Our speakers

Hitendra Dave, CEO, HSBC India

Hitendra Dave has been the Chief Executive Officer for HSBC India, effective from June 2021.  

Prior to taking on this role, Hitendra Dave (known widely by his last name, Dave) was the Head of Global Banking & Markets where his span of responsibilities included Corporate Banking, Financial Institutions, Debt and Equity, Capital Markets, Global Markets and the custody business.  

Amongst the more visible figures in India’s banking industry, Dave is a senior banker and highly respected for his understanding and views on macro economy, corporate developments and financial markets. A member of various advisory committees including RBI’s and SEBI’s consultative Committees, Dave is a well recognized figure amongst India Inc. and policy makers.  

Dave joined HSBC India in 2001 and since, has held several senior positions across roles including being Head of Global Markets and later as the Head of Global Banking and Markets for HSBC in India.  

He has more than 30 years of work experience in the Indian Financial Markets.  

Dave is a post graduate in Business Administration and holds a degree in Economics from Delhi University.

Hitendra Dave, Chief Executive Officer, HSBC India

IAS Vivek Kumar Dewangan, Chairman and Managing Director, REC Limited & IAS

Inderjit Camotra, MD & CEO, Unity Small Finance Bank

Irfan Mohammed, Executive Director, Aspero

Aspero, a registered platform, is a leading player in fixed-income securities investmen Irfan Mohammed, the Executive Director of the Board, leads the growth and operations across Aspero's B2B (Institutional Investors), B2B2C (Wealth partners), and B2C (retail investors) verticals.

Irfan is a founding member of the Yubi Group, and prior to this role as ED Aspero, he served as the Chief Business Officer for Financial Services. He was instrumental conceptualizing and implementing the Yubi Platform and network, driving its adoption from inception and scaling it to its current volumes. Additionally, Irfan was a founding member of Vivriti Capital, a prominent NBFC that provides debt to mid-market enterprises.

Irfan has led and pioneered debt raise and due diligence for over 300 Financial Institutions across multiple asset classes over the last 14 years. He has led many first its kind and innovative debt structures for emerging asset classes and NBFCs. He has a deep expertise in credit underwriting, structured finance products, fintech soluti co-lending strategy and NBFC-banking partnerships. As an industry expert, Irfan has spoken at various forums such as MFIN, Sa-dhan, NABARD, Rating agencies and CFA Society.

Prior to Vivriti, Irfan was the Partner and Head of Small Business Loans and Housing Finance at Northern Arc. He has completed his Masters in Business Administration from IRMA and masters in commerce from Osmania University and he was a CFA charter holder

Ishpreet Gandhi, Founder and Managing Partner, Stride Ventures

Ishpreet is the founder and managing partner at Stride Ventures. At Stride, Ishpreet’s all-encompassing role at the fund involves sourcing proprietary investment opportunities, fundraising, managing the portfolio by working with and supporting portfolio companies, including attending board meetings and monitoring performance to ensure returns and strategic objectives of the fund are achieved. As the fund manager, Ishpreet has built a well-diversified portfolio sanctioning over INR 1300Cr across 55+ companies across Consumer, FinTech, Logistics, AgriTech, B2B Commerce, HealthTech, B2B SaaS etc. Additionally, he has successfully pioneered tailor-made short term solutions for growth stage businesses and has created banking alliances for Stride’s portfolio company’s by leveraging his banking experience and network. Stride has been the most active venture debt fund in India in terms of deals executed, completing 50 deals in the calendar year 2021. Ishpreet currently operates across two funds, with the second fund gaining significant momentum, targeting above INR 1000 Crore with a greenshoe option of INR 75 Cr.

Prior to founding Stride Ventures, Ishpreet Gandhi started his career with Standard Chartered Bank in the SME banking division. This was followed by a term in Citibank commercial banking and thereafter, he managed MNC business for the northern region for Kotak group. He was the team leader at Yes Bank managing MNC and VC relationships in 2014, where he started sourcing growth-stage startups. Ishpreet managed relationships with Venture Capital funds like Omnivore, Matrix Partners, Sequoia Capital, Mayfield Advisors & Bertelsmann during his term at YES Bank and IDFC. He closed his first VC-backed transaction as a first lender to BIRA (Alcoholic beverages) in late 2015, when the company attracted Series A investment from Sequoia Capital. The second company Ishpreet identified was Lendingkart, (Series A in 2016). The company was amongst the earliest fintech companies in India. Similar companies which Ishpreet successfully onboarded amongst startups were Leap India backed by Mayfield Advisors, Sixth Sense Ventures & TVS Capital (2016), Rivigo backed by SAIF Partners & Warburg Pincus (2018), Securens backed by Mayfield Advisors (2017), Ofbusiness backed by Matrix Partners and Norwest Venture Partners (2017). All these companies have witnessed significant increase in valuations with no delays in principal repayments or servicing of coupons.

Jack Hidary, CEO, SandboxAQ

Jack is the CEO of SandboxAQ which focuses on enterprise SaaS solutions at the convergence of AI and quantum tech. 

Jack worked previously at Alphabet leading AI and quantum teams.   Jack is the author of Quantum Computing: An Applied Approach, published by Springer. This work, now in its second edition, is one of the leading textbooks in the field and is used both in undergraduate and PhD programs, as well as corporate training sessions.

Jack is a serial entrepreneur and co-founder of several tech companies, including EarthWeb/Dice (NYSE: DHX), which he led from its founding through IPO. He also co-founded Vista Research, a fintech company, which he and his team sold to S&P/McGraw-Hill.

Jaffrey Thomas, Partner -Logistics and Transport Infrastructure, PwC India

Jagbir Singh Sidhu, Chief Commercial Officer, Diageo India

Jai Rupani, Chief Investment Officer, Dinesh Hinduja Family Office