Our speakers

Praveer Sinha, CEO & Managing Director, The Tata Power Company

Priya Agarwal Hebbar, Chairperson, Hindustan Zinc and Non-Executive Director, Vedanta Ltd.

Priya Agarwal Hebbar is the Chairperson of Hindustan Zinc Limited, India’s largest and world’s 2nd largest integrated Zinc producer and is also the Non-Executive Director at Vedanta Ltd, world's leading natural resources conglomerate. 

As Chairperson HZL, Priya has been key in leading a robust growth plan for the organisation. Under her leadership HZL reported a record-breaking year surpassing production of 1 million tonne of refined metal. Given the push from Priya on investing in world class technology for maximum metal recovery, and digitization of the mining and smelting operations – HZL achieved highest-ever mined metal production in the first quarter of 2023 at 257kt.

Further, as part of Priya’s vision to reduce import dependency of silver, used heavily in the production of medical equipment and solar panels, HZL is establishing a best-in-class Fumer to extract maximum metal content through which the organisation will be able to produce additional silver in Hydro 2 plant. 

Further, in addition to her role as Chairperson HZL, Priya is also the anchor of Vedanta’s ESG transformation. She is passionate about nature conservation, animal welfare, child nutrition and gender parity which has driven her to lead a variety of CSR initiatives. Under Priya’s leadership, the Anil Agarwal Foundation (AAF), the philanthropic arm of Vedanta, has invested around USD 240 million towards socio-economic development in India touching the lives of around fifty million people across 1300 villages in India and has pledged USD 600 million over the next 5 years towards social impact projects. Vedanta has modernized over 4000 anganwadis across the country through its flagship project Nand Ghar which aims to ensure opportunities for seven crore children and 2 crore women even in the remotest parts of the country. Nand Ghar reimagines the anganwadi network with state-of-the-art infrastructure powered with 24x7 solar electricity, clean hygienic toilets, water purifiers and provides best in class services for e-learning based pre-school education, wholesome nutrition, health, hygiene, and women empowerment.

Priya has also led the development & implementation of a groupwide inclusion policy for its transgender employees in an effort to promote inclusivity and diversity at workplace. As part of the comprehensive policy, Vedanta is extending additional medical benefits in terms of a 30-day gender affirmation leave and financial support of up to Rs 2 lakh for gender affirmation surgery, the company said in a statement.

Following her love for animals, in 2010, Priya founded YODA - Youth Organization in Defence of Animals, today the largest animal welfare organization in Maharashtra with focus on rehabilitation of injured, sick, and abandoned stray animals, rehabilitating over 3000 animals each month. It partners with the local municipality to vaccinate and sterilize around 600 animals each month. YODA ensures the adoption of over 4000 shelter animals every year, providing 24/7 ambulance services across the city of Mumbai with fully equipped ambulances to conduct emergency treatments on spot. It aims to reduce rabies, ensure stray population control in Maharashtra, and promotes community awareness and education through school outreach to instill sensitivity towards animals in young children.

Priya is also leading India's first state-of-the-art animal welfare project TACO - The Animal Care Organization, under AAF which will bring leading academicians, veterinary professionals, and communities together to create a more holistic approach to animal care in India. TACO also supports tiger conservation efforts and provides infrastructural support to the Ranthambore National Park in collaboration with the Government of Rajasthan.

With focused action plans on decarbonization, water positivity, workplace safety, community welfare and workforce diversity, Priya’s leadership is driving Vedanta on a transformative journey to emerge as an industry leader in ESG. 
 

Priyaranjan Kumaar, President & Chief Human Resource Officer, Welspun Corp Limited

Priyaranjan Kumar, President & Chief Human Resource Officer, Welspun Corp Limited

Prof S D Sudarsan, Executive Director, CDAC

Dr. Sithu D Sudarsan, presently working as Executive Director, C-DAC Bangalore has more than 30 years of R&D experience in India as well as the United States and a wide expertise in various technology domains namely, Semantic mining/BIG Data, cyber physical systems, cyber security, protocol analysis, sensor networks, HPC, real-time and high availability systems etc. He set up the Quantum Technologies group at CDAC Bangalore and contributing to various national initiatives.

Prior to his position at C-DAC Bangalore, Dr. Sudarsan was associated with ABB Corporate Research; The United States Food and Drug Administration (US FDA); University of Arkansas at Little Rock (UALR); Central Research Laboratory (Bharat Electronics Limited (CRL-BEL); ERDCI; CEDTI.

Dr Sudarsan has been honoured with prestigious awards like US FDA's Outstanding Service Award, US FDA's Group Recognition Award. He is the recipient of the Outstanding PhD Graduate Student Award, Academic Achievement Award & Professional Service Award at UALR, US. TrailBlazer Awards for Innovation as well as Collaboration at ABB.

Dr. Sudarsan completed his Ph.D. from University of Arkansas at Little Rock (UALR) USA, MS from Birla Institute Of Technology And Science (BITS) India, B.E from Alagappa Chettiar Government College of Engineering & Technology (ACGCET) India & PG Diploma in Management from Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU), India.

He has to his credit more than 100 technical papers and 8 patents (3 granted). Dr. Sudarsan is a Fellow IETE and Senior Member IEEE.

Prof. Ramesh Chand, Member, NITI Aayog

Prof. Satyanarayanan Chakravarthy, Founder & Director, The ePlane Company

Satya is the Co-founder of The ePlane Company. He is a Professor of Aerospace Engineering at the Indian Institute of Technology Madras, Chennai, India. He is also the Director of Aerostrovilos, a startup company aiming to produce micro gas turbines for decentralized power generation; share-holding Advisor to Agnikul Cosmos, a startup company aiming to make mini launch vehicles to launch micro- and nano-satellites into space orbits; Director of X2Fuels & Energy, a startup company aiming to convert any kind of wastes—municipal solid wastes and agri wastes—into crude oil. He is also involved in efforts to set up a centre for precision agriculture technology at IIT Madras, and to form consortium of industries and R&D institutions for making aircraft engines through 3D printing in India with governmental support.

He heads the National Centre for Combustion Research & Development (NCCRD) at IIT Madras supported by the Department of Science and Technology, Government of India, with a fund of Rs. 47 crore, which is augmented by research funding over Rs. 54 crores with 33 industry projects on different aspects of combustion in automotive, aerospace, thermal power, and fire research. He has been awarded the HAL Prize for the best undergraduate in aerospace engineering in 1991, the Young Engineer Award by the Indian National Academy of Engineering in 2003, the Young Faculty Recognition Award by IIT Madras in 2009, the Dalmi-HEMSI-ACRHEM Award by the High Energy Materials Society of India in 2009, and the DRDO Academic Excellence Award by the Defence Research and Development Organization twice, in 2009 and 2016.

Prof. Satyanarayanan Chakravarty, Co-founder, The ePlane Company, Professor, IIT Madras

Prof. Tanuja Manoj Nesari, Director, AII India Institute of Ayurveda

Pronab Sen, Former Chief Statistician, Government of India