IIMB’s Centre for Software & IT Management co-hosts 7th India Software Product Management Summit with ISPMA
The summit, themed on Software Product Management at Scale, featured plenary workshops, a student case competition, SPM Excellence awards, Best Academic Paper awards, and more
28 February 2024, Bengaluru: IIM Bangalore’s Centre for Software and Information Technology Management (CSITM) co-hosted the seventh edition of the India Software Product Management Summit, in collaboration with International Software Product Management Association (ISPMA). Inaugurated on 28th February, the two day conference centered the theme for the SPM summit was ‘Software Product Management at Scale’.
The India Software Product Management Summit 2025 featured keynote speeches, presentations by industry experts, panel discussions, interactive workshops, academic paper presentations, and more. This year’s summit also featured a student case competition that underscores the active involvement of students from Product and Business disciplines nationwide, fostering a diverse and vibrant community of future leaders in the field.
ISPMA University Chapter at IIM Bangalore was unveiled by Prof. Rishikesha T Krishnan, Director, IIM Bangalore; Summit Chair Prof. S. Sadagopan, Chairman, ISPMA India Chapter; Hans-Bernd Kittlaus, Chairman of the Board, ISPMA; Program Chair (Academic Track), Prof. Shankhadeep Banerjee, Chairperson of the Centre for Software & Information Technology Management, Prof Merlin Nandy, Program Chair Student Track, Subhashini Dhandapani, Program Chair, Industry Track as well as IT Facilitation Committee and faculty of the Information Systems area of IIMB, and Prof. Haragopal Mangipudi, Global Board Member, ISPMA.
The summit was inaugurated by Prof Rishikesh T Krishnan, Prof. S. Sadagopan; Hans-Bernd Kittlaus; Prof. Shankhadeep Banerjee; Dr A Velumani, Thyrocare and Mr Venki Mahadevan. Prof Merlin Nandy and Subhashini Dhandapani provided an overview of the summit.
Welcoming the gathering, Prof Rishikesh T Krishnan, Director of IIM Bangalore said, “ SPM Summit 2025 brings together a very large number of practitioners as well as academics who are working in this software product management space. As we all know, the whole domain of software product management has literally exploded in recent years with new technologies changing the way software product management is approached and maybe even the way software products are defined. So it's really a very important opportunity for all of us to get together, exchange ideas and notes and see how we can take this domain forward.”
Emphasising on the event’s theme he said “Particularly in a country like India, scale is important in almost everything we do. So by really being meaningful in India, it finally has to be something at scale.”
Dr A Velumani, Founder of Thyrocare delivered an inspiring address on the theme “Tech-Powered Care: Revolutionizing Patient Centric Solutions at Scale”. Chronicling his entrepreneurial journey, he emphasized the importance of unique services, practical problem-solving and the significance of aligning values with business goals.
Muthu Ranganathan, Senior Director, Oracle moderated the panel discussion ‘Build from India, Scale for Globe: Scaling Products with Excellence’, featuring, Rajalakshmi Srinivasan, Director, Product Management, Zoho Corporation, Paddy Raghavan, Co-Founder, Multipl, Chethan KR, Founder of Synctatic AI and Dr. (Inv) Prof. Vishal U S Rao Dean and Professor-HCG. The session delved deeper into the rise of innovation and entrepreneurship in India. The speakers emphasized that for startups, the most important steps are clearly defining the problem statement and identifying the target audience, while continuously questioning and refining the idea critically.
The morning session concluded with the fireside chat on the theme ‘Empowering Teams for Excellence and Scale’ featured Mukul Saxena, President & CTO, Havells India Ltd and Venki Mahadevan, Fellow-British Computer Society as well as Fellow-ISPMA India. The discussion highlighted the significance of collaboration, diversity, and consumer relevance in driving innovation.
The afternoon session began with the keynote address from Prof. S Sadagopan, Chairman ISPMA India, Former Director, IIITB, on the theme “Down Memory Lane: The Evolution of Software Over the Years”. Prof Sadagopan highlighted the evolution from software services to products, emphasizing the challenges and successes in the industry. He specially mentioned achievements of Udupi based Robosoft Technologies on scaling to International level, specifically highlighting the collaboration with Apple Inc. Prof Sadagopan’s session was followed by the talk of Tom M. Joseph Co-Founder, USDC Executive Director - Strategy & Development, ISDC Global on the topic “The Revolution of Online Education: A Futuristic Perspective”
Later in the afternoon, featured talk on the theme ‘Evolving Ai-First Digital Strategies & Key Takeaways for Products’ by Hariharan Venkitachalam, Principal Architect at Kyndryl.
The evening session had a fireside chat on the theme ‘After Paving the Path to Inclusive Excellence: Insights from an Accessibility Leader’ featuring Srinivasu Chakravarthula, Director of Product Accessibility, Freshworks , moderated by Prof. S Sadagopan. Srinivasu urged the product companies to design inclusively, using standards like WCAG, to benefit all users, including those with disabilities.
The last panel of Day 1 was on the theme ‘Leveraging ISPMA Certification for Product Management Excellence’ moderated by Vibhuti Ranjan Singh, ISPMA - Board Member, Global Product Officer, ex - eBay, GE, EY. The panel featured Kartik Suryanarayan, Principal Product Consultant, Ellucian, Merlin Nandy, Assistant Professor, IIM Sambalpur and Sunil Mishra, Product Management Leader, Author and Abhijit Bendigiri Director, Oracle. The panel discussed the role of ISP certification in bridging gaps in product management education, the practical application of frameworks in product development, and the challenges faced by startups and large organizations in transitioning from service-oriented to product-oriented models.
The Day of the conference concluded with a special address by Sunil Koshy Singer, Music Director, Vocal Coach on the topic Beyond the Pitch: Out of the Ordinary! Talk with a Founder. Sunil Koshy had an interacting session with the audience, explaining about rhythms and beyond.
The day also featured Excellence award presentations from Debajyoti Ray Chaudhuri, MD & CEO, NeSl, Darshan Kasaravalli, Founder At Greentick - CXO Dashboard for Testing, Gurunathan Subramanyan , Product Manager- Halliburton, Balaji Hariharan, Sr Director of Head of Products, UX, Analytics, Samsung, Dr. Guruprasad B Jayarao, Mahalo Health, Aravind Lal, Product Manager, Satsure.
About SPM Summit India
SPM Summit India is an annual event that brings together product management professionals, academicians, thought leaders and experts from all around the world. This informative and engaging event aims to share knowledge, insights and best practices in the field of software product management. At SPM Summit India, attendees get the opportunity to learn from industry experts, network with peers and explore the latest trends and innovations in product management. The event features keynote speeches, interactive workshops, panel discussions, fireside chats, academic papers, presentations on industry best practices and success stories covering a wide range of topics under software product management. The CSITM of IIM Bangalore has been hosting the annual event in India in collaboration with ISPMA since 2019.
IIMB’s Centre for Software & IT Management co-hosts 7th India Software Product Management Summit with ISPMA
The summit, themed on Software Product Management at Scale, featured plenary workshops, a student case competition, SPM Excellence awards, Best Academic Paper awards, and more
28 February 2024, Bengaluru: IIM Bangalore’s Centre for Software and Information Technology Management (CSITM) co-hosted the seventh edition of the India Software Product Management Summit, in collaboration with International Software Product Management Association (ISPMA). Inaugurated on 28th February, the two day conference centered the theme for the SPM summit was ‘Software Product Management at Scale’.
The India Software Product Management Summit 2025 featured keynote speeches, presentations by industry experts, panel discussions, interactive workshops, academic paper presentations, and more. This year’s summit also featured a student case competition that underscores the active involvement of students from Product and Business disciplines nationwide, fostering a diverse and vibrant community of future leaders in the field.
ISPMA University Chapter at IIM Bangalore was unveiled by Prof. Rishikesha T Krishnan, Director, IIM Bangalore; Summit Chair Prof. S. Sadagopan, Chairman, ISPMA India Chapter; Hans-Bernd Kittlaus, Chairman of the Board, ISPMA; Program Chair (Academic Track), Prof. Shankhadeep Banerjee, Chairperson of the Centre for Software & Information Technology Management, Prof Merlin Nandy, Program Chair Student Track, Subhashini Dhandapani, Program Chair, Industry Track as well as IT Facilitation Committee and faculty of the Information Systems area of IIMB, and Prof. Haragopal Mangipudi, Global Board Member, ISPMA.
The summit was inaugurated by Prof Rishikesh T Krishnan, Prof. S. Sadagopan; Hans-Bernd Kittlaus; Prof. Shankhadeep Banerjee; Dr A Velumani, Thyrocare and Mr Venki Mahadevan. Prof Merlin Nandy and Subhashini Dhandapani provided an overview of the summit.
Welcoming the gathering, Prof Rishikesh T Krishnan, Director of IIM Bangalore said, “ SPM Summit 2025 brings together a very large number of practitioners as well as academics who are working in this software product management space. As we all know, the whole domain of software product management has literally exploded in recent years with new technologies changing the way software product management is approached and maybe even the way software products are defined. So it's really a very important opportunity for all of us to get together, exchange ideas and notes and see how we can take this domain forward.”
Emphasising on the event’s theme he said “Particularly in a country like India, scale is important in almost everything we do. So by really being meaningful in India, it finally has to be something at scale.”
Dr A Velumani, Founder of Thyrocare delivered an inspiring address on the theme “Tech-Powered Care: Revolutionizing Patient Centric Solutions at Scale”. Chronicling his entrepreneurial journey, he emphasized the importance of unique services, practical problem-solving and the significance of aligning values with business goals.
Muthu Ranganathan, Senior Director, Oracle moderated the panel discussion ‘Build from India, Scale for Globe: Scaling Products with Excellence’, featuring, Rajalakshmi Srinivasan, Director, Product Management, Zoho Corporation, Paddy Raghavan, Co-Founder, Multipl, Chethan KR, Founder of Synctatic AI and Dr. (Inv) Prof. Vishal U S Rao Dean and Professor-HCG. The session delved deeper into the rise of innovation and entrepreneurship in India. The speakers emphasized that for startups, the most important steps are clearly defining the problem statement and identifying the target audience, while continuously questioning and refining the idea critically.
The morning session concluded with the fireside chat on the theme ‘Empowering Teams for Excellence and Scale’ featured Mukul Saxena, President & CTO, Havells India Ltd and Venki Mahadevan, Fellow-British Computer Society as well as Fellow-ISPMA India. The discussion highlighted the significance of collaboration, diversity, and consumer relevance in driving innovation.
The afternoon session began with the keynote address from Prof. S Sadagopan, Chairman ISPMA India, Former Director, IIITB, on the theme “Down Memory Lane: The Evolution of Software Over the Years”. Prof Sadagopan highlighted the evolution from software services to products, emphasizing the challenges and successes in the industry. He specially mentioned achievements of Udupi based Robosoft Technologies on scaling to International level, specifically highlighting the collaboration with Apple Inc. Prof Sadagopan’s session was followed by the talk of Tom M. Joseph Co-Founder, USDC Executive Director - Strategy & Development, ISDC Global on the topic “The Revolution of Online Education: A Futuristic Perspective”
Later in the afternoon, featured talk on the theme ‘Evolving Ai-First Digital Strategies & Key Takeaways for Products’ by Hariharan Venkitachalam, Principal Architect at Kyndryl.
The evening session had a fireside chat on the theme ‘After Paving the Path to Inclusive Excellence: Insights from an Accessibility Leader’ featuring Srinivasu Chakravarthula, Director of Product Accessibility, Freshworks , moderated by Prof. S Sadagopan. Srinivasu urged the product companies to design inclusively, using standards like WCAG, to benefit all users, including those with disabilities.
The last panel of Day 1 was on the theme ‘Leveraging ISPMA Certification for Product Management Excellence’ moderated by Vibhuti Ranjan Singh, ISPMA - Board Member, Global Product Officer, ex - eBay, GE, EY. The panel featured Kartik Suryanarayan, Principal Product Consultant, Ellucian, Merlin Nandy, Assistant Professor, IIM Sambalpur and Sunil Mishra, Product Management Leader, Author and Abhijit Bendigiri Director, Oracle. The panel discussed the role of ISP certification in bridging gaps in product management education, the practical application of frameworks in product development, and the challenges faced by startups and large organizations in transitioning from service-oriented to product-oriented models.
The Day of the conference concluded with a special address by Sunil Koshy Singer, Music Director, Vocal Coach on the topic Beyond the Pitch: Out of the Ordinary! Talk with a Founder. Sunil Koshy had an interacting session with the audience, explaining about rhythms and beyond.
The day also featured Excellence award presentations from Debajyoti Ray Chaudhuri, MD & CEO, NeSl, Darshan Kasaravalli, Founder At Greentick - CXO Dashboard for Testing, Gurunathan Subramanyan , Product Manager- Halliburton, Balaji Hariharan, Sr Director of Head of Products, UX, Analytics, Samsung, Dr. Guruprasad B Jayarao, Mahalo Health, Aravind Lal, Product Manager, Satsure.
About SPM Summit India
SPM Summit India is an annual event that brings together product management professionals, academicians, thought leaders and experts from all around the world. This informative and engaging event aims to share knowledge, insights and best practices in the field of software product management. At SPM Summit India, attendees get the opportunity to learn from industry experts, network with peers and explore the latest trends and innovations in product management. The event features keynote speeches, interactive workshops, panel discussions, fireside chats, academic papers, presentations on industry best practices and success stories covering a wide range of topics under software product management. The CSITM of IIM Bangalore has been hosting the annual event in India in collaboration with ISPMA since 2019.