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IMA India's Podcast offers insights on the Indian economy, politics, business environment and functional areas for CXOs and senior management.
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As a younger man, your columnist once wandered through the vast courtyards of the Meenakshi Temple in Madurai, awed by its towering gopurams and the hum of quiet devotion. What struck him most, though, was how seamlessly faith and enterprise coexisted. The temple was as much a monument to piety as it was to accounting. This week’s podcast episode revisits that dual legacy through the story of the Pandya dynasty, whose ports thrummed with trade from Rome to Southeast Asia. Their p...
In a fast-changing business environment, leaders are expected to deliver growth, innovation and impact all at once. A recent session of the IMA India CEO Forum featured B Santhanam, Former CEO of Saint-Gobain Asia Pacific and India Region, who reflected on his 25-year journey of building a purpose-led enterprise. His narrative offered a rare inside view of how organisations evolve across decades, how leaders navigate contradictions and how purpose often emerges not through design but accumula...
At our recent Q3FY26 CHRO Forum Dialogue in Bangalore, we hosted former Nestlé CMD Suresh Narayanan, who, drawing on decades of experience stewarding culture and capability and managing crises, reflected on the principles that anchor leadership through change. Our second session of the day, run as an open-house, focused on the imperative of building a future-ready workforce. The attached podcast summarises these discussions.
In an era where marketing is expected to prove its value with precision, AI is reshaping creativity and accountability. At a recent India CMO Forum Coffee Chat in New Delhi, senior marketing leaders examined how AI is being deployed across the marketing value chain, from content and automation to analytics and attribution, and what this means for creativity, measurement and evolving C-Suite dynamic. The discussion explored where AI genuinely adds value, where its limits lie and how it is rede...
For years, business growth in India followed a simple script: acquire more customers, spend heavily on visibility and let scale deliver results. That model is faltering. Rising acquisition costs, proliferating consumer choice and the erosion of switching friction have upended the rules, making retention the true engine of sustainable growth. India’s shifting economics is forcing leaders to rethink the balance between acquisition and loyalty; the organisational and sectoral challenges arising ...
In an era where technology promises exponential gains but often delivers only incremental results, the CFO’s role has expanded from that of financial custodian to one of transformation catalyst. At a recent India CFO Forum session in Delhi, run in association with Celonis, a high-powered panel of business leaders explored how Process Intelligence (PI) can create real business impact. They discussed how finance can lead this next wave of transformation, using PI to uncover execution gaps, impr...
Your columnist traces his roots to the Paliwal Brahmins of Rajasthan’s Thar Desert, a once-prosperous community that turned the sands of Pali into farmland and bustling trade. Their abrupt exodus centuries ago, driven by excessive taxes and the cruelty of rulers, left over eighty villages deserted. Many migrated to other parts of Rajasthan, UP, Punjab, Haryana and the Himalayan foothills, carrying with them the habits of enterprise that had made them flourish. Some, drawn to the ascetic...
India’s cities, once symbols of ambition, are now choking under filth, traffic and civic neglect. The solution will not come from politics but from enterprise. A “Clean Cities Compact” could unite business groups, local chambers and civic volunteers under a common banner to fund pilot projects, benchmark urban performance and publicly rate municipalities. City leadership awards and transparent audits, modelled on corporate disclosure standards, could shame or celebrate performance...
Continuing our series on India’s merchant classes, this week’s column turns to the Armenians, who arrived during the reign of the Great Mughals. Scattered at first, they later anchored themselves in Calcutta and Madras, then the twin capitals of British India’s trade. A small community remains in Calcutta, but most departed around Independence, to Britain, Australia and later Armenia after 1991. Your columnist, while at school in Asansol, remembers a few Armenian classmates, pale-skinned and ...
The relationship between India and the United States will, in many ways, define the fate of the Western alliance and the balance of power in the decades ahead. Washington’s turn to transactional behaviour risks undoing years of careful diplomacy and mutual trust. India, for its part, has drawn its red lines and held firm, signalling a new maturity in foreign policy. As the West fumbles and China courts India, New Delhi's choices will shape the architecture of the future world orde...
In an environment where volatility is unrelenting and risks extend well beyond finance, the remit of the CFO has become that of an enterprise risk leader. At a recent India CFO Forum session inMumbai, Rajeev Gupta, CFO of L&T Technology Services and Surendra Goyal, Global CFO of Birla Carbon, drew on decades of experience to examine how organisations can strengthen resilience. They highlighted that the real task for finance leaders today is not only to manage balance sheets but to antici...
In an age where volatility has become the default and hierarchies are flattening under the weight of technology, leadership must shift from command-and-control to collaboration and influence. At a recent joint session of the India CEO, CFO, CHRO and CMO Forums in Delhi, Shiv Shivakumar, Operating Partner at Advent International, drew on decades of experience leading some of India’s most recognised companies to outline how leaders, Boards and organisations must reinvent themselves. He em...
In an era where work is being reshaped by automation, AI and fluid workforce models, the role of leadership is no longer simply to manage people but to design the very architecture of talent. At a recent India CHRO Forum session in Delhi NCR, Antony Alex, Founder and CEO of Rainmaker, argued that the real challenge lies not in choosing between technology and talent, but in weaving them into a symbiotic whole. Drawing on his expertise in corporate governance and workplace ethics, he highlighte...
Across industries, transformation remains a constant ambition. Yet for CFOs, the hidden force that shapes its success is how organisations unlock value at speed and scale. At a recent India CFO Forum session in Bangalore, Dr Raghav Narsalay, Partner at PwC India and Head of the company’s Research & Insights Hub, unpacked how PwC’s 'Value in Motion' framework can equip Finance leaders to expand beyond their core intelligently. With his deep experience advising global companies...
In a world where competitive advantages erode faster than ever, the pursuit of leadership is no longer about scale or dominance but about sustained distinctiveness. At a recent session of the India CEO Forum in Mumbai, Shishir Joshipura, former MD of Praj Industries, set out a compelling case for treating innovation not as a toolkit but as a cultural anchor. He argued that true growthemerges when organisations stop chasing quarterly wins and instead build systems that outlast individuals. Inn...
The rise of Jardine Matheson owed as much to Bombay as to Britain. Sir Jamsetjee Jeejeebhoy, a Parsi merchant , supplied the cargo, capital and connections that William Jardine needed to build his “Noble House.” The Parsis of Bombay were not mere middlemen; they were global traders. From cotton and tea to the darker commerce of opium, families like the Jeejeebhoys, Readymoneys and Wadias tied Canton to Bombay. They spoke Gujarati at home, did business in English and haggled in Cantonese in Ch...
As American tariffs bite and orders dry up, Indian firms exposed to the US are scrambling for options. None is straightforward. Shifting production elsewhere means heavy capital outlays, new supplier risks and the headache of securing components and sub-assemblies. Yet a sudden shift in US policy could render such moves pointless. The calculation, then, is less about margins than about risk. Which is the bigger danger - losing customers or tying up capital in ventures that may turn sour? The ...
India’s $2.1 trillion consumer economy is being rapidly rewritten. Aspirations are rising, as the rural –urban divide begins to blur. The digital media now shapes buying decisions, even when purchases stay offline. Premiumisation is spreading beyond metros, while health and wellness surge nationwide. Consumers loyalties pivot on relevance and trust, forcing brands to adapt faster. From FMCG to autos, spending patterns are shifting in unexpected ways. IMA’s latest report decodes these t...
Your columnist has, over the years, been trained by his better half to visit museums with the noble intent of cultivating an interest in art. Initially reluctant, he is now more attuned to its charms and has even begun to recognise the works of the Greats. Admittedly, he still sometimes wonders what all the fuss is about, but he has evolved into a more willing follower—something of a loyal aide-de-camp, trailing his master with immaculate precision. On a recent hiking trip to the Alps,...
The new order will be multipolar, fragmented and spiked with suspicion. America will remain strong but unpredictable. China will be powerful but mistrusted. Europe will hedge and Asia will prepare for the worst. In this unsettled world, India’s choices, whether it pursues reform, asserts itself diplomatically and balances skilfully, will shape not just its own future but the architecture of the century. The order is not yet written, but Delhi holds one of the pens. The only question is...
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