We started off the conference by discussing the evolving capital pools in India with some of the most astute investors from equity markets, family offices, endowment firms, the private equity space, and the private wealth industry.

A wide range of insights were shared about setting goals and objectives, value addition as an investor, hiring the right talent, capital allocation, and fundraising. The speakers also discussed sectors where they see opportunities as private market investors.

In this session, Venkatsalu P spoke about consumer behavior, brand development, and the patience required to build successful brands.

Having spent 15+ years at Trent, Venkat spoke about the right product, premiumization strategy, and the importance of not depending too much on qualitative research, stating, “Consumers don’t think how they feel, they don’t say what they think, and they don’t do what they say.”

He also discussed how, while tech is very relevant in the consumer space, the problem to be solved first is satisfying the consumer through the product. Integrating tech into the solution should be given priority instead of solving for technology first.

Mr Mohandas Pai and Mr Manish Chokhani engaged in a data-loaded discussion on the India Macro Story. They discussed India’s strong path towards becoming a world-recognized power and how the next 5 years belong to India, making now the perfect time to invest in it.

The panel then discussed its expectations from Modi 3.0, which includes a revamp of the Indian judiciary system, a reduction in foreign exchange controls to increase liberalization and ease of doing business, and increased investment in R&D.

Another suggestion was establishing labor-intensive industries in the country’s poorest areas through fiscal incentives to increase employment. Finally, they discussed how reducing the fear of regulatory action is important for India to retain its wealthy individuals.

Sharad Sharma’s session was a master class in digital public infrastructure (DPI). He spoke about the India Stack revolution, the story of India’s non-linear change, and multiple things that have been built out of India Stack in the last 10 years. UPI is one such example, which continues to grow at 8% MoM and is expected to grow at this rate for the next few years. Sharma shared insights on what is possible on this layer of India’s DPI and how it will serve the world market.

In a session with KV Kamath and Mohandas Pai, Madhusudan Kela spoke about the Indian banking sector’s journey and the future of India’s $3 trillion financial services industry.

A wide range of topics was covered, from banking sector reforms and capital markets to insurance and corporate balance sheets. Most importantly, they discussed the role and adoption of technology in the financial services sector and how its incumbents will have to change to keep up with their new digitally savvy counterparts.

In this session, Neelkanth Mishra delved into how India needs both manufacturing and services sectors. He spoke about emulating China with a different approach to value-added manufacturing. He presented his wishlist for Indian manufacturing which revolves around policy reforms to attract more FDI, integration and cohesiveness amongst industries, and engagement with global players at the government level.

In this session, the panel explored what the future of the lending, insurance, and retail banking sectors would look like in 10 years, when the financial services sector would be ~$10 trillion in size.

The speakers discussed many new developments including partnerships between banks and fintechs, the infrastructure being built (OCEN), and some of the large conglomerates’ role in building this landscape.

This session covered a vast array of topics, including AI and semiconductors. The panelists spoke about emerging opportunity areas for global investment: AI for the data center economy, Industry 4.0 sensors and communication, AR/VR connectivity, materials engineering for climate change, the intersection of AI and healthcare, photonics and optics, quantum computing, etc.

The session discussed what it would take to make manufacturing a big sector. The speakers navigated the conversation through factors like global EOM tie-ups, tech obsolescence, workforce management, and manufacturing sustainability. They spoke about the use of robotics and automated manufacturing versus traditional labor. The speakers’ wishlist included faster bureaucratic processes, a revamp of labor laws, and government support for digitization.

The session included an interesting chat in which Mithun Sacheti, Singularity’s Sponsor and founder of CaratLane, relayed his CaratLane journey to DSG CP’s Hariharan Premkumar.

Mithun reminisced about setting up CaratLane and spoke about first building the company as a tech business and later running it as a consumer business.

He advised founders to focus on going from the 0-1 Lakh customer mark rather than focusing on the Rs 0-100 cr journey. From his experience, he discussed how product market fit, experience fit, and channel fit are the key elements to solve and could take 7 years to accomplish.

In this session, the speakers discussed various aspects of energy transition from battery recycling to commodity prices and adding capacity. They talked about how, for investor returns to play out, it is critical to reach sizable operating scale & history, and thereafter attract sovereign or infrastructure committed capital, which has much lower IRR thresholds. The distinguished speakers, each running a company in the net zero space, spoke about adding capex, long-term gestation, sensitivity to commodity prices, and new technology disruptions.