Industry architects confront global order and disorder at Drishti 2025
Two-day business and leadership summit by IIMB’s PGPEM nurtures conversation on building a prosperous, inclusive and sustainable India
15 November, 2025, Bengaluru: Day 2 of Drishti 2025, the annual business summit hosted by IIM Bangalore’s two-year MBA for Working Professionals, the Post Graduate Programme in Enterprise Management (PGPEM), advanced conversations on a ‘Future in Focus’ by shifting from the imperatives of disruption to engines of growth and dynamism that will shape the next decade of opportunity in India.
The day brought together voices from policy, industry, technology, and social impact to unpack the realities of a fragmented global order, the demands of leadership beyond profit, and the urgency of innovation that is both ambitious and responsible. Across keynote sessions and fireside chats, discussions explored how organizations must navigate gated globalization, build with purpose, champion community-centred change, and reimagine mobility and enterprise for a more resilient and sustainable future.
The New World Disorder
In his opening remarks, A.K. Bhattacharya, Editorial Director, Business Standard, who delivered the first session of the day on ‘The New World Disorder and India’s Economic Priorities’, positioned India at a decisive economic crossroads. He noted that while the country has made remarkable progress and now has “arrived as an entity that makes a difference to the global economic dialogue”, its growth model demands deeper scrutiny.
He observed that strong headline numbers such as 7.8% growth in Q1 mask structural imbalances, with growth remaining capital-centric, rather than labour-centric, and disproportionately benefiting a small share of the organised workforce. “If we don’t address the basic questions about the nature of the Indian economy, we cannot be as inclusive or equitable as we want to be”, he said, underlining the need for labour-friendly reforms that expand opportunities beyond the top 10% currently capturing most of the gains.
He also sketched out three areas where India stands at an inflection: the direction of its growth strategy, its cautious approach to openness in trade and investment despite signs of bilateral engagement, and the unfinished agenda of institutional autonomy across sectors and states. India, he argued, must decide “whether we are open enough on trade, on investment, on regulation, and on the way we engage with the world”. Building resilience in an increasingly disruptive environment will depend less on external conditions and more on India’s capacity to advance consequential domestic reforms in land, labour, education, agriculture and regulation.
“If we want to increase India’s resilience in the global context, it is crucial to focus on domestic policy reform, regulatory reform and demand stimulus”, he concluded.
Rethinking openness in a gated global order
The panel on ‘Strategy in an Era of Gated Globalization’ brought together perspectives from broad energy, manufacturing, information technology and political economy to offer a multi-sectoral view of how India must navigate an increasingly fragmented global order.
Pramod Kumar, General Manager – R&D, HPCL, opened the discussion, noting that the rhetoric around gated globalization has intensified. He observed that India stands at a pivotal moment in the global green transition, and even as major economies recalibrate their commitments, India is well positioned to become “a green hydrogen hub for the world”.
From the automotive industry standpoint, Harendra Saksena, Chief Procurement Officer, Ather Energy, noted that a fast-growing, aspiration-driven industry is reshaping global supply chains, but India’s level of preparedness has not yet kept pace with this shift, rendering gated globalization a tougher terrain to navigate.
Prof. Balaji Parthasarathy, IIIT Bangalore, approached the theme through a political economy lens, observing that globalization “has always been gated”, and therefore has always been “characterised by socio-spatial unevenness”. He placed emphasis on questions of “openness”, which he said cannot be separated from their social context. On long-term growth, he noted that India’s trajectory will vary sector by sector and requires sustained planning, cautioning that India’s innovation potential will remain under-realised “without fixing the underlying social issues” that shape domestic demand and market depth.
Moderator Prof. Sai Yayavaram, Strategy area, IIMB, steered the conversation toward long-term growth through globalization, noting that India has seen “a plateau” in this arena in recent years and asking the panel where sustained momentum might emerge.
Responding to this, Harendra Saksena said that whether India is truly at cruising speed “depends entirely on the sector”, and emphasised that a large, complex economy like India requires sustained long-term planning. “We need to go back to the vision board”.
Pramod Kumar pointed to petrochemicals, noting HPCL’s versatile configurations, cost advantage and growing investments, and stated, “We are sustaining our business and making profits without any reliance on China”, underlining a shift toward diversified partnerships with other global players and the development of competitive domestic vendors.
On China-dependence more broadly, Harendra argued that a shift is feasible in sectors like EVs, where lithium-iron cells are already sourced beyond China, but warned that doing so at scale “needs focused policy, a nudge of endorsement from the market, with the ability to build a truly competitive product”.
On software and services being impacted by tariffs, Prof. Balaji noted that GCCs face no immediate threat, since tariff-related disruptions have relatively limited impact on this domain in comparison to others, though India will still need to navigate the wider consequences of shifting global value chains. With climate uncertainty and rapidly evolving information technologies redefining economic trajectories, he cautioned that the central issue ahead is not merely participation in globalization, but recognising who stands to gain – and who risks being left behind.
The levers that build enduring institutions
In the following session, ‘Beyond the Balance Sheet – Purpose-Driven Leadership for the Future’, Arun Balakrishnan, Former Chairman & Managing Director, HPCL; Independent Director across several leading corporations; and distinguished alumnus of IIM Bangalore’s inaugural batch of 1976, reflected on the principles that seed enduring institutional leadership. Returning to his alma mater, he spoke of navigating some of India’s most complex organisational transformations and noted that the real differentiator between high-performing public and private enterprises is neither structure nor ownership, but “the calibre of leadership, the quality of management, and the strength of the Board”.
Drawing on his tenure at HPCL, he described how boards must guide strategy, enable calibrated risk-taking, and provide firm oversight during crises, citing challenges such as hedging during global financial volatility, labour disputes, politically driven pressures, and regional supply deficits. He stressed that cultures built on integrity, process rigour, transparent communication, and technological adoption are essential, particularly in capital-intensive industries where corporate memory of failures can help protect long-term value.
Mr. Arun outlined ESG imperatives, labour and anti-corruption frameworks, data security, and compliance with central and state legislation as central to board oversight in the contemporary environment. He concluded that the hallmarks of board effectiveness lie in rigorous capital allocation, thoughtful succession planning, a calibrated balance between compliance and strategy, and sustained, credible engagement with stakeholders.
The logic of mobility in an ‘aspirational India’
During the session ‘Sustainability in Motion – Reimagining India’s Mobility for the Next Decade, ’ subject experts Srinivas Alavilli, Program Senior Fellow – Sustainable Cities and Transport, WRI India; Dr. Ashish Verma, Professor of Transportation Systems, IISc Bangalore; Ravikiran Annaswamy, CEO and Co-founder, Numocity Technologies, with PGPEM ’23 alumnus Shreyas Krishna Seethapathy, Chief of Staff to the CTO, Ather Energy, serving as the moderator, examined the structural constraints shaping India’s urban transport future.
Opening the discussion, Shreyas invited each panellist to define what sustainability means in their domain. From a technology and customer-experience perspective, Ravikiran Annaswamy noted that sustainable mobility must ultimately make movement “seamless, ubiquitous, and easy” for users.
From a mobility science perspective, Dr. Ashish Verma argued that Indian cities have already gone “beyond the tipping point” on liveability and resilience. He observed that the barriers to fixing sustainable mobility, particularly in Bangalore, are not technological, with the city having the data, decisions, planning, optimization methods, infrastructure, design — but the lack of capability and governance. He pointed to the absence of a dedicated mobility services cadre and the reliance on generalist administrative structures for what are fundamentally technical decisions. Ultimately, Prof. Verma stressed that improvements in urban traffic, planning and modal integration cannot come from agencies not equipped for specialised mobility management.
Adding a systems-view, Srinivas Alavilli observed that commute times in India expand in step with urban growth, and that sustainable mobility must ensure access to civic needs regardless of demographic or location. He highlighted how inadequate parking norms and corporate incentives have intensified congestion in Bengaluru’s tech corridors. Asserting that Bengaluru's tech corridors are paralyzed by the conflux of lax parking laws and corporate incentives for vehicular ownership, he called for behavioral change aided by a set of incentives and disincentives.
“Standard of living and quality of life must be decoupled”, Prof. Verma added, calling for push–pull interventions such as making private vehicle ownership less attractive while expanding public transport access modelled on global best practices.
On the supply chain side, Ravikiran Annaswamy contended that large-scale clean mobility adoption depends on interoperable systems and standardisation across EV value chains. Without alignment across technology, manufacturing and infrastructure, scaling sustainable transport solutions will remain difficult.
Reflecting on India’s “aspirational” consumption patterns, Srinivas noted that vehicle ownership is often conflated with success, though most mobility stress emerges from the daily work commute, not necessarily personal mobility ownership. “The government needs to take urban mobility more seriously and efficiently, rather than taking an intuitive or discretionary approach”, he said in his concluding remarks.
In the closing session, ‘Beyond Self – Changemakers in Focus’, Venkatesh Murthy, Founder & Chief Mentor of Youth for Seva, reflected on how volunteering cultivates empathy, expands civic capability and enables the “last-mile” impact that formal systems often struggle to deliver. Shanti Tummala, Doctor, Social Activist, TEDx Speaker, HSR Citizen Forum, underlined the need to shift from linear to circular models of development to enable meaningful change – the kind that stems from individual agency and community-led action.
A sustainability walk was organised as part of Drishti 2025 to recognise members of the IIMB community who have been key stewards of the institute’s green goals. IIMB’s densely populated residential campus is home to over 1,200 students, faculty, and staff, with a green expanse of over 20,000 trees and 285 species, the highest among academic institutions in the country.
At the conclusion of the walk, Prof. Haritha Saranga, Chairperson, Sustainability Taskforce, felicitated IIMB’s sustainability champions: Mr. Vasudeva, Mr. Shivkumar, Mr. Sagar, Mr. Amit, Mr. Mayanna and Ms. Namita from the horticulture team — for their meaningful contributions to advancing the institute’s green agenda. She also recognised Hasiru Dala Innovations for strengthening campus waste management systems through the collection, segregation, composting, transportation, mechanised treatment and responsible disposal of organic waste.
Click here for photo gallery
Industry architects confront global order and disorder at Drishti 2025
Two-day business and leadership summit by IIMB’s PGPEM nurtures conversation on building a prosperous, inclusive and sustainable India
15 November, 2025, Bengaluru: Day 2 of Drishti 2025, the annual business summit hosted by IIM Bangalore’s two-year MBA for Working Professionals, the Post Graduate Programme in Enterprise Management (PGPEM), advanced conversations on a ‘Future in Focus’ by shifting from the imperatives of disruption to engines of growth and dynamism that will shape the next decade of opportunity in India.
The day brought together voices from policy, industry, technology, and social impact to unpack the realities of a fragmented global order, the demands of leadership beyond profit, and the urgency of innovation that is both ambitious and responsible. Across keynote sessions and fireside chats, discussions explored how organizations must navigate gated globalization, build with purpose, champion community-centred change, and reimagine mobility and enterprise for a more resilient and sustainable future.
The New World Disorder
In his opening remarks, A.K. Bhattacharya, Editorial Director, Business Standard, who delivered the first session of the day on ‘The New World Disorder and India’s Economic Priorities’, positioned India at a decisive economic crossroads. He noted that while the country has made remarkable progress and now has “arrived as an entity that makes a difference to the global economic dialogue”, its growth model demands deeper scrutiny.
He observed that strong headline numbers such as 7.8% growth in Q1 mask structural imbalances, with growth remaining capital-centric, rather than labour-centric, and disproportionately benefiting a small share of the organised workforce. “If we don’t address the basic questions about the nature of the Indian economy, we cannot be as inclusive or equitable as we want to be”, he said, underlining the need for labour-friendly reforms that expand opportunities beyond the top 10% currently capturing most of the gains.
He also sketched out three areas where India stands at an inflection: the direction of its growth strategy, its cautious approach to openness in trade and investment despite signs of bilateral engagement, and the unfinished agenda of institutional autonomy across sectors and states. India, he argued, must decide “whether we are open enough on trade, on investment, on regulation, and on the way we engage with the world”. Building resilience in an increasingly disruptive environment will depend less on external conditions and more on India’s capacity to advance consequential domestic reforms in land, labour, education, agriculture and regulation.
“If we want to increase India’s resilience in the global context, it is crucial to focus on domestic policy reform, regulatory reform and demand stimulus”, he concluded.
Rethinking openness in a gated global order
The panel on ‘Strategy in an Era of Gated Globalization’ brought together perspectives from broad energy, manufacturing, information technology and political economy to offer a multi-sectoral view of how India must navigate an increasingly fragmented global order.
Pramod Kumar, General Manager – R&D, HPCL, opened the discussion, noting that the rhetoric around gated globalization has intensified. He observed that India stands at a pivotal moment in the global green transition, and even as major economies recalibrate their commitments, India is well positioned to become “a green hydrogen hub for the world”.
From the automotive industry standpoint, Harendra Saksena, Chief Procurement Officer, Ather Energy, noted that a fast-growing, aspiration-driven industry is reshaping global supply chains, but India’s level of preparedness has not yet kept pace with this shift, rendering gated globalization a tougher terrain to navigate.
Prof. Balaji Parthasarathy, IIIT Bangalore, approached the theme through a political economy lens, observing that globalization “has always been gated”, and therefore has always been “characterised by socio-spatial unevenness”. He placed emphasis on questions of “openness”, which he said cannot be separated from their social context. On long-term growth, he noted that India’s trajectory will vary sector by sector and requires sustained planning, cautioning that India’s innovation potential will remain under-realised “without fixing the underlying social issues” that shape domestic demand and market depth.
Moderator Prof. Sai Yayavaram, Strategy area, IIMB, steered the conversation toward long-term growth through globalization, noting that India has seen “a plateau” in this arena in recent years and asking the panel where sustained momentum might emerge.
Responding to this, Harendra Saksena said that whether India is truly at cruising speed “depends entirely on the sector”, and emphasised that a large, complex economy like India requires sustained long-term planning. “We need to go back to the vision board”.
Pramod Kumar pointed to petrochemicals, noting HPCL’s versatile configurations, cost advantage and growing investments, and stated, “We are sustaining our business and making profits without any reliance on China”, underlining a shift toward diversified partnerships with other global players and the development of competitive domestic vendors.
On China-dependence more broadly, Harendra argued that a shift is feasible in sectors like EVs, where lithium-iron cells are already sourced beyond China, but warned that doing so at scale “needs focused policy, a nudge of endorsement from the market, with the ability to build a truly competitive product”.
On software and services being impacted by tariffs, Prof. Balaji noted that GCCs face no immediate threat, since tariff-related disruptions have relatively limited impact on this domain in comparison to others, though India will still need to navigate the wider consequences of shifting global value chains. With climate uncertainty and rapidly evolving information technologies redefining economic trajectories, he cautioned that the central issue ahead is not merely participation in globalization, but recognising who stands to gain – and who risks being left behind.
The levers that build enduring institutions
In the following session, ‘Beyond the Balance Sheet – Purpose-Driven Leadership for the Future’, Arun Balakrishnan, Former Chairman & Managing Director, HPCL; Independent Director across several leading corporations; and distinguished alumnus of IIM Bangalore’s inaugural batch of 1976, reflected on the principles that seed enduring institutional leadership. Returning to his alma mater, he spoke of navigating some of India’s most complex organisational transformations and noted that the real differentiator between high-performing public and private enterprises is neither structure nor ownership, but “the calibre of leadership, the quality of management, and the strength of the Board”.
Drawing on his tenure at HPCL, he described how boards must guide strategy, enable calibrated risk-taking, and provide firm oversight during crises, citing challenges such as hedging during global financial volatility, labour disputes, politically driven pressures, and regional supply deficits. He stressed that cultures built on integrity, process rigour, transparent communication, and technological adoption are essential, particularly in capital-intensive industries where corporate memory of failures can help protect long-term value.
Mr. Arun outlined ESG imperatives, labour and anti-corruption frameworks, data security, and compliance with central and state legislation as central to board oversight in the contemporary environment. He concluded that the hallmarks of board effectiveness lie in rigorous capital allocation, thoughtful succession planning, a calibrated balance between compliance and strategy, and sustained, credible engagement with stakeholders.
The logic of mobility in an ‘aspirational India’
During the session ‘Sustainability in Motion – Reimagining India’s Mobility for the Next Decade, ’ subject experts Srinivas Alavilli, Program Senior Fellow – Sustainable Cities and Transport, WRI India; Dr. Ashish Verma, Professor of Transportation Systems, IISc Bangalore; Ravikiran Annaswamy, CEO and Co-founder, Numocity Technologies, with PGPEM ’23 alumnus Shreyas Krishna Seethapathy, Chief of Staff to the CTO, Ather Energy, serving as the moderator, examined the structural constraints shaping India’s urban transport future.
Opening the discussion, Shreyas invited each panellist to define what sustainability means in their domain. From a technology and customer-experience perspective, Ravikiran Annaswamy noted that sustainable mobility must ultimately make movement “seamless, ubiquitous, and easy” for users.
From a mobility science perspective, Dr. Ashish Verma argued that Indian cities have already gone “beyond the tipping point” on liveability and resilience. He observed that the barriers to fixing sustainable mobility, particularly in Bangalore, are not technological, with the city having the data, decisions, planning, optimization methods, infrastructure, design — but the lack of capability and governance. He pointed to the absence of a dedicated mobility services cadre and the reliance on generalist administrative structures for what are fundamentally technical decisions. Ultimately, Prof. Verma stressed that improvements in urban traffic, planning and modal integration cannot come from agencies not equipped for specialised mobility management.
Adding a systems-view, Srinivas Alavilli observed that commute times in India expand in step with urban growth, and that sustainable mobility must ensure access to civic needs regardless of demographic or location. He highlighted how inadequate parking norms and corporate incentives have intensified congestion in Bengaluru’s tech corridors. Asserting that Bengaluru's tech corridors are paralyzed by the conflux of lax parking laws and corporate incentives for vehicular ownership, he called for behavioral change aided by a set of incentives and disincentives.
“Standard of living and quality of life must be decoupled”, Prof. Verma added, calling for push–pull interventions such as making private vehicle ownership less attractive while expanding public transport access modelled on global best practices.
On the supply chain side, Ravikiran Annaswamy contended that large-scale clean mobility adoption depends on interoperable systems and standardisation across EV value chains. Without alignment across technology, manufacturing and infrastructure, scaling sustainable transport solutions will remain difficult.
Reflecting on India’s “aspirational” consumption patterns, Srinivas noted that vehicle ownership is often conflated with success, though most mobility stress emerges from the daily work commute, not necessarily personal mobility ownership. “The government needs to take urban mobility more seriously and efficiently, rather than taking an intuitive or discretionary approach”, he said in his concluding remarks.
In the closing session, ‘Beyond Self – Changemakers in Focus’, Venkatesh Murthy, Founder & Chief Mentor of Youth for Seva, reflected on how volunteering cultivates empathy, expands civic capability and enables the “last-mile” impact that formal systems often struggle to deliver. Shanti Tummala, Doctor, Social Activist, TEDx Speaker, HSR Citizen Forum, underlined the need to shift from linear to circular models of development to enable meaningful change – the kind that stems from individual agency and community-led action.
A sustainability walk was organised as part of Drishti 2025 to recognise members of the IIMB community who have been key stewards of the institute’s green goals. IIMB’s densely populated residential campus is home to over 1,200 students, faculty, and staff, with a green expanse of over 20,000 trees and 285 species, the highest among academic institutions in the country.
At the conclusion of the walk, Prof. Haritha Saranga, Chairperson, Sustainability Taskforce, felicitated IIMB’s sustainability champions: Mr. Vasudeva, Mr. Shivkumar, Mr. Sagar, Mr. Amit, Mr. Mayanna and Ms. Namita from the horticulture team — for their meaningful contributions to advancing the institute’s green agenda. She also recognised Hasiru Dala Innovations for strengthening campus waste management systems through the collection, segregation, composting, transportation, mechanised treatment and responsible disposal of organic waste.
Click here for photo gallery