Captains of industry lay out vision for the future at PGPEM programme’s annual business and leadership summit

14 November, 2025, Bengaluru: Unmitigated techno-optimism ushers in the next wave of enterprise AI, one that is no longer generative but rather autonomous and agentic. Providing a dynamic platform for such conversations on the future of business was Drishti 2025, the business and leadership summit organized by the Post Graduate Programme in Enterprise Management (PGPEM), IIMB’s two-year MBA for Working Professionals. Captains of industry, senior executives, change-seekers, innovators, along with students and alumni gathered for discussions on the theme ‘Future in Focus: Prosperous, Inclusive and Sustainable’.

At the inauguration, the dais comprised Prof. Dinesh Kumar, Director In-charge, IIMB; Prof. Mukta Kulkarni, Dean of Programmes and faculty of OB&HRM; Prof. Ashis Mishra, Chairperson, PGPEM; Dr. Gopichand Katragadda, Founder and CEO of Myelin Foundry, and Independent Director for Bosch Ltd, Asian Paints, and ICICI Securities; and Vipul Kumar Maheshwari, Executive Director – R&D, Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited.

“As we look to the future, we all wonder about the kind of impact AI will have”, said Prof Dinesh as he began the Director’s address. He noted that LLMs and GPT models often produce different answers to the same query because the technology has yet to mature. Failures in AI systems, he emphasised, frequently stem from inadequate data management. While AI integration is inevitable, he stressed the importance of recognising its limitations. Turning to the summit’s theme of ‘prosperity’, Prof. Dinesh drew on research studies to examine what factors contribute to happiness and sustained satisfaction.

Delivering the Chairperson’s Address, Prof. Ashis welcomed the gathering and reflected on the programme’s 27-year journey. He noted that the PGPEM remains distinctive, a full-time management programme for working executives, designed to ensure that classroom learning translates directly into practice rather than encouraging shortcuts. He added that Drishti embodies this ethos and offered students a platform to demonstrate the practical value of their work and the applied orientation that defines the programme.

Agentic AI at the cost of agentic thinkers

Dr. Gopichand Katragadda, a respected voice in India’s deeptech startup ecosystem and former Chief Technology Officer and Director of Tata Companies, delivered the Chief Guest’s address, which marked the start of the two-day forum.

Dr. Gopichand opened with the cautionary reflection that “A gain for agentic AI should not be a loss for agentic thinkers”. He framed his remarks around the summit’s core themes, observing that “inclusivity, sustainability and innovation all feed into prosperity”, and added that prosperity without the ethical instinct to share is ultimately hollow.

Dr. Katragadda defined agentic AI as technology designed to “get things done,” noting that the real challenge is not the rise of agentic systems but the decline of agentic leaders. Effective leaders, he said, must often take decisions with limited data.

A leader’s responsibility, he emphasised, is to rise above noise and uncertainty. When predictive data is scarce, leaders must craft compelling stories that align diverse disciplines behind a shared direction. He described agentic leadership as initiative paired with responsibility – requiring vision, a considered opinion, and the discipline to continuously feed that opinion with new information.

Ethical intelligence, initiative with responsibility and a strong cultural intuition, he said, will be critical to navigating both short- and long-term shifts. He also highlighted the importance of networks built on reciprocal collaboration: “We need weak links, if not strong ties”.

He left the audience with a decisive thought: “Do not look for opportunity where you know you will find success. Seek change with detachment”.

Keynote address

Delivering the keynote, Vipul Kumar Maheshwari, Executive Director – R&D, Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited, dwelt on the evolving landscape of the energy sector. He noted that refiners and energy companies are often viewed as major sources of emissions, but the current generation’s orientation toward innovation, sustainability, and inclusivity offers renewed optimism. The energy transition unfolding in India, he said, is significant and deeply consumer-driven. “I’m seeing a shift – people are willing to pay a premium for positive change, and that is called desire. Sustainability can become prosperity”.

On the idea of prosperity, Mr. Maheshwari commended the PGPEM programme for its inclusive profile, noting that women today constitute a strong percentage of the cohort. Turning to developments in the energy sector, he highlighted the rapid growth of biofuels and drew attention to the fact that their production, anchored in rural areas, is enhancing the economic strength of rural communities.

AI takes centre stage: From generic intelligence to proprietary output

At the panel discussion on ‘AI at the Core – Shaping the Future of Business & Society’, Raghuvamshi Thakur, Co-Founder & COO, Prodoc AI; Nikhil Kangokar, Head of Engineering, BT Group; Hari Varier, Senior VP – IoT & AI-Smart Products, Havells, with Naveen Kumar Bhansali, Co-Founder, BlitzAI & Adjunct Faculty, IIM Bangalore, as the moderator, outlined how enterprise AI is shifting from generic intelligence to proprietary output.

The conversation drew on perspectives from a CEO, a product leader, and an engineering specialist, each outlining distinct approaches to AI deployment. With 95% of GenAI projects unable to move into production, the panel reflected on both momentum and caution in the field.

Speaking on “smartifying” products, Dr. Hari shared that Havells is moving to an AI-first workflow wherein reviewing AI-generated code takes precedence over spending time writing it. Raghu, reflecting the vantage point of a fast-scaling startup, said the AI boom has compressed the journey of numerous startups from idea to execution to “a single night.” But in healthcare, he added, responsibility guides every decision: “We use AI to personalize at scale – that is its most meaningful use for us.”

On governance and the risks of model misuse, Raghu explained that Prodoc AI operates with a regulation-first mindset. Working within a B2B healthcare ecosystem, the company builds in controlled environments where providers retain oversight. “We do not prescribe. We educate,” he said, underscoring a non-recommendation approach.

The panel agreed that AI is only as effective as the context and quality of the data. Naveen highlighted that fragmented data undermines context-setting, which in turn affects outcomes. Raghu pointed out that healthcare, being highly standardized, benefits significantly from good LLMs, especially in language, interpretation, and personalization.

The conversation advanced into deeper themes shaping enterprise AI adoption: what it means to be “smart without AI,” how AI reshapes brand perception, and the organisational tension between agility and stability. The discussion also touched on the continual cycles of unlearning and relearning that AI now demands.

On building AI literacy at scale, Nikhil said, “We need to accept that jobs will be impacted due to AI”, and that this was an opportune moment as any to upskill and re-skill ourselves. He also noted that capability development must be guided by a measured change-management approach rather than rapid deployment.

Offering a contrasting view, Hari remarked, “AI won’t take your job directly, but someone who knows AI might”. Yet, when addressing how organisations should respond, he referred to the Havells playbook, which prioritizes co-creation as the path forward, wherein subject-matter experts are paired with AI specialists to generate tangible value. “People working together and creating value is our approach,” he said, framing human-AI collaboration not as a disruption, but as an operational advantage.

Reimagining value with open, interoperable digital infrastructure

Speaking on ‘Building India’s Digital Future – From Interoperable Commerce to the Digital Energy Grid’ was Sujith Nair, CEO, FIDE; Co-Creator, Beckn Protocol.

He outlined India’s digital transformation story through core building blocks – digital ID, payments, commerce and mobility networks, and tax systems – and sketched Beckn’s growth within this ecosystem.

Sujith noted that the common factor between the COVID-19 virus and UPI is their ability to scale from a small footprint. “A single DNA strand – or half a page of protocol – carried by an irresistible medium can create powerful network effects”. This, he said, is the basis of scalable AI, platforms, and businesses, ones that reinforce value into value, creating a flywheel of flourishing return.

He also stressed the need to solve from abundance rather than scarcity, and to build from the future, not the past. He observed that today’s platforms, especially in e-commerce, operate in silos that assume buyers and sellers must exist on the same platform. “Why should they live on the same platform?” he asked. This question led to Beckn’s creation – an attempt to lower barriers to discovery, trust, and fulfillment across diverse economic actors.

He concluded that interoperable networks, not closed platforms, will shape large-scale digital infrastructure, advocating for universal value exchange built on open, decentralized, purpose-agnostic digital rails.

Ideas that will define the next decade of business

PGP ’09 alumnus Sandeep Das, Storytelling & Negotiation Coach, Author, and Columnist, illuminated the audience on the power of storytelling as a defining leadership skill of the next decade during the session, ‘Crafting Vision through Narrative’.

He pointed out that in any form of experience, the ending shapes what people take away from it. On the role of negotiation, he urged participants to ask directly for what they want rather than hedge or hesitate. Sandeep also spoke about the growing importance of personal branding, stating that no network or skill opens doors as effectively as a strong, consistent presence on social media. Leaders, he said, must build courage, shed self-imposed judgments, and remove the regrets that limit their growth.

Build vs Brace for Impact: The AI Inflection Point

The panel ‘The Audacity to Build the Future’, brought together Pramod Nair, Co-Founder & CTO, Loadshare Networks; Gadhadar Reddy, Founder & CEO, NoPo Nanotechnologies; and Dr. Krish Bhargav, Founder & CEO, Taurus AI, with PGPEM ’27 student Ram Chakravarthy, Co-Founder and Partner, IPRS & Co.

Pramod Nair reflected on the varied phases of building and scaling from bootstrapping to seed funding to Series A and C funding rounds, noting that much of the work lies in rallying teams around a shared vision and the willingness to take risks as the venture ebbs and flows through uncertainty. He noted that the calibre of people an organisation attracts is an early indicator of the company it will become.

Krish Bhargav spoke about navigating uncertainty and the need to convince others of the problem-solving capacity of a product even as the roadmap shifts. He stressed the value that character and judgment in early hires bring, observing that skills can be built but integrity is harder to cultivate.

Addressing long gestation periods for ventures like his, Gadhadar Reddy stressed that deep-tech ventures often follow exponential trajectories. He noted that understanding how a product will perform enables firms to design for ambitious specifications such as high strength, radiation resistance, and low weight.

Reflecting on team-building, Reddy explained that it is beneficial to attract “super-solvers” or individuals who excel at fixing complex problems but are less oriented toward scale in the early stages. The real inflection, he noted, comes when a founder can guide this talent toward disciplined, process-driven growth and build a team capable of moving from problem-solving to sustained, scalable execution.

In closing, the panel focused on the other inflection points that emerge when founders inspire people to take consequential leaps – “missionaries rather than mercenaries” – as they build toward the next stage of growth.

Identity, community or action: Which shapes our future?

Prakash Belawadi, Theatre Artist, Filmmaker, Educator and Civic Activist, delivered the concluding session on day 1 of Drishti 2025, on the theme ‘Building the Future We Deserve – Culture, Citizenship & Systems Thinking’, in conversation with PGPEM ’27 participant Rukmangada Gowda C M, Manager, Larsen & Toubro Ltd.

Belawadi invited the audience to look beyond economic expansion and GDP-led narratives, arguing for a deeper engagement with civic responsibility and cultural values. He remarked that individuals are often ‘dealt a hand’ and assigned identities they did not choose. The real challenge, thereby, lies in reconciling these identities with reason. Some can be retained, he observed, while others can be set aside.

He noted that society imposes expectations without design, and while individuals cannot control who they are, they retain agency through action. Community, he said, is central to this journey: one must belong, and then learn to belong within a collective. He also reflected on the contrasting orientations of management and spirituality, where one seeks success, and the other meaning.

At Drishti 2025, participants also competed in a variety of case competitions, including ‘Equinox – The Strategy Case’ and ‘Euphony – The Marketing Case Competition’, along with campus walks, speaker sessions, and panel discussions. Key highlights included skill development workshops such as Master Storytelling with Data, Building Impactful Social Networks, and Take a Seat - Class at IIMB – Strategy in Action and Take a Seat - Class at IIMB – A Behavioural Investing Experience.

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