As president, The Walt Disney Company APAC and Chairman, Star & Disney India, Uday Shankar leads the charge for Disney’s transformation into a direct-to-consumer company in the most exciting region of the world. He is also focused on creating deeply local media assets in the region. Along with his leadership of Disney’s media networks and direct-to-consumer businesses, Shankar also oversees Disney’s film distribution and content sales operations in APAC, which has emerged as the fastest growing market for this business.

Prior to his current role, Uday was president of 21st Century Fox for Asia and the chairman & CEO of Star India. He took over the leadership of Star India in 2007 and since then has transformed Star into one of the largest and most successful media companies in Asia. A believer in the power of local execution, Shankar led the company’s aggressive foray into regional and local language programming, transforming Star into a content powerhouse which now broadcasts more than 30,000 hours of content every year. He also consolidated Star’s sports broadcasting operations through 21st Century Fox’s acquisition of its joint venture with ESPN. Today, Star Sports is India’s largest sports broadcaster and is fundamentally redefining India’s sports ecosystem. In a notoriously single sport country, Star has launched multiple domestic sports leagues like those in Kabaddi and Football and has pioneered the agenda of creating a thriving multi-sports culture.

Under Shankar’s leadership, Star has also made strides in disrupting the country’s digital landscape with the launch of Disney+ Hotstar, which is now India’s largest over-the-top (OTT) platform for professionally produced content and has gone global in its footprint with offerings in the US, Canada and the UK. With its strong technology muscle, Disney+ Hotstar has guided the evolution of Star beyond a traditional media institution into a leading consumer technology company. It is now the largest digital video platform outside of US and China. Under his leadership, Star has transformed into a multi-screen, multi-genre media network and reaches more than 790 million viewers every month in more than 100 countries. It broadcasts 60+ TV channels in 8 different languages in India, reaching 9 out of every 10 C&S TV homes.

In addition to his leadership of Star, Shankar has played a key role in shaping the media and entertainment sector in India, bringing reforms for the industry and its consumers. He has been at the forefront of landmark initiatives in television broadcasting including self-regulation and digitization of the television distribution ecosystem. Currently, he is senior vice president of FICCI (Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry), chairman of FICCI’s Media and Entertainment Committee and is the former president of the Indian Broadcasting Federation (IBF).

A trained journalist, Shankar also pioneered the development of the TV news ecosystem in India. Prior to Star India, he was the CEO and editor of Star News, which was the first 24-hour news channel in India. He was also the editor and news director at TV Today Group, where he spearheaded the launch of Aaj Tak, a leading Hindi news channel, in 2000 and Headlines Today, a leading English news channel, in 2003.

Shankar holds an M. Phil in Economic History from the Jawaharlal Nehru University, Delhi.

Ajit Pai is the Chairman of the Federal Communications Commission. He was designated Chairman by President Donald J. Trump in January 2017. He had previously served as Commissioner at the FCC, appointed by then-President Barack Obama and confirmed unanimously by the United States Senate in May 2012.

Mark Read was appointed CEO of WPP in September 2018. Mark has held multiple leadership positions across the company, including nine years as an Executive Director of WPP plc. For 12 years, as Head of Strategy and then CEO of WPP Digital, he was responsible for the company's move into technology through the acquisition of 24/7 Real Media, the creation of data-driven creative network POSSIBLE and the launch of Stream, WPP's celebrated "unconference".

In 2015, he was appointed Global CEO of Wunderman, where he transformed the network into one of the world's leading creative, data and technology agencies. Wunderman joined forces with J. Walter Thompson in November 2018 to become Wunderman Thompson, a global provider of end-to-end solutions and one of WPP's largest businesses, with more than 20,000 people across 90 markets and clients including Microsoft, Dell, Shell, HSBC, BT and Adidas.

In April 2018 he was named joint Chief Operating Officer of WPP, with responsibility for clients, operating companies and people.

Earlier in his career, Mark co-founded and developed internet start-up WebRewards. He also specialised in the media and marketing industries as a principal at consultancy Booz Allen & Hamilton, having started his career at WPP working on corporate development.

Mark was named in the HERoes Champions of Women in Business list (2018 and 2019), which recognises those who have championed women throughout their careers and are supporting women through the talent pipeline. He is also a member of the Male Champions of Change Global Tech Group, which is committed to accelerating gender equality in the technology sector.

Mark has an MBA from INSEAD and an Economics degree from Trinity College, Cambridge University, and was a Henry Fellow at Harvard University. He is the Chairman of the Natural History Museum Digital Council. Wired magazine ranked him as one of the Top 25 Digital Influencers in Europe in 2014 and he was named The Drum's Digital Individual of the Year in 2015 and 2017.

He lives in London with his wife and two children.

Adarsh Nair is the Chief Product & Experience Officer at Bharti Airtel. He is also the CEO of Wynk and Xstream OTT business. Adarsh's key focus areas include product vision and strategy, and customer experience across Airtel's businesses. He is also responsible for the P&L of Airtel's digital ventures.

Adarsh joined Airtel after spending 16+ years in the United States, where he worked in leadership roles across startups and Fortune 50 tech companies. Before Airtel, Adarsh was the VP of product and growth at Convoy, a $2.7B startup disrupting the global freight marketplace. Adarsh also worked at Marchex, an Advertising tech company, where he led product, data science and engineering to pioneer technologies around omnichannel measurement and attribution. Adarsh also worked in leadership roles at Microsoft and was a strategy consultant at Mckinsey where he had the opportunity to work on video gaming, entertainment, retail, web and OS related businesses.

Adarsh is an active investor in startups across the globe and is also an advisor to the Street Business School, a non-profit focused on uplifting women from poverty through entrepreneurship across the world.

Adarsh has an M.B.A. from the Wharton School. He also completed his M.S. from University of Florida and B.E. from BITS-Pilani. His wife, Archana Nair, works at Microsoft and they are blessed with two boys.

Entrepreneur. Author. Internet programmer. Since selling his first Internet company in the year 2000, Adam has created industrylauded programs and companies in web, content, big data and nextgeneration technology. For over a decade, Adam has collaborated globally with corporations, governments, and NGOs, helping enable them to maximize the business potential of digital media platforms.

In 2013, the eruption of YouTube – and the exponential population explosion of YouTubers – alerted Adam to the need for a Multi Channel Network (MCN) to help manage and protect users. His solution, and his next start-up venture, he named Aux Mode. It now appeals to the massive community of YouTube creators that today consist of over onethird of the Internet’s users.

Within four years of its inception, Aux Mode gained 1750+ clients who are responsible for the generation of 2+ billion views permonth, in a staggering variety of genres. His boutique tech company is continually being recognized by industry leaders, most recently listed on The Globe and Mail’s Top 3 most promising startups in Canada for 2017, certifying that Aux Mode is indeed positioned well ahead of the curve.

Adam’s unquenchable passion to collaborate with content creators, studios, and brands across the YouTube platform has accelerated Aux Mode’s unique offerings. A strategic focus on building the brands of both studios and content creators, strongly positions Aux Mode to continuously increase views and shareability, all while providing content optimization and protecting intellectual property

As a speaker, Adam is a dynamic storyteller, weaving anecdotes through extensive digital knowledge. He generously supplies his audiences with practical advice on protection, optimization, and monetization of content within a disruptive media ecosystem. He frequently speaks at technology & creative venues like Google, Soho House and YouTube.

She has previously worked at Times Music and Zee Music Company and is currently the General Secretary at The Indian Music Industry where she is responsible for driving legal strategy and public policy in connection with the recorded music industry.

As the Vice President and Managing Director, India at Facebook, Ajit Mohan spearheads the company's India charter across the family of apps. Prior to Facebook, Ajit was the Founding CEO at Hotstar. He launched and built Hotstar into India's leading premium video streaming platform. Ajit spent five years at McKinsey & Company, first in New York in its media practice and two years as a Fellow at the McKinsey Global Institute. He is a graduate of Johns Hopkins University and the Wharton School, and he holds a BASc in Computer Engineering from NTU, Singapore.

Alan's films have won awards in Cannes (Un Certain Regard) and Venice (Critics) with nominations in Berlin, Toronto and Busan. As a producer, co-producer and executive producer, the films have won more than 50 awards and nominations since 2014.

Alan was formerly a software entrepreneur with MCIS, a database for safe transportation of chemicals at sea. MCIS became the industry safety standard for the $30Bn chemical tanker market. MCIS was sold to Heidenreich Innovation in 2008.

With White Rabbit Alan combines his two careers, offering platform independent digital distribution with peer-to-peer and blockchain technology. Fans are able to watch content anywhere, as our browser extension identifies content fans stream and enable them to pay rights holders directly.

Alex Fane – MD of Fane - one of the UK’s fastest growing and most dynamic production companies, working with inspiring voices from the world of literature, podcasts, screen and stage.

Alok Tandon is the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of INOX Leisure Limited, the 2nd largest multiplex chain in India. As a member of the start-up team of INOX, he has spearheaded the organization for two decades from scratch to a footprint of close to 600 screens across India.

He has been responsible for making INOX Leisure achieve an aggressive positioning in the market share with a continued business growth.

In 2016, he was rated among the Business Today-PwC list of India's top 100 CEOs 2016. In 2018, he received the award for CEO Of The Year at the Economic Times Retail Excellence Awards. In June 2019, Business World put him in the coveted list of 20 Most Valuable CEOs in India. As a torch-bearer of the multiplex industry in the retail domain, Alok was recognized as one of India's Retail Icons by the prominent retail magazine, IMAGES Retail in August 2019. India Retail Forum, one of the most celebrated forums of the Retail industry, recognized Alok as 'The Most Admired Retail Personality Of The Year' for FY19.

It was in the year 2001, Alok joined INOX Leisure Ltd as Vice President-Technical. From the time when the company was in a start-up mode till date, Alok has successfully steered the growth momentum and built the ethos of the organization around the three pillars of 'Luxury', 'Technology' and 'Service' and strengthening its motto of 'LIVE theMOVI'.

Alok has over three decades of experience across Entertainment, Hospitality and Pharmaceutical industries and has been instrumental in the set-up and growth across genres.Alok is a speaker at various National & International conferences and symposiums and brings with him vast experience of strategy, growth and innovation.

Akshat Rathee is a serial-entrepreneur and the Managing Director of NODWIN Gaming, a venture by the NODWIN Group of Companies. NODWIN Gaming is the premier and most recognized esports company in India. It has played a pivotal role in developing the Indian esports scene in the country by playing an instrumental role in popularizing competitive gaming through its exclusive license partnerships with ESL and DreamHack. NODWIN Gaming works actively to run other marquee esports IPs such as the Mountain Dew Arena, The CII India Gaming Show among others. NODWIN Gaming additionally produces online content on gaming and esports such as Esports Mania on MTV, a collection of four premium esports shows, The Cosplay Genie Show and Live content from pop culture events in India as well as abroad.

An entrepreneur at heart, Akshat is also the Managing Director of the NODWIN Group of Companies, core holding group. Housing an assortment of ventures, the NODWIN Group began its journey in 2005 with the objective of providing clients with rarefied and resilient solutions, helping them unravel their businesses. Under Akshat’s guidance, the NODWIN Group has worked with 36 of the Top-100 companies of India in its portfolio and continues to make remarkable strides in the fields of ideation, consultancy, investment, merchandising, retail, video games, esports, media production, real estate, hospitality and much more. Some of the notable ventures under the NODWIN Group banner are the Earth-100 Biofuels, which focuses on clean energy and ensuring a better tomorrow. The NODWIN Consultants, an investment and financial advisory body focused on providing value-based consultancy services.

Before beginning his journey as an entrepreneur, Akshat worked as a Senior Consultant with Ernst & Young. Ernst & Young is a global leader in assurance, tax, transaction and advisory services. He also served as an Assistant Manager with IBM Daksh (now IBM Global Process Services). At IBM Daksh, Akshat was involved with business process outsourcing, catering to industries such as telecommunications, retail, airlines, banking, insurance, healthcare, automotive and electronics.

Understanding his responsibility towards society, Akshat has co-founded Swabhimaanya, a firm that strives to empower the underprivileged and provide essential services in the form of finance and household items. Akshat is also a prominent member of AIESEC and plays an influential role as an advisor on matters of strategy, leadership and entrepreneurship.

Akshat graduated from the Manipal Institute of Technology with a Bachelors in Engineering (Computers). He also holds an MBA in International Business from Ecole des Ponts, France. He boasts of over 18 years of experience in the fields of entrepreneurship, business consultancy and strategy.

A gamer since his childhood days, Akshat has turned his passion into a successful business endeavour. Through NODWIN Gaming, Akshat has helped identify the esports potential present in India. He continues to play an influential role in actively shaping the future of competitive gaming in the country.

Anuradha SenGupta is a broadcast journalist working as Consulting Editor with Network18. She is the host and editor of ‘The Media Dialogues’ on CNBC-TV18 a deep dive into the world of brands.. A thoughtful and visual approach to news television and a broad diverse canvas of subjects have been the hallmarks of her long career. Her most recent programs were the docu-news features weekly Reporters Project on CNN-NEWS18 and a free flowing conversation series Life Etc... on CNBC-TV18. ‘Storyboard edited by Anuradha SenGupta’ was the first show for marketing and brands on Indian television and was a an industry benchmark. Her interview shows ‘Being..’ on CNN-IBN, ‘Beautiful People’ on CNBC-TV18 and ‘Off Centre’ on CNN-NEWS18 have enjoyed a cult following.

Carl got his start in games as a "jack-of-all-trades" artist in 1994. In his career, he has worked from a buyer and a service provider perspective, most notably at Electronic Arts, Michael Crichton's Timeline Entertainment, Nvidia and his current role as Senior Director of External Development at Zynga. At Zynga, he has built a worldwide organization which facilitates all external development and partner relations for Art, Engineering, Audio, UI/UX, Co-Dev, QA, Localization/LQA, Culturalization, Narrative, Marketing, User Acquisition and the publishing organization. Most recently, he is also part of Zynga’s acquisition integration team.

Carter Pilcher pioneered the world’s leading short movie entertainment company, ShortsTV.

ShortsTV is the first and only 24/7 HD TV channel dedicated to short movies and is available in over100 million households across the US, Mexico, Latin America, Europe and India. The accompanying ShortsTV app, which gives audiences the power to create their own movie channels based on their favourite genres and using a similar machine-learning algorithm to Spotify, has recently launched in the US on DirecTV and in the Netherlands on Ziggo, with plans to roll it out to other countries in 2020.

Online, ShortsTV offers hundreds of the world’s best independent shorts for download in 92 iTunes stores across the globe as well as on Amazon, Google Play, Verizon and Frontier.

Since 2006, ShortsTV has produced the annual theatrical release of The Oscar Nominated Short Films, distributing it to movie theatres around the world and digital sell-through platforms such as iTunes, Amazon and Google Play. The theatrical release of the Oscar Nominated Shortsis now a firm fixture in US & Canadian theatres and in 2019 grossed over $3.5 million at the US box office.

ShortsTV is operated by Shorts International Ltd, which is headquartered in London and has offices in Los Angeles, Amsterdam and Mumbai. Shorts International has the world’s largest catalogue of short movies with over 13,000 titles across all genres. Catalogue titles include past Oscar winners and nominees, festival favourites and revered classics.

Carter is a voting member of both BAFTA and the Short Film and Feature Animation Branch of the Academy of Motion Pictures, Arts and Sciences (AMPAS). Before launching Shorts International in London in 2000, he worked in Eastern European/Middle Eastern market origination and corporate finance for Bankers Trust, a leading US investment bank that followed his work as the legislative director and chief counsel for U.S. Senator Hank Brown.

Carter, originally from Terre Haute, Indiana, received a B.S. from the U.S. Air Force Academy, a J.D. from Georgetown University, is a member of the New York Bar and attended the London Business School Corporate Finance Evening Program.

ShortsTV in India

• ShortsTV is an ‘added value service’ in India, meaning TV operator customers need to subscribe to the channel for a monthly fee.
• The TV service launched in India in November 2018 with Tata Sky.
• We expanded distribution of the TV service to the Airtel Digital TV and Dish TV/d2h platforms in September 2019.
• Our distribution agreements mean ShortsTV is now available to over 65 million Indian households (85% of the country’s direct-to-home satellite TV homes).
• We also released the Oscar Nominated Short Films in Indian cinemas for the first time in February 2019, with PVR Cinemas. They were screened in cinemas across 9 cities.
• We founded the ‘Best of India Short Film Festival’, which aims to qualify more Indian short films for Oscar consideration.

The rise of short form entertainment

Short film has always been a part of the filmmaking industry. In fact, in the beginning, there was only short film! In 1878 the first motion was created from photographs and was 16 frames long. In 1888 the first movie was shot and lasted just 2 seconds. In 1932, Laurel and Hardy won the first ever Oscar for a short film. Since then, short film has come in to its own with captivating stories and high production values all helping to attract more mainstream audiences. With three award categories at the Oscars (Live Action, Animation and Documentary), short films have earned the right to stand alongside feature films and people are taking notice. For example, ShortsTV’s annual theatrical release of the Oscar Nominated Short Films has grown in the box office every year since we started putting them in theaters in 2006 and are now screened in over 600 theaters around the world. Celebrity presence in the short film arena has also raised awareness as directors, actors and writers use the medium as a way to try new things or as a launchpad for larger projects, often resulting in very exciting films. British stars to have made short films include Dame Judy Dench, Olivia Colman, Colin Firth, Michael Fassbender, Kiera Knightly, Martin Freeman, among many others. And of course the advent of smartphones has helped viewers discover a love for short form entertainment because short films are perfectly suited to mobile viewing.

Colin Burrows is an independent producer, publicity consultant and CEO of the Special Treats Production Company, Europe's leading production house for audio-visual coverage of the film industry. Clients include all the Hollywood majors, the Bond films for over 25 years, the HARRY POTTER films, LORD OF THE RINGS/THE HOBBIT etc.

The company also produces award-winning documentaries (TRUTH & LIES: The UB40 story, BBC. THIS IS POP, Sky Television etc) and have worked extensively with corporate companies including Aston Martin, Rolls Royce, DHL etc.

London based, Colin works across the international film spectrum with a special interest in India. He is an international adviser to Federation of India's Chamber of Commerce and Industry's Entertainment division and has executive produced six films in India.

He is co-founder, with Michael Ward, of Beautiful Bay Entertainment. Their first film as producers, BOMBAIRIYA was released by Sony Pictures India in January 2019 and is currently screening on Netflix.

They will remake THE FAR PAVILIONS in 2021 as a major TV series in India and he is also developing a large budget British film, R101, with Academy Award winning producer David Parfitt of Trademark Films

His other production credits include a long-standing relationship with Bengali director Suman Ghosh:

• Supervising Producer: NOBEL THIEF, (Suman Ghosh), 2011 London Film Festival, Critics prize at the Bengaluru International Film Festival. Released Feb 2012
• Executive Producer: SHYAMAL UNCLE TURNS OFF THE LIGHTS (Suman Ghosh) Busan International Film Festival and Mumbai Film Festival 2012, US release 2013
• Executive Producer: PEACE HAVEN (Suman Ghosh) 2015
• Producer: THE POACHER (Suman Ghosh) – in development

Colin is a long-standing member of the British Film and Television Academy and supporter of the UK Film & Television Charity. He is on the advisory board of the proposed Havering Studios development and also of the Cambridge based, Storylab academic project. He is a mentor to students at St Johns College, Cambridge, interested in business.

He is the director of the Turks and Caicos International Film Festival which he created to celebrate ocean and environmental film-making and which held its inaugural event in November 2019. www.TCIFF.org and an adviser to the government there on their plans to create a local film industry.

He began his broadcasting career at Cambridge University where he was the Programme Controller of Cambridge University Radio (now CamFM). He started as a producer at Capital Radio in the news and documentaries department then moved to Radio One as a producer. He founded Special Treats Productions in 1987 while continuing to work for the BBC. The company produced series for Sky Television, Film Four and broadcasters worldwide and now includes Apple, Netflix and Amazon amongst its clients

With over 15 years of experience in the events industry, Mr. Deepak Choudhary founded Event Capital in 2013 as an aggregator of event IPs. He has carved a niche for himself with his multiple entrepreneurial ventures in the events space - from education institutes, to an author along with creation of event IP's. The company has grown remarkably ever since to become India's most diverse live event IP company involved in aggregating and consolidating event IP's across target groups and platforms.

Devang Sampat is CEO at Cinepolis India & has been with the company since its inception, 11 years ago. In his leadership role, Devang focuses on Indianizing Cinepolis's international strategies &driving development plans for the Indian environment. He has been an integral part of the team, responsible for Cinepolis's success by leading the national expansion &consistently serving the best customer experience through new & innovative offerings to consumers.

Devang has been instrumental in growing the multiplex segment in India in the last 20 years & understands the growing demands of Indian consumers& impact on the retail industry like no other.

Devang holds an MBA degree from ITM Mumbai & is a graduate of Mithibai college, Mumbai University.

DC is a gold medallist engineer, University rank holder, MBA of SIBM Pune and an alumnus of Harvard Business School via its AMP program.

An enthusiast of consumer behaviour and digital transformation, he recently finished his PG diploma in digital business. Over the years, DC has led leadership positions in Various Indian business houses and global MNCs and worked in several emerging and matured markets. He has served in Asian Paints, Coca Cola, Future Group, Walmart and now is Managing Director & CEO of Spencer’s Retail Limited and Nature’s Basket Ltd.

His thoughts have been published in leading publications like Economic Times, Business Today, Business Standard, Hindustan Times to name a few. A start-up enthusiast, he has been a mentor to many start-ups; DC takes keen interest in the development of start-up ecosystem. He enjoys sharing the learning’s also and teaches at Management Institutes including Economic Times master classes and sessions on digital transformation with Dr. Ramcharan. He is a Co Chair of FICCI and has served on many committees of CII & FICCI.

Dipti Kotak is the Chief Legal Officer at Reliance Industries Limited’s Media Business. As CLO, Dipti leads the Legal & Regulatory framework for JIO Studios which includes RIL Productions, oversee Legal framework for RIL’s other media investments. As CLO, Dipti is responsible to work closely with business on strategic partnerships, safeguard the business and facilitate business through proactive law suits, and ability to monetize through contracts, etc.

Dipti is a domain expert and has over 25 years of experience in media and entertainment industry,

Intellectual Property, Corporate and M&A’s, Compliance & Regulatory and Litigation.

Prior to Reliance, Dipti worked with Sony Pictures Networks India Private Limited (SPN) since 1996. As Head Legal at SPN, Dipti partnered with SPN’s various businesses i.e. Hindi Cluster of channels, Regional and Animation channels, SPN Productions, Music, Digital, Syndication & Licensing, and handled Industry Matters, Litigation and Training & Compliances. She was also the Presiding Officer of the Internal Complaints Committee under ASHP.

Dipti was listed as one of India’s top 100 Powerful Women in Law in 2017 by World IP Forum.

Fatima is an Assistant Director at the Atlantic Council's South Asia Center, where she contributes to the Center's policy research initiatives and manages programmatic tasks. Drawing on her experience working in India, Fatima brings a deep understanding of the region based on both her professional and personal experiences in the country. Fatima holds a Master of Science in Foreign Service with a focus in global politics and security from Georgetown University's School of Foreign Service. She holds a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science and History and a Minor in Middle East/South Asia Studies from the University of California, Davis.

Ganesh Rajaram is currently General Manager, Executive Vice President Asia at Fremantle International (FMI). Based in Singapore, Ganesh oversees the Asian distribution, format licensing business and the digital, ancillary business of Fremantle. He oversees a catalogue of more than 20,000 hours of programming including blockbuster hits like the Got Talent franchise, the Idol franchise, Project Runway and the Jamie Oliver franchise, as well as hit global dramas like 'My Brilliant Friend', 'American Gods' and 'The Young Pope franchise.

An experienced and recognized leader, Ganesh was also a Nominated Member of Parliament in the Singapore Parliament from 2016 to 2018. He was also a Board Member of the Media Development Authority of Singapore from 2010 to 2016.

Prior to joining Fremantle in 2005, Ganesh had more than 12 years of experience in a fast paced, revenue oriented, competitive media environment from companies such as SPH Mediaworks, Singapore (Vice-President, Programming), where he was instrumental in setting up and running the free-to-air English network Channel i, Mediacorp Singapore (Executive Producer) and Singapore Press Holdings (award-winning sports columnist and Journalist).

Girish has specialized in the Media and Entertainment sector where he has significant experience having advised clients across most media sub sectors covering both National and Regional players.

Girish has more than 15 years of advisory and M&A experience and has advised on more than 150 M&A transactions. Girish has extensive experience on buy-side and sell-side assisting clients in evaluating the risks and opportunities of their intended transactions. He has led a number of high profile and complex transactions and thus has a deep understanding and practical experience of dealing with issues that arise on Indian transactions

Girish has also had a stint where he briefly ran a startup media venture and also worked with Balaji Telefilms as Head –Strategy and New Ventures.

Girish brings on board an unique blend of strategic thinking and financial understanding combined with a solid operational understanding of businesses. Working closely with various media companies, he has developed a strong understanding and insight into the dynamics of various media sectors, related issues and the underlying macro and micro drivers and trends

He leads the KPMG India's annual publication on Media and Entertainment industry

Harsh Jain is the CEO and Co-Founder of Dream Sports, India's leading sports technology company with brands such as Dream11, FanCode, DreamX, DreamSetGo and DreamPay in its portfolio.

Harsh Jain, along with BhavitSheth, launched Dream11 as India's first freemium fantasy sports platform in 2008. Harsh completed his engineering from the University of Pennsylvania and his MBA from Columbia Business School. Bringing together his love for sports, gaming and technology, Harsh is always working to ‘Make Sports Better' for every sports fan. He has also been instrumental in founding and promoting India's first and only self-regulatory industry body, the Federation of Indian Fantasy Sports (FIFS).

Jehil leads the Media and Entertainment sector for Deloitte in India. He has over 25 years of experience in the media and entertainment space, and has worked with clients across the US, UK, France, South East Asia, Middle East and Japan, in addition to India. He has worked on strategy, operations business planning and due diligence engagements for film, television, publishing, cable and satellite, music, digital media, and advertising companies.

Prior to joining Deloitte India, Jehil was the sector lead for Media and Entertainment at KPMG in India. Jehil has spent several years in the US where he worked with a number of clients in the M&E space in Los Angeles and New York.

Jehil was part of a digital media incubator in Los Angeles where he worked with start-ups and entrepreneurial growth companies on business planning, financing, marketing, and operations. Jehil also briefly worked in International Distribution at 20th Century Fox, and in strategic planning at Dreamworks SKG.

Kabir leads Music Partnerships for Facebook India and was responsible for launching music stickers on both Facebook & Instagram. Yes, he's the reason your friends used the song Baby Shark on all their Instagram stories last year. Kabir has been working in the Indian music industry for the last 15 years and was previously heading the digital department at Tips Music before which he was at Sony Music India. He started his career as an RJ at RadioOne Delhi and launched the city's first college radio show.

Kamal Gianchandani has held a number of senior management positions across the media and entertainment arena and has been the principal architect of company's strategy and drives external relations, film supply, digital & IT operations, filmed entertainment initiatives for the company. He joined the PVR Group in 1995 and since then has many laurels to his name. Various media publications have acknowledged him as one of the most influential filmed entertainment professional in the country, on multiple occasions. He is the recipient of the prestigious 'Best Distributor Stardust Award' in 2010 & 2015.

Under his leadership, PVR Pictures Limited has piloted some of the biggest independent films, making it the largest and the most successful distributor of independent foreign language films in India, while continuing to have a strong foot hold in distribution of locally produced films. He spearheaded the acquisition of Cinemax Chain and SPI Cinemas. He holds a Bachelor's degree in Commerce (Hons) from Delhi University, an MBA from Institute of Management Education (IME) Pune, and is an alumnus of Indian School of Business (PGPMAX). Gianchandani comes with a diverse experience of more than 24 years in film financing, co-production, distribution, syndication, licensing, cinema exhibition, on-line streaming, film rental services and general management, his skill set has been instrumental in driving the strategy and business planning at PVR Cinemas.

Mr. Kapil Agarwal is the Joint Managing Director of UFO Moviez. His expertise in operations, investment, and finance placed UFO Moviez in good stead during its initial fund-raising stage. It is largely due to his operational and process disciplines that UFO has now acquired market leadership position in the digital cinema space, transforming entertainment and bringing cinema closer to audiences around the world.

Mr. Agarwal has over 30 years of experience in varied business environments and has worked with leading industrial houses like the Modi Group, Apollo Tyres Group and British Gas. He was awarded the CA Business Leader - SME Sector, for exceptional performance and achievement by the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India.

With over a decade of rich experience across media, technology and education industries - Karan Bedi is an alumnus of the prestigious Stanford University. It was there that Karan discovered his passion for entrepreneurial ventures at the intersection of media and technology, especially focused on mobile.

In his current role as the CEO of MX Player, he is responsible for setting strategy and leading teams across all functions including content, tech, product development, sales, marketing and other business verticals - taking this young OTT platform to the next level.

Madhur Ramchandra Bhandarkar (Born on 26th August 1966) is a four times National Award-winning Indian film director, producer and script-writer best known for making hard-hitting realistic cinema that not just has the critical acclaim but also has the best commercial success rate in the country. He is best known for his films Chandni Bar (2001), Page 3 (2005), Traffic Signal (2007), Fashion (2008), Jail (2010), Dil Toh Baccha Hai Ji (2011), Heroine (2012) and Indu Sarkar (2017). He has been conferred with Padma Shree, fourth highest civilian award from the Govt. of India in 2016.

Bhandarkar's fascination for cinema began when he was a kid. He wanted to be a part of them in some way or the other. At the age of 16, Bhandarkar ran a video cassette library in Khar (W), a suburb of Mumbai, India, and delivered cassettes door-to-door. This gave him access to a large collection of movies and he studied film-making through it.

In late 90's after trying his hand at production and various other stints including as assistant to different film directors, Bhandarkar landed up as an assistant to Indian filmmaker Ram Gopal Varma. He assisted Varma in three movies and even played a small role in his 1995 film Rangeela. A couple of years later he made his directorial debut with the movie Trishakti (1999), an out-and-out popcorn entertainer. However, Bhandarkar wanted to make cinema that he wanted to see and that resulted in a script called Chandani Bar. He went in to rope actress Tabu and actor Atul Kulkarni and made the film that won a National Award for best film on social issues and his lead actress Tabu. The film was critically applauded and a major box-office success, which took Bhandarkar into the top league of filmmakers in Indian film industry. After his first National Award for Chandani Bar, there was no looking back for him.

Manish Agarwal (40), CEO at Nazara Games has over 18 years of industry experience, most of it dedicated to the digital industry. In view of his rich expertise in the digital space that ranges across consumer marketing, product development, developer evangelism and digital monetization, Manish was handed over the responsibility of heading the gaming venture in 2015.

At Nazara, Manish leads a young team of professionals. In the decade since the digital buzz, Manish has guided his teams towards adopting business models that can accommodate the changes of the recurrently shifting digital trends by keeping the monetization arrangement unharmed. ‘Mobile First' being Manish's mantra, the company today concentrates primarily on bringing entertaining and engaging mobile content, catering to audiences the world over.

A self-confessed voracious reader, Manish's strength is his ability to completely get in sync with any current digital trends and mould it towards the betterment of his business. He is passionate about all things related to technology and gadgets with a deep interest in mobile gaming. "I want to see India on the world map of mobile gaming and it satisfies me that my company is playing a significant role" he says. Manish today is living his dream to see India on the world map of mobile gaming by creating immensely successful mobile games for global audience.

Prior to Nazara Games, Manish led various gaming companies like Zapak and Reliance Games etc. Manish has been associated with some leading corporations in the technology and media sector such as Microsoft, Rediff, Infosys and UTV. At Rediff, Manish put forth his experience and expertise of new media businesses and his passion for product innovation and development thereby leading some great projects. He later spent a year at Microsoft as the Director of Marketing and with a rich consumer understanding of the industry, he moved to UTV taking over the responsibility of CEO – New Media Venture Ltd.

He holds a Bachelor's Degree from the National Institute of Technology (NIT) Warangal along with an MBA from the prestigious Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad (IIMA).

A media & entertainment industry veteran, Megha has held leadership roles at organisations such as BTVI, HBO, Turner International and Star TV, in an illustrious career spanning more than 28 years.

Megha currently leads multiple national as well as international industry forums. She was recently coopted as the Director on board of Indian Broadcasting Foundation. She is on board of the National Media & Entertainment Committee of FICCI and is the Vice President of the Indian chapter of the International Advertising Association (IAA).

Megha has also been Jury member of leading industry awards like International Emmys, Promax, Children's Film Festival, Golden Mikes Awards, International Women in Sales Awards, Impact's 30 under 30 and many more. Besides being involved in industry initiatives, she feels energized by engaging with young minds through guest lectures at leading educational institutes including IIT, IIM, ISB, UBS and more.

Pranjal Sharma is an economic analyst, advisor and author who focuses on technology, globalisation and media. He serves on boards of enterprises and non-profit entities which are leveraging emerging technologies for sustainable, equitable growth. He has written and edited several reports and papers on economic development. He is a columnist with Business Standard newspaper.

His new book is India Automated: How the Fourth Industrial Revolution is Transforming India.

He served as Advisor Strategy to India's public service broadcaster Prasar Bharati, (Ministry of Information & Broadcasting) for two years where he helped bring in industry best practices and enabled creation of digital media teams.

Previously, he spent more than two decades in print, internet and TV media, mostly in leadership roles with focus on India's economic engagement with the world. As Founding Executive Editor at Bloomberg UTV, he helped launch and run the channel. At TV Today Network, his team pioneered business news content for non-English audiences. Pranjal received the News Television Award for best business show in 2007.

RituKapur is the co-founder and CEO of The Quint, an independent news site in India. She has driven digital innovation - from The Quint innovation lab to launching a fact check initiative - WebQoof, that crowdsources fake news.

Ritu has also strived to provide multiple platforms for free speech like The Quint's citizen journalism initiative "My Report", "Talking Stalking" – a campaign to change the laws to make stalking a non-bailable offence and "Me The Change" that focusses on the rights of young women in India.

Ritu spent over two decades in broadcast as the founder of Network 18 where she won awards for a docudrama series "Bhanwar" and for The Citizen Journalist show among others. At Network 18 she led programming on History TV 18 as well as was the Features Editor at CNN IBN, before she exited to launch The Quint.

She is on the advisory board of Oxford University's Reuters Institute of Journalism, the World Editor's Forum at WAN IFRA and Future News Worldwide. RituKapur has been recognized by Outlook Business as "Woman of Worth 2017 - The Newsmaker".

Ravindra "Ravi" Velhal leads Digital Media Standards, Technologies and Immersive Cinema programs globally at Intel. As a Cinema Virtual Reality Experience (VRE) pioneer, he co-produced Le Musk multi-sensory VR by A.R. Rahman, Save Every Breathe: Dunkirk VRE with Warner Bros, FIRST MAN: VRE with Universal Pictures and RYOT, directed Rio Carnival 2018 VRE with GloboTV, collaborated with Sony Pictures on SpiderMan: Home Coming VRE which was nominated for prestigious Emmy, and he recently launched Innovation Studios with Sony Pictures. At Mobile World Congress in Feb 2019, he collaborated with Sony Pictures to launch SpiderMan: Far From Home, the world's first multiplayer VRE gaming experience over 5G. He executive produced remake of Grease in Volumetric Cinema with Paramount pictures. His focus is to drive future immersive cinema, including future media formats worldwide. Ravi is recipient of Hollywood's prestigious Lumiere award twice, Infinity Film Festival of Beverly Hills Audience Choice Award. Ravi holds several global patents, and he has served as a director on the AIS/VR Society board, and an advisor to film and trade organizations, globally.

One of India's finest orators and storytellers, Roshan Abbas is an actor; TV & radio host; producer; event manager; creative director; film & theatre director; lyricist; CEO; angel investor; serial entrepreneur; author; and public speaking coach.

Roshan founded and led Encompass (now Geometry Encompass) as Managing Director into becoming India's largest, most awarded experiential marketing agency. He was also an initial investor in and continues to be a mentor-partner at The Glitch. Both ventures have been acquired by WPP.

Roshan has won seven national-level awards for TV and radio. In 2015, he co-founded Kommune - a performing arts collective for storytellers. He also helped conceptualise Spoken festival, bringing together performers from across the world for storytelling, poetry, spoken word, and song.

Roshan continues to inspire by sharing his life lessons on communication and storytelling with entrepreneurs, corporates, artists, and anyone looking to discover a unique voice!

Sam came to the games industry with a background as a consultant specialising in training businesses and the public sector in negotiation and strategic partnering.

In the mid 90's he co-founded an indie comic book studio. In 2006 he joined Sumo Digital as an artist; taking on the role of Outsource Manager in 2009. Here he helped guide the success of Sumo's new Indian art studio, while overseeing the developer's rapidly expanding global outsource program.

In 2014 Sam joined Microsoft as Sr. Outsource PM for the EMEA regions before becoming Dir. of External Partners Worldwide.

Shoojit Sircar is an Indian film director and producer. He directed Yahaan (2005), Vicky Donor (2012), Madras Cafe (2013), Piku (2015), October (2018), Gulabo Sitabo (2020). He also produced the 2012 film Aparajita Tumi. He won the National Film Award for Vicky Donor in Best Popular Film Providing Wholesome Entertainment category, shared with John Abraham. He also won the Indian Competition Special Jury Award at Osian's Cinefan Festival of Asian and Arab Cinema in 2005 for Yahaan. He is now making a documentary on Amitabh Bachchan. He is associated with Rising Sun Films and has made television commercials for Saffola, 2G, Apsara Pencils, Fair & Lovely, Maruti WagonR, Cadbury, Dove, Zomato, and many other brands.

He is known for making independent films. His 2012 film Vicky Donor was grand box office success, earning ₹134 million (equivalent to ₹200 million or US$2.9 million in 2019) in the opening weekend. His film, Madras Cafe, was released in 2013, followed by Piku in 2015 and October in 2018.

Stephan Ottenbruch has worked as an executive producer, producer and commissioning editor on numerous Feature Films and Series for TV before he started to create Media-Events like "The Dream of Zanzibar" and the Indian Filmfestival "IndoGerman Filmweek" for which he is currently serving as a festival director at Babylon in Berlin. For IndoGerman Films he is developing Content, consulting and bridge building for several media companies between Germany and India. Since 2014 Stephan Ottenbruch is a board member of the German Academy for Television and since 2018 he is heading the organization of Masterclasses and producing the annual award ceremony for the German TV Awards.

Sunil Lulla brings over 35 years of significant leadership and domain proven knowledge, with ground-up experience in growing brands and building businesses. Having worked across Media, Brands and Advertising he has served in leadership roles at MTV, SONY, Times Television Network, SaReGaMa, Diageo, Indya.com, GREY group, JWT and Balaji Telefilms. Sunil maintains active interests in serving industry interests to foster the spirit of self-regulation and collaboration. He is an active long-distance runner.

Taejin Lee currently serves as Regional Director for the Philippines at Korea Copyright Protection Agency.

He currently focuses on extending international partnerships of KCOPA by establishing a mutually cooperative eco-system against piracy with public and private sectors at a global level.

Before joining KCOPA his scope of work at Korea Music Copyright Association, Line corporation, an instant messaging service company and JTBC, a comprehensive broadcasting company ranges not only from handling domestic copyright license request with coordination to achieve full compliance with laws and regulations in Korea to taking actions against copyright violations as well as managing more than +60 reciprocal representation agreements with collective management organizations across nations.

Taran Adarsh, age 55, is an active film critic and business analyst since four decades. Starting his career at the age of 15 with 'Trade Guide', founded by his father Shri BK Adarsh, Taran diversified to television and web subsequently. Taran contributes reviews and Boxoffice analysis to 'Bollywood Hungama', the leading website, since two decades. Also, Taran is very active on social media and has the maximum following [film journalists] on various platforms: Twitter [3.7 million], Facebook [1.1 million] and Instagram [427k]. Taran is the most quoted film journalist today, with the most reputed websites and channels quoting his BO data and news developments on a daily basis. Taran has conducted masterclasses and moderated QnA sessions at various international film festivals in India and Overseas.

TM Talent Managementis one of the most preferred Talent Management Organization in the Indian Music Industry. It represents 23 musicians from the Indian Music & Live Entertainment Industry including some of the most renowned names like Ajay-Atul, Amitabh Bhattacharya, Amit Trivedi, Arijit Singh, Hariharan, Rekha Bhardwaj, Sukhwinder Singh, Vishal Bhardwaj, Vishal & Shekhar, and Zubeen Garg.

Truly Comical - A unit of TM Talent Management focused on representing comical talent exclusively from India. TC exclusively manages Kapil Sharma Live (the most popular comic act from India) and Comedy Nights Live (customized and specially curated comedy acts by some of the best comedy writers).

Entertainment Consultant - A one-stop solution for allentertainment requirements for any event.

TM Music -TM Music is an artiste first Music Label which believes in keeping artistes at the forefront. We aim to create & promote good non film music with passionate and talented artistes, who are either undiscovered or are emerging. We are making an honest attempt to create a platform for these talents and support the non-film music movement. Music Industry Professional Atul Churamani, Celebrated Music Producer & Composer Sunny M.R. and Entrepreneur Tarsame Mittal is leading the initiative.

Truly Musical LLP - A division of T M Talent Management that has been focusing on creating unique & meaningful concepts around music. The initiatives include: -

All About Music is an all-inclusive B2B music conference"The conference is a global gateway into the Indian Music markets and has been connecting the dots of Indian Music Industry since 2017". All About Music has successfully completed 3 sold-out editions, hosted over 300 Indian and Global music industry influencers and over 4000 delegates.

Bollywood Music Project - A two-day multi-stage & genre music festival that features over 60 artists from the Music Industry and has successfully completed 5 editions in the past 36 months.

Music Plus -An interactive cross-divisional music communication portal that focuses on each segment of the Indian music industry by bridging the gap between the consumer and the creator along with the entertainment and business side. Music Plus also intends to cover the legal, finance, entertainment & business aspects of the global music industry.

A media veteran of over two decades, Tarun Katial is the CEO of ZEE5 India. In his current role, Tarun is responsible for steering ZEE5, India’s largest and most comprehensive digital entertainment platform for language content, towards gaining industry leadership position.

Considered one of the most successful executives in the Indian media industry, Tarun has a robust body of experience across media platforms including television, radio and now the newest kid-on-the-block – OTT. Prior to joining ZEE5, Tarun’s last assignment was with Big FM, where he was the Founder COO-CEO, and during this duration he also set up Thwink BIG – the content incubator, and the BIG TV channels - Magic and Ganga.

An MBA-graduate, Tarun began his career with advertising agencies like Saatchi & Saatchi, Enterprise Nexus Lowe and Ogilvy & Mather. Pursuant to this, he moved to Star Network and rose to become the Head of Content and Communications across the network in India before moving to Sony Entertainment Television as Business Head.

Tarun has an established record of accomplishment through successful shows - KBC - Who wants to be a Millionaire - Lets make a deal India, a slew of daily fiction content at STAR and Indian Idol | Fear Factor | Fame Academy | Ugly Betty at SET. These have been in perfect tune with what captivates the Indian consumer.

Tarun’s acumen has been recognized at multiple Indian and international platforms. He has been voted as NewsCorp Achiever for Asia and included among the best in the ‘India Today 30 on 30’ list. He was also part of the team that won the first Media Gold at Cannes. Instrumental in revolutionizing the media and entertainment landscape in India, Tarun is now a Tedx speaker, and part of industry forums including Jury chair for the Ad club Abby and DMAI, Chairman of IAMAI’s Digital Entertainment committee; member with FICCI and CII, Ex-Com at IAAA and Vice President at Association of Radio Operators for India (AROI).

Ted spends his time and pursues his passion in a unique role in the motion picture entertainment industry.

As the Futurist at Paramount pictures, Ted works with studio leadership and the technology teams at Paramount / Viacom/CBS, exploring forms of new and emerging technologies, with an emphasis on Virtual and Mixed Reality.

Prior to joining Paramount, Ted was the Futurist at 20th Century Fox, where he worked on the evolving art, science and technology of advanced interactive visual storytelling. He was part of the creation team for the Martian VR and Wild VR experiences, which premiered at CES and Sundance as groundbreaking projects that pushed the envelope of Virtual Reality storytelling,

In addition, Ted was part of the creation teams for the Alien, Planet of the Apes and Predator VR experiences at Fox, and at his current home at Paramount Pictures, he's been instrumental in bringing the Grease Mixed Reality experience, the Light as a Feather mixed reality experience and the Quiet Place Virtual Reality experience to life.

Ted was an integral part of the product development team at Red Digital Cinema as the company's first employee. The Red One and Epic cameras have made a significant impact on the Motion Picture Industry, winning a scientific and technical academy award. Many of the world's biggest movies are now being shot with these ultra high resolution digital movie cameras.

Ted is one of the founders and creators of the G-Tech product line of advanced hard drive storage products. As one of the most recognized brands in that industry, they are implemented worldwide at the highest levels on cinema, episodic television, sports and news production.

In his role as Chief Creative Officer at Barco Escape, he spearheaded an experimental immersive cinema project for movie theaters worldwide. Titles include Paramount Pictures Star Trek Beyond and 20th Century Fox Maze Runner & Maze Runner 2.

Before being part of the founding teams at Red Digital Cinema and G-Tech, Ted was on the team that developed and launched the Macintosh desktop video division of AJA Video Systems, creating professional video products in tandem with Apple. These products are used on a massive scale worldwide for video production and post at the highest levels, on many of the world's biggest movies, TV series and sporting events.

Ted has presented worldwide at numerous conferences on the advancements in next generation visual experiences for the movie, television and, interactive entertainment industries. He's been featured in Wired, Variety, NY Times, LA Times, Wall Street Journal, Fast Company, The Hollywood Reporter, NBC, CNET, Studio Daily, Videography, Film and Video, DV Magazine, TV Technology, HD Video Pro, Engadget, Gizmodo, Millimeter, American Cinematographer, MacWorld, Post Magazine, Popular Science, and countless other publications discussing his areas of passion and exploration. In 2019, Ted was honored at the Variety Hall of Fame event with the Variety Innovation Award.

Trevor Fernandes is the Vice President, Government Affairs, of the Asia-Pacific Region for the Motion Picture Association – whose global mission is to advance and support the film, television and streaming content industry.

Working directly with local stakeholders, government bodies and regulatory agencies, Trevor is responsible for developing and advocating policy initiatives which advance the MPA studios' interests in market access and investment while promoting and protecting creators' rights.

An experienced international studio executive, Trevor has broad commercial, business affairs, and finance expertise including ten years in the Asia Pacific region focused on building partnerships with theatrical exhibitors, content distribution and technology providers, and content creators. He has worked previously with Twentieth Century Fox International, The Walt Disney Company and EY.

Vanita Kohli-Khandekar has been tracking the Indian media and entertainment business for almost two decades.

Currently she is a columnist and writer for one of India's leading financial dailies, Business Standard. She also writes for Singapore-based Content Asia. Her earlier stints include one at Businessworld and EY. A Cambridge University press fellow (2000), Vanita has taught at some of the top media schools in India. Her first book, The Indian Media Business (Sage), is in its fourth edition. Her second book, The Making of Star India (Penguin-Random House), was released in 2019.

Vikash Jaiswal is the CREATOR of All Time Hit mobile game Ludo King. He is founder and CEO of Gametion Technologies, a Navi Mumbai based game development company.

Vivek Singh is a pioneer in the field of sports management. Along with brother Anil, they started Procam International in 1988. Procam is India's leading sports promoter and has carved out a niche for itself, in live events, sports consultancy and television production.

The Tata Mumbai Marathon (in the top 10 Marathons of the world), the Airtel Delhi Half Marathon, the Tata Consultancy Services World 10K Bangalore and the Tata Steel Kolkata 25K Run are some of the largest running events in the world today.

In addition to motivating thousands in India, to take on a healthier and fitter lifestyle, the Marathons have raised millions of Dollars for different charitable causes. They have underscored the fact that private commercial initiative and social interests are complementary.

In March 2017, Procam broke new ground with an unparalleled initiative - The NEXA P1 Powerboat Grand Prix of the Seas. Conducted in Mumbai at the Marine Drive bay - the event had the world's best drivers and navigators racing P1 Panther boats inside a specially constructed racecourse on water. This heralded a new sporting paradigm in India and provided the world with a new racing format.

A graduate in economics from Bombay University, his business sense, eye for detail and hands on approach make him a respected leader of the sports industry.

Vynsley Fernandes is the Chief Executive Officer of IndusInd Media & Communications Ltd. (IMCL) - the flagship media business of the global Hinduja Group. He is a veteran media executive and one of India's foremost technocrats - with just under 30 years of experience in delivering and managing assignments globally - including DTH (Direct-to-Home) & HITS (Headend-In-The-Sky) platforms; digital cable networks; and news & entertainment channels. IMCL runs two state-of-art digital content distribution platforms - InDigital (a digital cable network) and NXT Digital - a satellite-based HITS platform. The two platforms together have a footprint in over 1,500 cities and towns in India. Along with its subsidiary broadband business, IMCL is the only integrated digital delivery platform in the country available through cable, satellite and broadband. Prior to joining IMCL, Vynsley was the Executive Director at CastleMedia; a leading technology, media & entertainment consulting-to-delivery firm which he co-founded in 2010. At CastleMedia, Vynsley led the consulting practice, focussed on pay television platforms across the SAARC, the Middle East and Africa. Prior to CastleMedia, Vynsley has managed high profile assignments for leading blue-chip media organisations including 21st Century Fox (then News Corporation), TATA SKY and ABP News. He also spent a decade at STAR India managing key technology and operations portfolios. With an academic background in Mass Communications and Media, Vynsley is considered a thought leader in the media & entertainment space and spearheads the Hinduja Group's media ventures of IMCL.

Mr. Akshaye Rathi is a film exhibitor & distributor with operations spread across the central Indian states of Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh & Chhattisgarh. While carrying forward a 70 years old legacy in the show business, Akshaye has been a pioneer in the process of consolidation of the film exhibition sector by orchestrating a first of its kind alliance between single screen cinemas of his chain with the Cinepolis, one of the largest exhibition chains in the world that operates from Mexico.

Besides film exhibition & distribution, Mr. Rathi has business interests in the fields of FMCG distribution, education & hospitality. Armed with an MBA from the prestigious SP Jain Institute Of Management & Research, Mumbai, Akshaye also teaches students at various management & media institutes as a visiting faculty. He is a regular columnist with various business & entertainment publications.

Ameet Datta is a partner with Saikrishna & Associates specializing in copyright, trademark and design litigation as well as technology, media & entertainment, and, trade & regulatory compliance counsel. He drives the policy reform, advocacy and development group at the firm advising various technology and creative sector industry groups in the consumer durable, IT, broadcast, film, software and print publishing space.

With over 20 years’ experience as an IP litigator and lawyer, Ameet has advised leading Indian and international industry clients on diverse matters related to content creation, protection and monetisation. Ameet, in last 10 years, has actively engaged in policy reform around the copyright sphere having deposed as an expert witness before Parliamentary Standing Committees.

Andrea Spagna is advisor of Istituto Luce Cinecitta. His mission is to bring the iconic Cinecittà studios (now back to public control after about 20 years) to the level of the best European and Hollywood studios, by implementing an important expansion plan and reenergizing a brand known and appreciated throughout the world. Between 2010 and 2018 he worked in the Media and Pay TV sector at Sky Italia, where he held positions of increasing responsibility in marketing, brand, business development and advisory. Previously he worked at Value Partners, a strategic consulting company, where he assisted important clients in Italy and abroad.

Having spent most part of his 17 years career in Media with organisations like Sony, Zee and Viacom18, Anil has experience handling the legal aspects for all facets of media business. As the General Counsel of Viacom18, Anil leads a strong team of lawyers managing functions such as litigation, contracts, IP management and anti-piracy actions. The team enables all businesses lines of Viacom18 which spans across 46 television channels across the world, the OTT Platform (VOOT), Viacom18 Motion Pictures, Live Events and Consumer Product licensing.

Brian Tellis has enjoyed a long and fruitful career in entertainment. Across almost 3 decades he’s donned various avatars – show host, performer, voice-over specialist, radio jockey, jury member, event business honcho and consultant, amongst others. He has earned a commendable equity in anchoring, radio, theatre and music.

Before venturing into the world of entertainment, Brian spent over a decade in the travel industry, finding his bearings with a GSA of Pan American Airlines, before earning his stripes in corporate sales at Air France and Air Canada, where he served high net worth clients.

In 1995 Brian co-founded Fountainhead Promotions and Events Private Limited. As one of the driving forces throughout the company’s timeline, he has been instrumental in installing it amongst the leading event management players in the country, with offices in Mumbai, Delhi and Bangalore. Brian is co-founder and Group CEO at Fountainhead MKTG.

As an influential name in India’s event management industry, Brian is a founder member of the industry’s pinnacle body EEMA, which represents the interests of its members across Industry and at the highest level of Government. Under his leadership as the President of EEMA, several initiatives have been implemented, including widening membership to a pan-India status.

As a sign of respect for his statesmanship in media circles, Brian has been invited to sit on prestigious jury panels – Channel [V] Awards, MTV Video Music Awards and the ultimate destination in show business – Cannes.

With the dawn of India’s FM era in the 1990’s, Brian was amongst the pioneering voices on the air. He was one of the premier RJs on the leading radio station – Times FM (later Radio Mirchi) – hosting some of its prime English shows. He has also programmed and hosted FM radio shows for other channels including HMV FM, Radio One and Jaago Mumbai.

Radio is the perfect platform for Brian in his capacity as music maven. In fact, in earlier years Brian earned a solid reputation around music and theatre circles as frontman of a pop-rock styled band Voices (The band was a highlight feature at the Aid Bhopal concert in the eighties); and through headline billing in several theatre-based musicals on the Bombay circuit, including Evita, Annie, Joseph and His Technicolour Dreamcoat, Greased Lightening, The Witness, Oh Artaban, Beauty and the Beast and the first ever onstage musical entirely written and produced in India, Sing India Sing.

It was a combination of Brian’s music instincts and business sense again that spawned Groove – a kind of path-breaker for the mega music store concept in India.

A much-in-demand voice-over exponent, Brian has hosted high profile award nights including the Abbies, Emvies and Effies. He has also lent his voice to a slew of mainline TV commercials.

Brian Tellis graduated in Commerce from the University of Bombay and went on to obtain a diploma in Business Management from the Welingkar Institute of Management Development and Research.

Cristina Priarone is the General Manager of ROMA LAZIO FILMCOMMISSION, President of IFC Italian Film Commissions Association, member of LOS ANGELES WEBFEST, and Vice President of CINEUROPA. Previously she joined Cinecittà Holding at Lazio Filmcommission in charge for Marketing and Coproduction; she's been at Filas in charge for marketing and development of "Cinema and Audiovisual activities, Venture Capital Fund". She worked as team coordinator for marketing research, Personnel selection and assessment at "ISIN Istituto Italiano di Negoziazione Scienza dello Scambio", and at GRUPPOMUST Milan, Rome, Turin as Dir. for Mktg. & Dev. being in charge for: Communication, Training, Teambuilding, Coaching, Personnel Selection, and as Senior Consultant for main clients: ENI HOLDING, SNAM, 3M, TECHNICOLOR, APPLE COMPUTER, ITALGAS ETC. Since 2009 member of jury of DAVID DI DONATELLO award and of EFA European Film Accademy.

CVL Srinivas is the India Country Manager, WPP. In his current role he is helping WPP drive its transformation agenda in market working closely with the various operating companies of the group, clients and partners. Srini has spent most of his career with the WPP group in various roles. He was CEO GroupM South Asia. Under his leadership GroupM won a record number of new businesses and awards while continuing to diversify its services. Srini was earlier the Asia Pacific CEO of Maxus. He spent the early years of his career at Fulcrum working on the HUL media business.

Born in 1968 in Rome, where he also spent his childhood, Mr. Fabrizio Giustarini developed a keen interest in economics and international trade at a young age. He eventually obtained a degree in economics and has been associated with the Italian Trade Agency since 1992 in various capacities. He has been a part of the Administration, Director General and Networking Management Office at the Trade Agency head office in Rome and has worked at the Italian Trade Offices in Moscow and in Atlanta. Having successfully executed multiple projects and having strengthened trade relations during these terms, he was appointed as the Trade Commissioner to the Italian Trade Agency Mumbai, in June 2018. Mr. Giustarini is well-versed with the trade scenario between Italy and India, especially the focus sectors of food processing, construction, construction material, infrastructure and smart cities amongst others. He hopes to increase the presence of Italian companies and products in India along with facilitating bilateral trade between the two countries during his tenure here.

Francesco Rutelli is the President of ANICA. Elected to a new mandate (2020-2022), he aims to support creativity and competitiveness in the Italian audiovisual ecosystem in the current global transformations. First Mayor of Rome (1993-2001) elected directly by the citizens, with the widest consensus ever. Elected 5 times in the Chamber of Deputies (between 1983 and 2006). Member of the European Parliament (1999-2004); of the Italian Senate (2008-2013). Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Culture of the Italian Government (2006-2008).

Actively engaged on the environmental issues and for the protection, restoration and enhancement of Cultural Heritage, in cooperation with leading international bodies, through public and private partnerships. As ANICA President, he is responsible for MIA (the International Audiovisual Market of Rome); he created “VIDEOCITTÀ” (Videocity), a new Moving Image Festival in Rome.

Gaurav, President and Head of Hindi and English Entertainment at Star India leads the entertainment portfolio that includes premier General Entertainment Channels like Star Plus, Star Bharat & Star World- and blockbuster  movie channels like Star Gold & Star Movies. He also leads the creative for Hotstar original content and is responsible for launching the brand new library of Hotstar Specials – notable successes include Special Ops, Aarya, and Out Of Love. Gaurav believes that good stories provide context. It comes from his experience of being a journalist with Aaj Tak where he covered the Afghan war and the General Elections. Gaurav has a master’s in Film Making and Video from Mass Communications Research Centre, Jamia Milia Islamia University, Delhi.

Girish Agarwaal is the Promoter Director of Dainik Bhaskar group and has been on the Board since October 1990. He has approximately 29 years of experience in the publishing business and has been with the organization for same number of years. He heads the marketing and related operations. He is also an active member of Indian Newspaper Society (INS). He holds the distinction of being the youngest chairman of INS for Madhya Pradesh region. He has also been awarded the Entrepreneur of the Year, for the year 2006 in the Media & Entertainment category by Ernst & Young. Further, he is also award recipient for "Outstanding Entrepreneur" in APEA (Asia Pacific Entrepreneur awards).

Dainik Bhaskar today is the 3rd largest circulated newspaper in the World. The 1st and 2nd ranks are with the Japanese newspaper. And Dainik Bhaskar group is also India’s largest circulated newspaper group.

The launch story of ‘Dainik Divya Marathi’, Marathi language Newspaper of the group has been presented as a case study by Indian Institute of Management (IIM) Bangalore and was featured in the Harvard Business Review (HBR). Similarly, launch story of Gujarat (2003) became a subject of case study at the IIM, Ahmedabad.

Mr. Agarwaal is Managing Director of DB Power Ltd and has been spearheading its 1200 MW thermal power plant at Chhattisgarh which won the recognition from Government of India.

A practicing lawyer for 24 years, Gowree Gokhale leads the IP, Technology, Media and Entertainment, data protection law practice of research and strategy driven international law firm, Nishith Desai Associates. She has assisted several international businesses in India entry strategy, corporate and strategic deals, litigation and arbitration in TMT and Pharma sector. She has spearheaded several policy initiatives for the TMT and Pharma industry including for online content companies, gaming industry, IT industry as also for privacy and data protection laws. She has also been consistently working on high tech industry aspects.

She has been named in several legal directories, including in in the Hall of Fame (TMT) in Legal 500.

Vivan Sharan is a partner at the Koan Advisory Group, New Delhi. His work centres on the intersection of public policy, technology and markets. He advises leading technology companies, international organisations, industry associations, think-tanks and government bodies. Vivan is also a visiting fellow at the Observer Research Foundation and an advisor to the Esya Centre. He writes extensively for leading newspapers including the Hindustan times, Financial Express and The Mint. He is also the author of “Wonked: India in Search of an Economic Ideology”, a book on public policy and the economy, published by Bloomsbury.

Soum Paul is the Founder, CEO of Home Screen Network / Spark.Live. Prior to this, Soum was instrumental in setting up, growing or leading teams in a number of startups, starting with Mixercast (Chief Architect) in 2006, based in Pune / San Francisco, to State.com (Founding Member, Chief Architect) in London, UK, and eventually Knowlarity (Director of R&D). Along with this, Soum has also produced non-fiction films for reputed organizations and has authored non-fiction books Topper Prepares and Flight Of The Unicorns, published by Harper Collins India. Soum is a graduate of IIT Kanpur Computer Science Dept.

As head of “yes Studios,” Stern oversees sales, distribution and development of premium Israeli content for international platforms. Stern is an international television veteran, having managed all aspects of content acquisitions, channel creation and branding across platforms in her previous role in Israel’s “yesTV” – a multichannel television provider. She was directly responsible for the satellite broadcaster’s exclusive in-house produced channels and managed content and acquisitions strategies for the platform’s entire channel line-up, featuring over 200 channels as well as a robust on-demand and digital offering. In addition, she serves as a commissioning editor of documentary and factual programming, supervising the selection and production of internationally acclaimed documentaries featured prominently in major festivals and licensed to numerous broadcasters around the world. Stern is also a member of the International Television Academy and a frequent moderator and guest in international content forums.

Anna Katchko has produced more than 20 award-winning international co-productions ("Harmony Lessons", Berlinale Silver Bear, "Black Hen" Venice IFF best debut, "Mariam" Locarno Competition, "Proxima" Toronto Jury Price etc.). Her company “Tandem Production” is based in Germany, Kazakhstan and Russia.

Katchko is a Chief Advisor at the Kazakh Cinema Center (main film body in Kazakhstan) and has founded and curated many international film-business/training events (Moscow Business Square, Eurasia Spotlight, EAVE CIS etc).

Member of European Film Academy, Katchko is acknowledged by professional magazines (Variety, THR) as “Most Promising Eastern European Producer”, “European producer to watch”. Speaks fluent German, English, French and Russian.

Lior Raz is the lead actor and co-creator of the critically acclaimed Netflix drama series, Fauda (Arabic for “chaos”). The series was created by Raz and Avi Issacharoff and is based on their real-life experiences serving in the Israeli Defense Force’s special forces unit. The Israeli drama, which Netflix picked up in 2016, stars Raz as the commander of a mista’arvim, a commando unit trained to operate undercover in the Palestinian territories. Fauda became one of Israeli television’s biggest hits when its first season premiered in 2015. The show won six Ophir Awards—the Israeli equivalent of the Emmys—including best drama in June of that year.

Laetitia EIDO is a French actress. She is one the leads of the NETFLIX world hit tv-show ‘FAUDA’. She plays in languages such as french, english, spanish, italian, arabic, hebrew or greek. She is the female lead of ‘Holy Air’ feature film by Shady Srour, which opened in New-York in TriBeCa Film Festival’s Official Competition (‘FIPRESCI Film Critics award’ in Jerusalem).

Her recent work includes the feature ‘A borrowed identity’ by Eran Riklis (‘Lemon tree’) and a lead in ‘Yes I do’ tv-series by E.Blayau for Studio+, the new CANAL+ digital label.

Laetitia was awarded BEST ACTRESS for her lead part in ‘Fadhma n’Soumer’ historical feature by B.Hadjadj in Montreal and Agadir.

First trained in classical acting techniques in Paris, she attended workshops with theatre companies such as Peter BROOK’s or Jacques LECOQ’s. She then studied in depth S.MEISNER acting technique, in Paris and New-York.

Her career on screen notably started in France with the role of Cleopatra in the docu-drama ‘The destiny of Rome’; she was then an Indian super-hero in the successful Tv-Series ‘Hero Corp’ by S.Astier; and the lead in ‘Limply, a Saturday morning’, short film by S.Djama (BEST FIRST FICTION, Clermont-Ferrand). Her ambiguous ethnicity opened horizons for her in England and in the US with the action tv-series ‘Strike Back’ (Cinemax/HBO) and the movies ‘The land of nothing’ by A.Kouider (with the ‘Maharishi University Master in Films’ run by David LYNCH) and the short ‘Aleppo’ by A.Grippa.

Jonathan has worked in the screen industries for 38 years as producer, distributor, sales agent and, since 1992, executive chair of theinfluential, international creative industries consultancy Olsberg SPI. The firm is a leading adviser on public policy matters for governments as well as business issues for corporations. Heis responsible for SPI’s work with international clients and recentlythese have included those in Australia, New Zealand, USA, Abu Dhabi, UK, Sweden, Italy, Estonia, Croatiaand Costa Rica, among others.Jonathan’s first career was in investment banking, on Wall Street and the City of London. He’s a member of the European Film Academy, BAFTA, the British Screen Forum and the UK’s Creative Industries Federation.

Francesca Manno - Founder and Managing Director of SUMMERSIDE MEDIA, during her long experience as top executive at a prominent Italian film company, she has been involved in financing, distribution, international sales and acquisitions of more than 400 films, for over 15 years, and producing several films, among which a few international co-productions. She is a veteran deal maker and connosseur of the film and media business and entertainment industry all over the world and an expert IP lawyer.

Ram Madhvani has worked in every cinematic medium to become one of India's most respected filmmakers.

His debut feature film “Let's Talk” premiered at the Locarno Film Festival. It won "Best Debut Director" at the Srinivas Gollapudi National Awards.

Then, Ram directed the biographical film on Neerja Bhanot under the banner of Fox Star Studios and Bling Unplugged, with Equinox Features, his own companybeing Associate Producer. The film has been a huge success both critically and commercially. It also won the “National Award for Best Hindi Film “.

His latest success has been “Aarya”. A 9 - Episode web series made for Disney+ Hostar co-produced by Endemol Shine India and his own company – Ram Madhvani Films with AmitaMadhvani as Co - Producer. Aarya continues to receive much love from the critics and viewers.

Ram enriches his cinematic journey with his advertising, feature and web series work.

Ritesh Batra is a BAFTA Award nominated writer-director who was named one of Variety’s Ten Directors to Watch in 2017. His most recent film, Photograph, premiered at the 2019 Sundance Film Festival, and was released by Amazon Studios in May. His previous films include Our Souls at Night, starring Robert Redford and Jane Fonda, for Netflix, and The Sense of an Ending for BBC and FilmNation starring Jim Broadbent and Charlotte Rampling. Ritesh’s debut feature film The Lunchbox, was supported by Sundance and premiered at the 2013 Cannes Film Festival where it won the Grand Rail d’Or. It was one of the best-reviewed films of the year, and nominated for the 2015 BAFTA Awards for “Best Film Not In The English Language”.

Roberto Stabile is the Director of the International Department of ANICA. He also collaborates with ITA representing the cinema and audiovisual industries and coordinating their information desks around the world.

He has set up a network of media and information desks for international audiovisual industry relations with Italy in the major international markets and with the most important cinematographic foreign authorities. At the moment there are two permanent offices in Los Angeles and Shanghai, and a series of information desks in Berlin, Buenos Aires, Hanoi, London, Mexico City, Miami, Moscow, New York, Paris, San Paolo, Seul, Toronto.

He also organizes Italy’s presence in the major international festivals and markets coordinating the funds allocated by MiBACT (Italian Ministry for Cultural Heritage and Activities and Tourism), with the aim of promoting Italian audiovisual industry, increasing co-productions, supporting the sale of Italian films and attracting foreigners to film in Italy.

He coordinates the China Project, together with MiBACT and MISE, aiming to promote dialogue, cooperation and to increase business and institutional cooperation between the Chinese and Italian film industries.

In many occasions around the world he represents and supports the Directorate-General for Cinema of MiBACT.

With a career spanning nearly three decades, Sanjay joins Google India as Country Manager and Vice President from Star and Disney India where he was the Managing Director. During that time, he played a pivotal role in Star becoming the largest media company in India. Sanjay played an instrumental role in extending their traditional television content to digital consumers through Hotstar. He is also widely credited for building their sports business via the acquisition of marquee cricketing properties and launch of the hugely popular kabaddi and football leagues:Pro Kabaddi League and Indian Super League.

Apart from his numerous strategic and business wins, Sanjay also displays deep consumer understanding and has used it to build strong brands. During his time at Hindustan Unilever he led marketing for two of the company's critical segments: Oral and Home care. Then at Bharti Airtel as Chief Marketing Officer for the mobile business, he spearheaded several successful sales and marketing initiatives. Sanjay is a post graduate from the Indian Institute of Management (IIM) Kolkata, and is an engineer from Delhi College of Engineering.

Sharan works closely with indies as well as market leaders to help them bring fantastic games and apps to users and find success on the Play platform. A veteran of the gaming industry he has worked with game developers across India, South East Asia, Europe and other regions before joining Google and the Play BD team in India.

Shibasish is Media & Entertainment Industry professional with over 25 years of corporate experience in handling multiple verticals across gaming, films, television, animation, digital content & new media platforms. He has been a part of the leadership team with the Reliance ADA group and has demonstrated organizational capabilities in establishing and scaling business operations, driving sustainable growth by forming key alliances, managing stakeholders, talent partners & cross functional teams. He is adept at liaising with industry bodies & government authorities and if often called upon to speak at industry related forums.

With more than 20 years of experience in media and telecoms, Vivek Couto is the Executive Director and Co-Founder of Media Partners Asia (MPA). With offices in Hong Kong, Singapore and India, MPA is a market leader in the provision of advisory, consulting and research services, focusing on media & telecoms in Asia Pacific. MPA also hosts APOS, the definitive annual Summit for strategic insight, great conversations and significant M&A across Asia Pacific media, telecoms and entertainment. At MPA, Vivek leads teams to offer clients corporate strategy, market research, asset appraisal and M&A-related due diligence. Vivek is a graduate from the London School of Economics & Political Science with a BSc Economics degree and an MSc Economics degree in International Political Economy.

Dilip is currently Secretary General of the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI). He leads the permanent secretariat of the industry chamber, which is the largest and oldest apex business organisation in India, and a potent voice for policy change. FICCI represents over 2,50,000 members through Member Bodies covering all the States of India. Before joining FICCI, Dilip served as Managing Director & CEO of the National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC). NSDC fosters private sector investment and initiatives in training and skill development.

Amit Khare is an Indian AdministrativeService officer (1985 batch) of Jharkhand Cadre. He is a graduate from St. Stephen's College, Delhi and post-graduate in Business Administration from IIM Ahmedabad. Shri Khare served the Central Government for 6 years as Joint Secretary, Higher Education from August 2008 to August 2014 looking after UNESCO, Education Policy and Book Promotion & Copyrights. He also served as Member Secretary of National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority from September 2014 to April 2015. On return from central deputation, he served as Principal Secretary/ ACS, Finance-cum- Planning Deopartment and Development Commissioner of Jharkhand from April 2015 to May2018.

As Development Commissioner & ACS Finance-cum Planning, he took many initiatives for introducing wide spread pre- budget consultations, performance budgeting, gender budgeting & sectoral budgeting, financial inclusion, DBT and in implementation of various Central and State sector schemes. He took over as Secretary, I&B, Government of India on 31st May 018.

Mr. Amitabh Kant is presently CEO of National Institution for Transforming India (NITI). He is a member of the Indian Administrative Service, IAS (Kerala Cadre: 1980 batch). He is the author of Branding India - An Incredible Story. Mr. Kant has been a key driver of the “Make in India”, Startup India, “Incredible India” and God’s Own Country” initiatives that positioned India and Kerala State as leading manufacturing and tourism destinations. These campaigns have won several international awards and embraced a host of activities – infrastructure development, product enhancement, private-public partnership and positioning and branding based on extensive market research. Mr. Kant also conceptualized the “Atithi Devo Bhavah” – “Guest is God” campaign to train Taxi Drivers, Guides, immigration officials and make them stake holders in the tourism development process. Mr. Amitabh Kant was also the National Project Director of the Rural Tourism Project of UNDP which made a paradigm shift in spreading tourism to Indian villages which had core-competency in handicrafts, handloom and culture.

In his capacity as Secretary (Industries) Govt. of India, Mr. Kant drove the Ease of Doing Business initiative and ranking of States on outcome parameters. He is the Chairman of the Committee to implement Digital Payment in India.

Mr. Kant has been the recipient of Economic Time Policy Change Agent of the Year Award, the Bloomberg TV Personality of the year Award, the NDTV Administrator of the year Award and the Distinguished Fellowship of the Institute of Directors. He is the recipient of One Globe Award-2016 for leadership in Transforming Governance for the 21st Century. He is a Member of the Steering Board of “Shaping the Future of Production Systems” of World Economic Forum. He is also the recipient of Sir Edmund Hillary Fellowship award by the Prime Minister of New Zealand. He is also the recipient of Golden Peacock Award for leadership in Economic Transformation - 2017.

Mr. Amitabh Kant has worked as CMD – ITDC, Joint Secretary – Ministry of Tourism, Government of India, Secretary – Tourism, Government of Kerala, Managing Director, Kerala State Industrial Development Corporation, District Collector, Kozikhode and Managing Director, Matsyafed. During his tenure in Kerala, he structured the Calicut Airport as a private sector project based on User’s Free and developed the BSES Power Project and Mattanchery Bridge under Private Public Partnership. He was also responsible for introducing new technology (fiberglass crafts and outboard motor) in the fisheries sector and launching beach level auctions which substantially enhanced returns to traditional fishermen.

Mr. Amitabh Kant did his schooling from Modern School, Delhi, graduation in Economics (Hons) from St. Stephens, Delhi University and M.A from Jawaharlal Nehru University. He is a Chevening Scholar.

is an Indian politician and the current minister of Railways and Commerce in the Government of India. He was elevated to the Cabinet Minister position on 3 September 2017. He is currently a Member of Parliament for Rajya Sabha from the state of Maharashtra, and the Deputy Leader of Rajya Sabha. He was earlier the National Treasurer of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). He headed the BJP's Information Communication Campaign Committee and oversaw the publicity and advertising campaign of the party including the social media outreach for the Indian General Elections 2014. Goyal is the 2018 Carnot Prize Recipient for distinguished contributions to energy policy. Piyush Goyal has been allocated the cabinet ministry for Narendra Modi led NDA government in May 2019. He is currently taking charge as Minister of Railways and Minister of Commerce and Industry.

Goyal started his career as an investment banker and served on the board of India's largest commercial banks, the State Bank of India 2001-2004 and Bank of Baroda 2002-2004 as Government nominee.

Goyal became the Minister of State for Power, Coal, New and Renewable Energy in the Modi government in 2014 and undertook multiple initiatives in his term. He accelerated the mission to provide 24X7 reliable electricity to all households and pushed towards the adoption of clean energy.

He became the Minister of Railways on 3 September 2017 taking charge from Suresh Prabhu. On 27 February 2019, Piyush Goyal announced a Railway Zone for Andhra Pradesh named South Coast Railway with Waltair Division in Andhra Pradesh along with Guntur, Guntakal and Vijayawada Divisions with the headquarters of the zone being in Visakhapatnam, according to the AP Reorganisation Act 2014.

From May through August 2018, he was temporarily given additional charge of Ministry of Finance during Arun Jaitley's absence for medical treatment. Goyal presented the 2019 Interim-Union budget of India in the Lok Sabha on 1 February 2019.In May 2019, he continued at the Ministry of Railways and got the Ministry of Commerce and Industry.

In June 2019, he was appointed as the Deputy Leader of the House in Rajya Sabha.

Mr Anurag Singh Thakur is a Minister of State Finance and Corporate Affairs. He is a four time elected Member of the Indian Parliament (Lok Sabha/Lower House) from Hamirpur, Himachal Pradesh. Within Parliament he has served as Chairman of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on IT and Member of Public Accounts Committee. During the 16th Lok Sabha, he was appointed as the Chief Whip, Lok Sabha, becoming the youngest to assume the post.

In the year 2016, he was commissioned as a regular officer in the Territorial Army as a Lieutenant of the 124 Sikh Regiment, thereby becoming the first serving BJP Member of Parliament to join as a regular officer.

He is the former National President of Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha (BJYM-Youth Wing of the Bharatiya Janata Party) and has been the only National President to be appointed for three consecutive terms in the BJP. He is also the first BJYM National President to have worked under three different BJP Presidents - Mr Amit Shah, Mr Rajnath Singh and Mr Nitin Gadkari.

Under Mr Anurag Singh Thakur’s leadership, the BJYM led various socioeconomic and political initiatives, such as Rashtriya Ekta Yatra: Kolkata to Kashmir, Shaheed Shradhanjali Yatra – A journey from Guwahati to Tawang to pay homage to 1962 war bravehearts, Sansad Ghirav a national agitation against corruption, National Youth Convention, Digital Literacy campaign, etc.

Mr Thakur is an avid sports lover and has contributed immensely to sports in the capacity of a sports administrator. He has served as the President at the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), President Himachal Pradesh Cricket Association (HPCA) and continues to serve as President Himachal Pradesh Olympic Association, President Hockey Himachal, President Himachal Pradesh Table Tennis Association and Associate Vice President Hockey India. He is credited for building the world famous Dharamshala Cricket Stadium which is considered as one of the most beautiful stadium in the world.

He has been appointed by Global Fund as the Global Champion in the category of Public Health for creating awareness about Malaria, TB & HIV AIDS. He is a recipient of the Best Young Parliamentarian Award in 2011 and recognized as a “Young Global Leader” by the World Economic Forum. In a nationwide survey in the run-up to the 2014 General elections he was rated amongst India’s Top 10 MPs based on his Parliamentary performance and commitments to society at large.

He also served as the President of the EU-India Parliamentary Friendship Group, President of the FICCI Indo-US Parliamentarians Forum and India- Germany Parliamentarians Forum. He is the founder of 'Honour Our Women' (HOW) Foundation. He is an acclaimed public speaker at various forums on public health, Information Technology, National Security, Governance, Sports Administration and issues concerning young people..

Recently, he was awarded the Sansad Ratan Award in category of Jury Committee Special for his outstanding performance as a Parliamentarian, becoming the only Member of Parliament from BJP & North India to be coveted with this honor.

Guneet Monga has been redefining Indian films and their journeys with diverse new-age projects, including the Oscar-winning Period. End of Sentence (2019), The Lunchbox (2013), Masaan (2015), and Gangs of Wasseypur (2011). One of the first Indian producers to be inducted into the Producer's Branch of the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts And Sciences and featured in Variety's International Women's Impact Report 2018, Guneet Monga is a force to reckon with and a game-changing producer in Indian cinema. She is the youngest person to be conferred with the ‘Most Powerful Women in Indian Business Award’ by Business Today in 2014 and was voted as one of the top 12 women achievers in the Global Entertainment Industry by The Hollywood Reporter. This year Guneet won Producer of the year at the GQ awards

Vincenzo De Luca took office on 1 February 2016 as Director-General for Cultural and Economic Promotion and Innovation of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Government of Italy, after having served in the same Directorate General as Deputy Director-General and Principal Director for the Internationalisation of the Italian Economic System (since January 2014).

He has been a career diplomat since 1989 and has been given several assignments at the Foreign Ministry and at the diplomatic representations in Khartoum, Tunis, Paris (at the permanent Representation at the OECD) and in Shanghai. He has a long-standing expertise in the internationalisation of the economic system of the public and private sector, both in Central Offices, in the capacity of Diplomatic Advisor of the Ministries of Industry, Transports and Economic Development, and in large corporations like ENI and ENEL, where he served as Vice President for Institutional International Relations.

During the past few years, he played a relevant role in the organisation of the EXPO Milano 2015 as President of the Foreign Ministry’s Task Force, capitalising on his experience as Consul General in Shanghai.

Extended version - Born in Naples on 7th November 1959. - Graduated in Political Science at the University of Naples in 1988. - February 1989: joined the Foreign Service. - November 1989 - May 1990: Directorate General for Cultural Relations at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. - May 1990 – January 1992: Directorate Generale for Human Resources at the MFA. - January 1992 - May 1994: Second Secretary (Commercial) in The Embassy of Italy in Khartum (Sudan). Promoted to the rank of First Secretary in January 1994. - May 1994 - March 1998: First Secretary (Commercial) in the Embassy of Italy in Tunis (Tunisia). - March 1998 - January 2000: Counsellor for International Affairs to the Minister of Industry and Trade; - January 2000 - July 2001: Counsellor for International Affairs to the Minister of Transport and Navigation; - July 2001 - July 2005: Counsellor at the Permanent Representation of Italy at OECD in Paris; - July 2005 - January 2007: Counsellor for International Affairs to the Minister of Economic Development; - May 2008 - August 2008: Additional Advisor at the Minister of Economic Development for matters relating to Industry and Power. - August 2008 - December 2010: Vice President for Institutional International Relations of ENI S.p.A. - December 2010 – January 2014: Consul General of Italy in Shanghai; - January 2014: Deputy Director General for Cultural and Economic Promotion and Innovation/ Principal Director for internationalization of the Italian Economic System in the MFA. - February 2016: Director General for Cultural and Economic Promotion and Innovation.

EDUCATION

B.A., Amar Singh College, Srinagar, Jammu & Kashmir, India (1974-1977); L.L.B (Bachelor of Law), University of Kashmir, Srinagar, Jammu & Kashmir, India (1977-1981)

CAREER

Family businesses in following sectors: Hospitals; Education and medical education; Hospitality; Exports, Commodities and home furnishings; Home appliances manufacturing; Automobile dealerships (Toyota)/ (Tata)/(Suzuki); Transport, LPG & petrol tankers and special trucks to transport vehicles from manufacturing facilities across India to sales outlets; Gas stations/petrol pumps; Solar power plant; Won bid for a private sea port in Gujarat; Automobile components manufacturing

SPORTS PRACTISED

Hockey; Cricket; Tennis; Athletics; Kabaddi; Badminton; Table Tennis; Football

SPORTS CAREER

Participated in Inter-School Hockey Championship for 4 years (1970-1973); Junior State Hockey Team of Jammu & Kashmir(1973-1975); Senior State Hockey Team of Jammu & Kashmir (1974-1980); Inter-College Hockey Tournaments (1975-1977); All India Inter-University Hockey Championships (1975-1980)

SPORTS ADMINISTRATION

President, Hockey Jammu & Kashmir (1997-2010) and (2012-2014); Sr. Vice President of Indian Hockey Federation (Men)(2002-2008); Secretary General and Treasurer of Hockey India (2009-2010) and Secretary General Hockey India (2010-2014);President Hockey India (2014-2016); Chairman Hockey India League (2012-2016); Member, Organising Committee of theHockey World Cup, India (2010); Chairman of the Organising Committee of nine International Hockey tournaments in India(2012-2015); Treasurer, Delhi & District Cricket Association (2003-2013); Member, Jammu & Kashmir Sports Council (2008-2010); Vice-President, Asian Hockey Federation (2011-2016); Associate Vice-President, Indian Olympic Association (2013-2017); Member, Competitions Committee of International Hockey Federation (FIH) (2012-2014); Executive Board Member,International Hockey Federation (FIH) (2014-2016); Member, Government of India, Ministry of Sport Bill Drafting Committee(2013 & 2016); President, International Hockey Federation (FIH) (2016-); President Indian Olympic Association (IOA) (2017-);Member of CSR Committee of Ministry of Corporate Affairs, Government of India (2018-)

MEMBERSHIP OF OTHER ASSOCIATIONS

Member, ANOC Marketing and New Sources of Finance Commission

AWARDS AND DISTINCTIONS

Vijay Ratna Award from the Prime Minister of India (1991); Doctor of Philosophy (Honoris Causa), Teerthanker Mahavir University, India (2012); International Hockey Federation President’s Award (2014)

IOC HISTORY

Member of the Olympic Channel Commission (2020-), IOA representative in negotiations for successful restoration of recognition of IOA (suspended from December 2011) by IOC in February 2014.

Saugata Mukherjee is the Head of Originals for SonyLIV. He was previously the head of content development at Hotstar Specials and was instrumental in setting up and producing the originals slate for Disney+Hotstar. Prior to joining Star networks, Saugata was the Publisher and Editor-in-Chief of Pan Macmillan and Picador India.

Director, Advisory Board of Akanksha and Katalyst (Non-Profits in Education)

Board Member, South Asia Global Advisory Board of Columbia University

Bachelor of Technology (Mechanical) NIT Kurukshetra and PGDM, IIM Ahmedabad

Sudhanshu Vats is the Managing Director and CEO of Essel Propack Limited since April 2020. Essel Propack is a global leader in Speciality Packaging.

As Managing Director and Group CEO of Viacom18 Media Private Limited, he steered Viacom18 for 8 years and transformed a TV company with 6 channels to the fastest growing full play media organization with presence across screens and platforms. Viacom18 grew from 6 to over 54 channels in TV Business, built a very successful film studioand added 3 more lines of business. By building a strong portfolio of Direct to Consumer Digital offerings under VOOT brand and strengthening Data Science and analytics capability, he has future proofed the media company that is admired for its culture, quality of talent and progressive people policies.

Sudhanshu Vats started his career with Hindustan Unilever and spent about 20 years in various Sales & Marketing and General Management roles across categories.

Mr. Punit Misra is the CEO of the Domestic Broadcast Business at Zee Entertainment Enterprises Limited (ZEEL). After 20 years at Hindustan Unilever Limited, where he served in the Management Committee as the Head of Sales And Distribution for the company, Punit moved to the world of media and entertainment in 2016.

Under his leadership, ZEEL has been India’s fastest growing entertainment network – both on viewership as well as Revenue. His incessant focus on consumer centricity, and on building strong institutional strengths across the entire content ecosystem have led to this consistent and broad-based growth for the organization. One of the cornerstones of his strategy to drive growth has been to build a stronger footprint across all regional markets, driven by his belief that in story-telling, it’s the lens of culture and not language alone that is the key to success across the beautiful mosaic that is India. ZEEL regained its market leadership position as an entertainment network under his leadership, and has been strengthening that position over the last 30 months.

In his stint at Hindustan Unilever Ltd, where he joined as a Management Trainee, he held various responsibilities across key business functions including Sales, Marketing and General Management, working across a varied range of categories from Skin Cleansing to Laundry, to Ice Cream. He has worked across 18 markets globally, helping Unilever countries to build strong Route To market and Sales Tech capabilities in their quest for growth. In his last role at HUL, he was the Executive Director - Sales and Customer Development and a member of the organization’s Management Committee. He was also part of the Global Sales Leadership Team of Unilever.

Punit currently also serves on the board of the Indian Broadcasting Foundation (IBF), the industry body for broadcasters. He Chairs the CII Core Group on Broadcasting & Linear Digital Media, and is also the Chair of the FICCI Broadcast forum.

Uday Singh is the India Representative for the Motion Picture Association and till recently was the Managing Director of the Motion Picture Association’s India office. Uday is responsible for promoting and protecting the commercial and creative interests of the major Hollywood studios in India, as well as those of the local screen communities. Uday drives strategic partnerships with the government advocacy, manages public relations, content protection, and technology needs for the MPA studios in India.

Uday has over four decades of experience in the industry and he is considered as an industry leader. He is a jury member of various industry and government-led awards. Uday is an alumnus of the Harvard Business School Management and also holds a post-graduate diploma in digital business from Emeritus in collaboration with MIT and the Columbia Business School