Corner Office Conversation

India’s real estate is at an inflection point. In this episode of Corner Office Conversation, hosts Anirban Chowdhury and Kailash Babar talk to Knight Frank’s Global Chairman William Beardmore-Gray and India Chairman and MD Shishir Baijal to unpack what’s behind record-high office demand, rising cross-border capital flows, and India’s shift into the world’s promising office markets. They discuss the surge of GCCs, the luxury-housing boom, and why institutional investors are eyeing living sectors like senior and student housing. The conversation also explores how PropTech, AI, and ESG are transforming global property decisions—and what lessons India can draw from China’s slowdown.Tune in:You can follow Anirban Chowdhury on his social media: Twitter and LinkedinYou can follow Kailash Babar on her Linkedin, Twitter profiles and read her Newspaper Articles. Listen to Corner Office Conversation: Corner Office Conversation with Pawan Goenka, Chairman, IN-SPACe, Corner Office Conversation with The New Leaders of Indian Pharma and much more. Catch the latest episode of “Corner Office Conversation” on: Spotify, Amazon Music, Apple Podcasts,and wherever you get your podcasts from.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

What happens when a small Indian software firm quietly evolves into a global SaaS powerhouse without external funding or data monetization? In this episode of Corner Office Conversation, ET’s tech experts and hosts Surabhi Agarwal and Suraksha P sit down with Zoho founder and chief scientist Sridhar Vembu and his leadership team to trace the company’s extraordinary rise from its humble beginnings in the 1990s to becoming a billion-dollar global player. The discussion explores Zoho’s early bet on SaaS, its commitment to ethical growth, the bold decision to build talent from rural India rather than urban hubs and why India has to be self reliant in tech to avoid weaponisation by the giants. As the conversation unfolds, it probes a larger question: can a homegrown tech company balance global ambition with local empowerment while staying fiercely independent? Tune InYou can follow Surabhi Agarwal on her Linkedin, Twitter profiles and read her Newspaper Articles. You can follow Suraksha P on her Linkedin, Twitter profiles and read her Newspaper Articles. Listen to Corner Office Conversation: Corner Office Conversation with Pawan Goenka, Chairman, IN-SPACe, Corner Office Conversation with The New Leaders of Indian Pharma and much more. Catch the latest episode of “Corner Office Conversation” on: Spotify, Amazon Music, Apple Podcasts,and wherever you get your podcasts from.  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

India is YouTube’s fastest-growing market home to a young, ambitious generation that’s transforming from viewers into global creators. In this conversation, host Anirban Chowdhury talks to Gunjan Soni Country Managing Director of YouTube India to break down how the platform is powering this shift. She talks about the explosive rise of Shorts, the growing influence of connected TV, and how linguistic diversity and AI are opening new frontiers for creators. Soni also dives into YouTube’s evolving monetization ecosystem from ad revenue and fan funding to affiliate models and how Indian creators are turning content into thriving businesses. The discussion doesn’t shy away from the tough issues: burnout, platform dependence, algorithm myths, and the guardrails around AI-generated content.  Tune in:You can follow Anirban Chowdhury on his social media: Twitter and LinkedinListen to Corner Office Conversation: Corner Office Conversation with Pawan Goenka, Chairman, IN-SPACe, Corner Office Conversation with The New Leaders of Indian Pharma and much more. Catch the latest episode of “Corner Office Conversation” on: Spotify, Amazon Music, Apple Podcasts,and wherever you get your podcasts from.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Elizabeth Reid is one of Google’s most powerful women. She also has one of its most challenging jobs. At a time when AI is reshaping how people seek information, as standalone LLMs become their foremost information sources, friends and therapists, Reid, Head of Search, has to constantly grapple with the challenge that it’s no longer the only answer to all the world’s questions And yet, Google’s search clicks are up and more qualified, people are asking detailed questions and, as she insists, the story of the blue link is far from over. In this episode, she talks to host Anirban Chowdhury about why Google isn’t facing an innovators’ dilemma yet, although it is trying to constantly improve the search experience, how Google and its searchers now talk differently to each other, whether there is a gap in gauging their intent and setting context, if agentic AI is truly an innovation worth chasing. She also talks about why the tech behemoth’s latest innovations must come to India weeks after the US, compared to two years earlier and how, soon, some of them might come to India first.   Tune in.You can follow Anirban Chowdhury on his social media: Twitter and LinkedinListen to Corner Office Conversation: Corner Office Conversation with Pawan Goenka, Chairman, IN-SPACe, Corner Office Conversation with The New Leaders of Indian Pharma and much more. Catch the latest episode of “Corner Office Conversation” on: Spotify, Amazon Music, Apple Podcasts,and wherever you get your podcasts from.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In this episode of Corner Office Conversation, we sit down with Sindhu Gangadharan, Managing Director of SAP Labs India and Chairperson of NASSCOM. From being the first woman to lead SAP Labs India to driving its AI-first transformation, Sindhu shares her journey, the bold decisions that shaped her career, and why India has become SAP’s biggest R&D hub outside Europe. Joined by Anirban Chowdhury and ET’s tech expert Beena Parmar, she discusses how the geopolitical turmoil is an opportunity for problem solving, how the AI boom is no bubble and why it’s now about whether India will build its own Anthropic…it’s how soon. You can follow Anirban Chowdhury on his social media: Twitter and LinkedinYou can follow Beena Parmar on her Linkedin, Twitter profiles and read her Newspaper Articles.Listen to Corner Office Conversation: Corner Office Conversation with Pawan Goenka, Chairman, IN-SPACe, Corner Office Conversation with The New Leaders of Indian Pharma and much more. Catch the latest episode of “Corner Office Conversation” on: Spotify, Amazon Music, Apple Podcasts,and wherever you get your podcasts from.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In this episode of Corner Office Conversations, host Ratna Bhushan sits down with Vipul Parekh, co-founder of BigBasket, to discuss how India’s leading online grocer is gearing up for the festive season amid the quick commerce boom. From IPO buzz and profitability challenges to category expansion beyond groceries, Parekh shares insights on competition with Swiggy, Zepto, JioMart, and Amazon, and BigBasket’s strategy around dark stores, assortment, and growth. With the Tata Group backing and a rapidly evolving e-commerce market, this conversation explores what it takes to stay ahead in a fiercely contested space.You can follow Ratna Bhushan on her Linkedin, Twitter profiles and read her Newspaper Articles. Listen to Corner Office Conversation: Corner Office Conversation with Pawan Goenka, Chairman, IN-SPACe, Corner Office Conversation with The New Leaders of Indian Pharma and much more. Catch the latest episode of “Corner Office Conversation” on: Spotify, Amazon Music, Apple Podcasts,and wherever you get your podcasts from.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Naveen Tewari thrives on pivots and preempting market demand before it becomes obvious to everyone else.In this deep-dive with the founder and CEO of InMobi and Glance, host Anirban Chowdhury traces India’s earliest unicorn from its 2007 pivot from mKhoj (SMS search) to mobile advertising, SoftBank’s $200 million backing, and a “born-global” scale-up: InMobi today derives 65%–70% of revenue from North America. We also unpack the second act: Glance, the AI-led lock-screen platform with 400 million users, and its newest bet—AI commerce: a business built on a foundation model trained for shopping, with monetization via transaction take-rates and brand enablement.  Tewari argues that his businesses’ US concentration is a feature, not a bug. He outlines why post-cookie privacy guardrails have largely stabilized, and explains why advertising keeps the internet free. He also predicts 80% automation of software coding at InMobi and what that means for talent, velocity, and quality—plus where an eventual IPO fits when you’re already profitable and well-funded. You can follow Anirban Chowdhury on his social media: Twitter and Linkedin Listen to the first installment of Corner Office Conversation called Corner Office Conversation with Pawan Goenka, Chairman, IN-SPACe Catch the latest episode of the new show “Corner Office Conversation” on: Spotify, Amazon Music, Apple Podcasts,and wherever you get your podcasts from.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

India’s pharma sector is at a turning point transitioning from a global generics powerhouse to a serious contender in biotech and innovation. In this episode, host Vikas Dandekar is joined by Namita Thapar, Executive Director, Emcure Pharmaceuticals, Aman Mehta, Managing Director, Torrent Pharma, and Sharvil Patel, Managing Director, Zydus Lifesciences to explore what it takes to climb the innovation ladder. From regulatory roadblocks and pricing pressures to building a robust R&D ecosystem, the panel lays it all out. Patel reflects on Zydus’ early bet on research, Thapar shares Emcure’s commitment to women’s health and inclusive leadership, while Mehta highlights the shift toward patient-first thinking. Blending sharp insights, real-world data, and candid personal stories, this conversation asks the big question: Can India go from being the “pharmacy of the world” to becoming its “laboratory”?You can follow Vikas Dandekar on his social media: Twitter and Linkedin and read her Newspaper Articles.Listen to the first installment of Corner Office Conversation called Corner Office Conversation with Pawan Goenka, Chairman, IN-SPACeCatch the latest episode of the new show “Corner Office Conversation” on: Spotify, Amazon Music, Apple Podcasts,and wherever you get your podcasts from.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

India is not just watching the space race — it’s entering the arena with serious firepower. In the first episode of The Economic Times’ new show Corner Office Conversation, hosts Anirban Chowdhury and Nirmal John sit down with Pawan Goenka, Chairperson of IN-SPACe to explore how India is opening up the final frontier for private players. From transferring ISRO’s rocket technology to industry, to creating a Rs 1,000 crore space-focused VC fund and setting up new launchpads in Tamil Nadu, Goenka outlines the roadmap for turning India into a global hub for small satellite launches. He also discusses the upcoming Space Activities Bill, the boom in aerospace startups like Skyroot, Pixxel and Digantara, and the challenge of Series B-C funding in deeptech. If you've wondered how India plans to grow its space economy from $8.5 billion to $44 billion by 2033 — this episode offers answers from the man steering the catalyst in this journey. TUNE INYou can follow Anirban Chowdhury on his social media: Twitter and LinkedinYou can follow Nirmal John on his social media media: Twitter and LinkedinCatch the latest episode of the new show “Corner Office Conversation” on: Spotify, Amazon Music, Apple Podcasts,and wherever you get your podcasts from.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Corner Office Conversation is The Economic Times’ flagship interview podcast featuring unfiltered, one-on-one conversations with some of India and the world’s most powerful business leaders. Hosted by ET’s top journalists and editors, this fortnightly show goes beyond headlines and press releases to explore how CEOs and founders think, decide, and lead in an era of disruption. From Marc Benioff (Salesforce), Dara Khosrowshahi (Uber), and Roland Busch (Siemens) to Adar Poonawalla (Serum Institute), Suresh Narayanan (Nestlé India), and Ravi Kumar S (Cognizant), these conversations uncover personal leadership playbooks, global strategy pivots, lessons from failures, and bold visions for the future — across industries like tech, healthcare, manufacturing, finance, and consumer goods. New episodes drop every alternate Monday.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.