who began by saying that during a time of global crisis, it is very significant that our country is emerging as Aatma Nirbhar Bharat. Referring to the fluctuating environment where economies have to encounter a variety of ups and downs, Dr Sekhri quoted Gautam Buddha, noting that becoming comfortable with impermanence is the true sign of an evolved individual. She explained that now more than ever before it was necessary that India takes the lead in the fight against Covid-19 by developing effective vaccines.

Next Dr Rajeev Johari, Convener of the Convention, provided an outline of the event. He pointed out that terms like Atma Nirbhar Bharat and Five Trillion Dollar economy had become commonplace even before the unfortunate onset of the pandemic. While the spread of Covid has definitely put the brakes on these and other initiatives for now, it is only a matter of time before efforts are resumed with new zest and vigour. Therefore it is essential to lay down the route map for the path ahead; that is one of the aims for this convention. Dr Johari went on to provide a snapshot of the participants and deliberations coming up in the rest of the day’s programme.

Mr Khaitan was the first to speak among the guests. He chose to concentrate on the area of healthcare technology. Quoting the examples of typewriters and mobiles, Mr Khaitan highlighted how lack of innovation can spell the death knell for products as well as businesses. He referred to cutting edge concepts like the use of artificial intelligence; blockchains as a means of data verification; advanced  social media; voice search as a means of responding to those needing care; artificial assistants like Siri, Cortana and Google Assistant; uses of virtual  reality; mobile applications; and video marketing as a tool for reaching out to the customer.

 Among the other speakers, Dr Singh spoke about how myriad innovations are helping to deal with newer challenges by a constantly evolving pandemic. The chief guest, Mr Satya Prakash focused on the modalities for innovation in India at the policy level. He drew attention to how digital infrastructure, which is the need of the hour, brings a whole new ball game compared to the traditional physical version. He illustrated his thoughts through his involvement in the efforts at setting up a digital backbone for the country. Coming to the necessity of creative innovation, he distinguished it as something which avoided the disruptive effect. In this connection he also threw some light on the Blue Ocean strategy used in the corporate world.

The main programme of the day consisted of two panel discussions. The first one was chaired by Dr Sudhir Kochhar, Former ADG (IPR) and National Coordinator (NAIP), ICAR and focussed on sectors like agriculture, defence and manufacturing. The other discussants in this session included Mr Durgesh Sharma DG, Fibre Cement Products; Maj. Gen. Ravi Arora, CEO and Chief Editor, Indian Military Review; and Dr Nishikant Ojha, Advisor, Cyber, Aerospace and Counter Terrorism and eminent faculty, Defence and Paramilitary Forces.

After the Director (Management) welcomed the participants in the first panel discussion, Dr Kochar kicked off the session as the Session Chair by drawing on his long experience of work in the field of agriculture. Starting with the fact that agriculture is the bedrock of any economy, he described the major potential for startups in this area. On the one hand there was scope for individual R&D initiatives; on the other it was also possible to go in for public-private initiatives. Certain technologies were at the Proof of Concept stage, which need further scaling up. He also referred to his experiences as National Coordinator for agricultural projects involving 400 partner institutions.

The next speaker in the discussion was Dr Ojha, who brought his experience in counter terrorism along with significant diplomatic capabilities into play. He repeatedly stressed that India could not afford to depend only on foreign acquisitions alone for its military requirements at a time when there were significant security challenges in the neighbourhood. He also emphasised on the need to develop our own R&D capabilities. Continuing on the theme of India’s defensive expertise,  Maj. Gen. Ravi Arora provided a detailed breakdown of different case stories from Indian military experience.

Mr Sharma brought the discussion back to the fold of agriculture with detailed statistical information laying down the markers for the immediate future in this field. He also threw some light on the government and its role in public sector units. The session concluded with Dr Sekhri commending the participants for the in depth knowledge in their respective areas while presenting them individual mementos.

The post-lunch session had Mr Vishal Gandhi, Founder and CEO of BIORx Venture Advisors Pvt. Ltd.  taking over as the Chair with the attention shifting towards banking and technology. Mr Gandhi was joined by Mr Chanchal K. Gautam, AGM-NABARD, DDM Office, Ghaziabad; Mr Rajiv Ratna Shah, Director, MIDAS Lab, IIIT Delhi; Ms. Bhumika Sukhadia, Co-Founder, OPE Innovation Lab, Mumbai; and Mr Niteen Khemka, Co-Founder and CEO, Startup Spine, and mentor at NASSCOM and NITI Aayog.

Prof (Dr) Vidya Sekhri welcomed all the panelists with her thoughts on the future of technology. Mr. Gandhi then shared his view on a variety issues like Covid-19, disruptive challenges, and the opportunities afforded therein. He also spoke about the growth of pharmaceutical industry during the COVID-19 era with the production of Indian vaccines, PPE equipment, sanitisation efforts, need for thermal scanning and repurposing of drugs.

Mr Gautam next emphasised on the need for banking infrastructure with the five pillars of demand, demography, technology, and infrastructure & economy. These were explained through copious data, graphs and charts. Dr. Shah started by sharing a case study on “Suicidal Ideation Detection”. He also added some Research Work on “AI for social Good” empowering towards banking, policing, Bloomberg, Delhi Jal board and many more. He also elaborated about Information Retrieval System, Visual Speech Recognition, password prediction & cybercrimes.

One of the highlights of this discussion was the talk by Ms. Sukhadia, who shared her views on why businesses should “know their local”. She mentioned the significant role of design and innovation in the businesses, using an excellent example on the doodhwalas changing to milk delivery in glass bottles and then to plastic packets. She also talked about the 4 Ds, viz. - Discover, Define, Design, & Deliver. The session was completed by Mr Khemka, who elaborated on the role of MSMEs, government subsidies, tax exemptions, loans facility and incubation with regard to entrepreneurial activities.

Prof. (Dr.) Vidya Sekhri then enlightened the audience with her words of wisdom as she presented the virtual plaques as a token of gratitude and remembrance to all the panelists. Finally the Vote of Thanks was delivered by Dr.Indraneel Mandal as the day’s programme drew to a close. The diverse topics and animated discussions enthralled the students in particular and the audience in general as the Convention concluded fruitfully with much food for thought.