Mr. Y. M. Deosthalee joined Larsen & Toubro Limited (L&T) in 1974 and held positions at various offices of the company all over the Country until assuming charge as General Manager (Finance) in 1990. In addition to assuming total responsibility of the Finance portfolio, he also oversees the Personnel and HR functions in the Company.

In March 1995, Mr. Deosthalee was appointed as whole-time Director on the Board of the Company and designated Sr. Vice President (Finance). Currently, he is the Chief Financial Officer of L&T and on the Boards of various L&T Group of Companies.

Mr. Deosthalee was instrumental in setting up L&T Finance Limited in 1994, a wholly-owned subsidiary of L&T and continues to nurture its operations and provide strategic direction. He also plays an important role in Larsen & Toubro Infotech Limited, the IT arm of L&T, which offers software solutions to clients globally.

Mr. Deosthalee is a Trustee of the newly formed L&T Public Charitable Trust, a major CSR initiative of the Company and takes a keen interest in its various welfare activities. A member of the Western Regional Council and the National Council on Corporate Governance of the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), Mr. Y. M. Deosthalee has chaired a number of meetings including CFO Summits organised by CII.

Mr. Deosthalee is a member of the Bombay Management Association and member of the Managing Committee of Bombay Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

Mr. Ghyanendra Nath Bajpai is a distinguished leader in Indian business, most recently as the Chairman of the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) and Chairman of the Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC).

Mr. Bajpai is known for his visionary leadership and exemplary integrity. He has served as non-Executive Chairman and a director on corporate boards in India and other countries, received awards for contribution to business, and authored several books. Mr. Bajpai has been Chairman of the Corporate Governance Task Force of International Organization of Securities Commissions, Insurance Institute of India & served on the Governing Boards of Indian Institute of Management, Lucknow and National Insurance Academy.

Mr. Bajpai has been a member of Board of Directors inter-alia at General Insurance Corporation of India, ICICI Bank, Unit Trust of India, UTI Bank, Tata Chemicals, Jindal Vijay Nagar Steel, Thane Electric Supply Co., National Housing Bank, Discount & Finance House, Indian Railway Finance Corporation, India International Insurance Ltd., Singapore and Ken-India Ltd. Nairobi (Africa). Mr. Bajpai was also Non-Executive Chairman of National Stock Exchange, Stock Holding Corporation of India, LIC Housing Finance Ltd, LIC Care Homes and LIC International EC Bahrain and LIC Nepal Ltd.

He has delivered lectures including at London School of Economics (LSE), Harvard University and MIT and also addressed Stanford University, OECD & IMF seminars. He received among others the “Outstanding Contribution to the Development of Finance” award from Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

Holds a bachelors' degree in English Literature from Vivekananda College, Chennai and an MBA with a specialisation in Marketing. He also holds a Post-graduate Diploma in Journalism from Asian College of Journalism. Started out as as reporter at The Hindu Business Line and then moved to Star News, after which he moved to CNBC. His hobbies include reading and theatre

In a career spanning over 22 years, Mr. Rajeev Karwal has worked on startups and turnarounds providing leadership to diverse functions such as strategic envisioning, sales, and marketing. He has worked in India and abroad with companies like LG, Philips, Onida and Electrolux. Prior to founding Milagrow with its unique business partnering approach, his immediate past assignment was with Reliance Industries, where he was President & CEO, of the Consumer Durables Vertical of Reliance Retail.

Mr Karwal is very active in industry forums and associations. A keen debater, he frequently gives invited talks at industry conferences. Mr Karwal is currently a member of CII’s national core committee on retail and also the National Chair for the Integrity India campaign of CII. He also heads Incubation for National Innovation Foundation since 2007.

In the recent past Mr Karwal has also served on the National Councils of both FICCI and CII. He was the President of Consumer Electronics & TV Manufacturer’s Association (CETMA) from 2000-2003. Mr Karwal was ranked 43rd in India’s most powerful CEO list of Economic Times for the year 2004 and also featured in Business Today’s Top 25 Hot Young Rising Stars of India Inc for the year 2002. When his schedule permits, Mr Karwal likes to read contemporary management thoughts. He firmly believes that long-term success can occur only if an organization constantly aligns to/shapes the consumer needs/expectations.

M. Balachandran, a prominent banker of India has served as the Chairman & Managing Director (CMD) of Bank of India (BoI) during the period 2005-2007. Before his appointment as the CMD of BoI, he was the Executive Director of the same bank.

A post-graduate in science, Mr Balachandran commenced his banking career in June 1970 as a probationary officer in Bank of Baroda at a time when the nationalization of Indian banks, initiated by former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, was just taking off.

During the 20 years that he worked at BoB, he served as senior manager, agriculture; chief manager, agriculture; regional manager and deputy general manager, priority sector, working mostly towards making banking effective for farmers and small-scale industries. He came to the general banking sector in 1996 when he took over as zonal manager of BoB, Chennai zone, and later moved to BoB, New York, as the chief executive officer.

In addition to various linguistic territorial exposures, he has had vast experience of managing different categories of branches, as a Regional Head and Zonal Head besides in the Corporate Office of the Bank. He is also credited with evolving Policies and Guidelines for enhancing the flow of timely credit to activities identified as national priority, particularly Agriculture, Rural Finance & SSI lending and has associated with the Committees of NABARD and IBA.

Well reputed as an astute administrator and a professional Banker, Mr Balachandran has been instrumental in spearheading Bank of India’s growth making it more competitive and preferred one by providing the best financial solutions through technological capabilities and management of Human Resources.

Samiran Chakraborty is presently the Chief Economist of ICICI Bank looking after the Treasury research group which is involved in researching on topics covering macro fundamentals of countries across the globe with special focus on Indian financial markets. Treasury Research Group has a wide array of regular publications to present their research to clients. The group is also responsible for tracking financial markets on a continuous basis and forecast paths of currencies, interest rates and commodities. These views about macro fundamentals and market movements are communicated on a regular basis to the top management.

He is with ICICI for the last 4 years. Before joining ICICI he has been a faculty at Delhi School of Economics for 5 years and has also taught as visiting faculty at Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU). He has also done collaborative work with World Bank and IMF on projects related to developmental issues.

He has done his doctoral research from Delhi School of economics. The topic for his doctoral research has been Financial Liberalization and Economic Development.

He also has a Bachelor’s degree in Economics from St. Xavier’s College, Calcutta and a Masters degree in Economics from Delhi School of Economics.

Mr Ujwal Thakar has 28 years as a Sr. Banker in domestic and international banks in India. A Masters in Chemistry, he moved in to banking after a three year research stint and since then he has worked with some of the most prominent banks in India.

Starting with the State Bank of India where he spent 12 fruitful years of his career, Mr Thakar moved on to set up the retail banking business for Standard Chartered Bank in India. In his last assignment before making the transition to the social sector, Mr Thakar was the Country Head, Retail & Private Banking at BNP Paribas India.

Mr Thakar is the first CEO of Pratham-India Education Initiative, a social initiative supported by the leading lights of Corporate India. The Pratham network is spread over 18 states across the country and works for the universalization of primary education amongst the underprivileged communities. Beginning 2005, Pratham has launched an annual nationwide “Assessment of status of education report” (ASER) which has become the benchmark reference document for Governments and policy planners wanting insights into the status of learning in schools in Rural India. Mr Thakar is married and has two children.

Specialization in logistics and supply chain management, and infrastructure and transportation systems. Research, consultancy, case studies and publications focus includes railways, ports and shipping, air and road sector, service organizations and issues in logistics and supply chain management. Taught at Northwestern University and Tulane University, USA. Visiting faculty at universities in USA, Canada, Yugoslavia, Singapore, UAE and several institutions in India. Published 29 papers in refereed journals, 37 papers in books and conference proceedings, and written 105 registered case studies (of which 64 have been published in books and conference proceedings). Consulted for 98 organizations in the area of logistics and supply chain management, and infrastructure development.

Developed over 20 new courses for the Doctoral, Post Graduate, and Executive Programmes. Piloted the design, development and delivery of the one year Post Graduate Programme in Management for Executives (PGPX) as the founder Chairperson.

Lead editor of three books: "Shipping Management: Cases and Concepts" (1998), "Infrastructure Development and Financing: Towards a Public-Private Partnership" (1999), and "Logistics and Supply Chain Management: Cases and Concepts" (2000). President of Operational Research Society of India (1999-2000). Member of Coastal Area Development Board, Government of Gujarat; Project Advisory Board, RITES; Committee on Railway Restructuring; Board of Directors: Alcock Ashdown (Gujarat), Bhavnagar; Arshiya International, Mumbai; Konkan Railway Corporation, Mumbai; Take Solutions, Chennai; India Infrastructure Finance Company, Delhi; and Sequel Logistics, Ahmedabad.

Recent studies on infrastructure and transportation include “Airport Privatization at Delhi and Mumbai,” “Performance Related Incentives for Ministry of Railways” for Sixth Central Pay Commission, “Turnaround of Indian Railways” for Ministry of Railways, “Transport Sector Study” for the ADB, “Port Connectivity” for the World Bank, “Restructuring of NHAI” for the Planning Commission and Committee on Infrastructure, “A Diagnostic Study of Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust” for the Ministry of Commerce, “Study on Accelerated Provisions of Rural Telecommunication Services” for the Department of Telecom (as part of a World Bank project), “Viability of Inland Water Transport in India” for the Department of Economic Affairs (as part of an ADB project), and “Management Consulting Services for Reforms in Indian Railways” for CRISIL (as part of an ADB project).

Recent studies on logistics and supply chain management include “Export Competitiveness of Marine Products” for MPEDA, “Opportunities in Coastal Business” for a logistics service provider, “Business Strategy” for an international shipping company, “Procurement Issues and Supply Chain Disintermediation” for a coconut oil producer, “Marine Operations and Investment Planning” for a petroleum company, “Supply Chain and Quality Management of Chilli Exports” for Spices Board of India, “SCM Strategies” for a retailer and “Location of Conversion Centers” for a bicycle manufacturer.

S. Balasubramaniam, has over 25 years experience in Finance and Commercial functions. He graduated in Commerce from St. Xavier's College, Calcutta in 1978 and is a Fellow Member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India, and an Associate Member of the Institute of Cost & Works Accountants of India. He started his career in Dunlop India Limited and then took over as General Manager Finance of Harrisons Malayalam Limited, Cochin, one of the largest producers of Rubber and Tea in India with over 18000 employees. During his stint there, he oversaw the transition of the company from a traditional brick and mortar setup to a lean cost operator with strong emphasis on Cash Flow Management in the Indian and export markets.

In 2004, he joined RPG Life Sciences, Mumbai as Vice President heading the Finance, Secretarial and Materials portfolio of the Pharmaceutical Division in the RPG group, where he made significant contributions in scripting the remarkable turnaround in operations. Fluent in five languages, (English, Hindi, Bengali, Tamil and Malayalam), Mr. Balasubramaniam is a people’s person and loves challenges.

Mr. K. Venkatachalam is currently based in Pune and is a Senior Manager in the Tax & Regulatory Practice of PwC in the Pune region.

He has over 18 years of post qualification experience out of which about 12 years were in practice. He began his career in audit with Ernst & Whinney.

Mr. Venkat’s areas of expertise include Corporate income tax; Foreign Investment into India; Tax issues concerning MNC’s in India and related International Tax issues; and Tax litigation.

He is a Commerce graduate from Delhi, Law graduate from Symbiosis Law college, a qualified Information systems auditor and Chartered Accountant from the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India.