Vineet Gupta is a Vice President & Head of Relationship Management for South Asia in the MIS Global Relationship Management Group. Based in Mumbai (India),he is responsible for Relationship Management function for South Asian countries of India, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Nepal, Pakistan and Maldives.

Previously, he was a Vice President-Senior Analyst in the Financial Institutions Group in Asia, and was based in Singapore. He was the lead analyst for Indian and Sri Lankan Banks and a back-up analyst for Singaporean and Vietnamese banks.

Before joining Moody’s, he worked as the head of local credit analysis at Credit Agricole - Corporate & Investment Bank in India. Prior to that, he headed the bank and financial institution ratings team at ICRA Limited, India. He began his career in an IT company in India and has work experience of over three decades.

Vineet is a graduate from the Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi (India), where he studied Textile Technology. He also has an MBA from Faculty of Management Studies, University of Delhi.

Christian de Guzman is a Senior Vice President with Moody’s Sovereign and Sub-Sovereign Risk Group. Based in Singapore, he covers a portfolio of sovereigns and multilateral development banks in Asia Pacific, including Japan, India and a number of Southeast Asian credits, while also managing the team responsible for sub-sovereign ratings in Asia ex-China.

Christian joined Moody’s in 2009, after working as a Senior Economist for the Monetary Authority of Singapore, covering ASEAN economies. He has also held various positions with the Research Department at the International Monetary Fund in Washington DC, and Procter & Gamble in Singapore.

Christian was a Phi Beta Kappa graduate in Economics and Political Science at the University of Georgia and received his M.A. in International Economics and Southeast Asian Studies from the Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies.

Neelkanth Mishra is the Chief Economist at Axis Bank, Head of Global Research, and a Whole Time Director at Axis Capital. Consistently rated as India's top analyst in various investor polls, he is a highly respected expert and media columnist on global and Indian macroeconomic trends.

Neelkanth joined Axis in May 2023 after a distinguished two-decade career at Credit Suisse, where he served as Co-Head of Asia Pacific Strategy and India Strategist. He is a part-time member of the Indian Prime Minister’s Economic Advisory Council, the part-time Chairman of UIDAI (Aadhaar), and a part-time member of the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI). His advisory roles extend to government bodies such as the India Semiconductor Mission and the 15th & 16th Finance Commissions.

In addition, Neelkanth is a member of the CII’s Economic Affairs Council and frequently presents to corporate boards. His professional journey includes stints at HUL and Infosys. An alumnus of IIT-Kanpur, he is a gold-medalist and Distinguished Alumnus Awardee, having ranked fourth in the entrance exam to the IITs.

Samiran is a Managing Director and Chief Economist, India for Citigroup. Before joining Citigroup, Samiran was the Head of South Asia Macro Research at Standard Chartered for 6 years and also Chief Economist for ICICI Bank, looking after a team of economists covering different aspects of the global economy with special reference to India. 

He has been adjudged as the Top Economist in India by the Asset Magazine for three consecutive years, been featuring at the top of the Institutional Investors Survey of Economists for the last 3 years and the Best Economist for India in the Asiamoney Ranking of 2019 and 2021. He has also been part of the RBI Committee on MIBOR Benchmark. 

Before moving into the corporate sector, Samiran was a faculty of the Delhi School of Economics introducing students to different facets of macroeconomics and international finance. Samiran has done his Doctoral Research from Delhi School of Economics on the subject of Financial Liberalization and Economic Development.

Rahul Agrawal joined the Economy and State Finances team at ICRA Ltd in December 2021. As a Senior Economist, his focus areas include macroeconomic analysis, forecasting and policy assessment.

He has a total work experience of 14 years spanning across the corporate, institutional broking and information services sectors. He holds a Bachelor’s and a Master’s degree in Economics from Mumbai University.

Rahul Ghosh is Managing Director – Global Head of Sustainable Finance for Moody's Ratings.

Rahul leads global oversight for the credit rating agency’s environmental, social and governance (ESG) research and outreach strategy. In this capacity, he is responsible for co-ordinating high quality and impactful research exploring the credit implications of ESG, as well as digital and in-person outreach to meet the growing market needs of investors, issuers and other important stakeholders.

Rahul is a regular participant at high-profile industry working groups, market briefings, external conferences and media engagements. He is a member of the Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures, a market-led initiative to develop a risk management and disclosure framework for nature-related risks. He has also represented Moody’s on the UN Principles for Responsible Investment's advisory committee on credit ratings and the Green and Social Bond Principles working groups. He has presented on the impact of climate change on emerging market sovereigns at the G20 Green Finance Study Group and on sustainable finance trends at the International Finance Corporation’s Global Debt Mobilization Conference.

Before his current role, Rahul oversaw Moody’s ESG Solutions Group outreach and engagement activities globally with the sustainability stakeholder community. He also previously worked in Moody’s Credit Strategy & Research team where he was responsible for thematic research and outreach on global emerging market (EM) credit trends. Prior to joining Moody’s in 2013, Rahul was the Head of Asia at BMI Research (Fitch Solutions) in Singapore, leading a team of macroeconomists and industry specialists in analysing sovereign risk, sector performance and the capital markets.

Rahul is a passionate impact leader for Moody’s corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiatives in London, chairing the pillar on “activating an environmentally sustainable future”. He holds a Masters degree in Economics from the University of Edinburgh and a Certificate in ESG Investing from the CFA Society of the UK.

In his current role, Mr. Acharya partners with the CEOs, CXOs, Functional Heads, Operation Heads and Senior Executives of the group companies to develop and drive the implementation of sustainability and ESG strategy in the sectors including Steel, Energy, Cement, Paints, Infrastructure etc. In his current role, he has been instrumental in integrating sustainability into the business strategy and advanced JSW’s sustainability initiatives to create long term value for the group.

Mr Acharya has worked for more than three decades in the field of corporate sustainability strategy, environmental management, emissions reduction, climate change and policy deployment across various sectors and geographies in the world. His work experience includes working with Steel Authority of India Ltd, URS Greiner Woodward-Clyde, Australia, Lloyd’s Register, UK and Aditya Birla Group before joining the JSW Group as the CSO.

A prominent voice for sustainable business practices, he has been awarded as one of the most impactful sustainability leader by the world sustainability and best sustainability officer by SEEM National Sustainability Awards 2023. He provides thought leaderships through his capacity as the Chairman / Vice Chair / member of Various Climate Change, Environment and Sustainability committees of Industry bodies like WBCSD, Worldsteel, WMBC, Indian Steel Association, CII, FICCI, ICC, ASSOCHAM, etc.

He is a member of the Stakeholder Council, a governance body of Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) and Operating Committee (OpCo) of World Business Council for Sustainable Business (WBCSD), a professional lead assessor registered with IRCA, UK and EPD Verifier as per The International EPD System.

Mr. Acharya holds a Bachelor Degree (BE) in Civil Engineering (Hons) from IGIT, Utkal University, a Masters in Technology (MTech) in Environmental Engineering from IIT, Kharagpur, India and Advanced Strategic Leadership course from Brown University, USA.

Shobana Chawla is Head of Sustainable Finance Origination - South Asia for Standard Chartered Bank. In her role she focuses on the Bank’s sustainable finance strategy by working with clients on their sustainability agenda and supporting them through suitable sustainable finance products.

Prior to this role, Shobana has been a career corporate banker with over 27 years’ experience in development and corporate banking with ICICI and Standard Chartered Bank across various locations in India. Her areas of expertise include corporate, project, and structured finance and more recently sustainable finance. She has abundant experience in business development and growth, driving new business initiatives with strong revenue focus.

Shobana Chawla earned her Bachelor of Engineering (BE Electrical and Electronics Engineering) from College of Engineering Guindy, Chennai and her PGDM Finance, from Indian Institute of Management, Kolkatta. . Besides that, Shobana has been awarded certificate of Sustainable Finance from Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership (CISL).

Mr. L Shivakumar is the Chief Executive Officer of ICRA ESG Ratings Limited. He is responsible for generating business in the ESG rating sector, overseeing the company's overall growth, thought leadership and outreach. Additionally, Mr. Shivakumar holds the position of EVP of Business Development and Chief Business Officer of ICRA Limited. In this role, he has a countrywide responsibility for originating new business and serving existing clientele for ICRA's ratings and research products. 

Mr Shivakumar joined ICRA in June 1994 as an analyst and has led analytical teams for over a decade, demonstrating his commitment and capability. Before joining ICRA, he worked as a management consultant at A F Ferguson & Co. Before his post-graduation, Mr. Shivakumar worked as an assistant construction engineer with MECON Limited. He holds a Bachelor of Technology degree in Civil Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi, and a Postgraduate Diploma in Management (equivalent to an MBA) from the Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore.

Jingjing (Nicky) Dang is a Senior Vice President in Moody’s Credit Strategy and Guidance Group. Based in Shanghai, Nicky is responsible for covering a portfolio of China’s regional and local governments and market outreach on enhancing the transparency of relevant methodologies. She also focuses on China credit-related research and market outreach, and drives and coordinates research and credit-related initiatives covering major regional credit events. 

Nicky joined Moody’s New York office in February 2007 as an Associate Analyst. She was the lead analyst on various Asset-Backed Securities (ABS) and Residential Mortgage-Backed Securities (RMBS) transactions in the Structured Finance Group. Prior to joining Moody’s Shanghai in February 2023, Nicky was an Associate Managing Director and the head of the Consumer ABS New Ratings Americas team, which covers credit card, auto, student loan, personal loan, timeshares and other consumer related ABS sectors. 

Nicky holds a Master’s Degree in Economics from New York University and a BA in Economics from Beijing Technology and Business University. She is also a CFA charterholder.

Arvind Bansal is a co-founder and Chief Executive Officer of Continuum Green Energy Limited and has been associated with Continuum since 2010. He holds a bachelor’s degree in technology (civil engineering) from the Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi and a post-graduate diploma in management from the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad. 

He has over 31 years of experience across the investment banking, finance and renewable energy sectors. He is responsible for developing and implementing the long-term growth strategies of Continuum and overseeing all aspects of Continuum’s operations. Continuum has 2,300 MWp of operating utility scale renewable energy assets and 1,200 MWp under construction. 

Continuum primary focus is on supplying renewable electricity to commercial and industrial consumers which accounts for 78% of its total 3,500 MWp capacity.

Mr. Bimal Khandelwal, CEO of ST Telemedia Global Data Centres India, is a guiding force with over two decades of extensive experience in India’s digital infrastructure sector, spanning data centers and telecommunications. He is a strong advocate for responsible, resilient, and sustainable growth practices.

Bimal is a Chartered Accountant by education. Over the past seven years as CFO, he has been instrumental in driving STT GDC India’s expansion strategy. His focus has been on achieving the ambitious goal of becoming a 1 GW data center operator to support India’s digital infrastructure needs and its aspirations for AI leadership. Bimal has dedicated his efforts towards advancing and strengthening the company’s role as a key enabler of digital infrastructure solutions in India.

Bimal’s leadership is rooted in a philosophy of empowering people and fostering collaboration. Recognized for his visionary outlook and deep industry expertise, Bimal’s distinctive ability to balance innovation with responsibility sets him apart as a pioneer in India’s fast-evolving data center landscape.

Bimal has held key leadership positions across diverse industries and organizations, including Aditya Birla Sun Life Insurance, Aircel Ltd (Maxis Group), Birla AT&T (Idea Cellular), Tata Teleservices, and BILT. As a people-centric leader, he has effectively mentored and developed independent leaders within these organizations.

Ashish is a Senior Vice President at ICRA and has been the rating agency for over 16 years. Ashish is currently leading the analytical team in the transportation infrastructure and real estate vertical. He is a regular speaker at industry conferences and has also been interviewed by leading business news channels. He has also authored various research articles on Indian credits in infrastructure space.

He holds a B.Tech. degree in Electronics & Communication Engineering from the National Institute of Technology, Calicut and MBA from the Narsee Monjee Institute of Management Studies, Mumbai. Ashish has aggregate work experience of over 18 years and he has been associated with ICRA for a period of over 16 years.

Abhishek Tyagi is a Vice President – Senior Credit Officer with Moody’s Project and Infrastructure Finance Group, based in Singapore. He covers companies in the port, airport and utility sectors in India and Southeast Asia.

Prior to joining Moody’s, Abhishek worked for eight years as an equity analyst with CLSA in Mumbai, covering Indian utilities and infrastructure companies. Previous positions also included an investment analyst at B&K Securities in Mumbai and a supply chain analyst with Tata Steel in Jamshedpur. 

Abhishek holds an MBA from the Xavier Institute of Management, Bhubaneshwar and a Bachelor of Technology (Metallurgy and Material Science) from the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Roorkee.

Alka Anbarasu is an Associate Managing Director in the Financial Institutions Group in Asia. Based in Singapore, Alka is responsible for Moody's analytical teams covering ratings and research on banks, insurance companies, and non-bank financial institutions in Japan, ASEAN and Indian Sub-continent. Alka also coordinates the Global Financial Institution Group's efforts on Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) scoring and research. Alka is a regular speaker at Moody's market briefings, external conferences podcasts and broadcast media. She is very active in promoting Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DE&I) initiatives and is a passionate impact leader for Moody's Community Impact initiatives in Asia.

Alka joined Moody's in 2013 and over the years has led the ratings of several high profile Asian financial institutions. Prior to joining Moody's, she worked in the investment banking division of J.P. Morgan in London and Mumbai and ING Vysya Bank in India. She has close to 20 years of experience in the financial industry. Alka holds an MBA from the Xavier Institute of Management in India.

Mr. Prashant Kumar was appointed as Managing Director & Chief Executive Officer (MD & CEO) of YES BANK post the Reconstruction of the Bank in March 2020. Under his leadership, the Bank embarked on a transformation journey to emerge as a re-energized, re-capitalized and recalibrated organization, while continuing to fulfill its unwavering commitment towards its customers and stakeholders. This has been one of the rare instances, where an Indian banking institution has seen a real turnaround from the brink of collapse, within an extremely short time frame of a little over two years.

Prior to joining YES BANK, Mr. Kumar was the Deputy Managing Director & CFO of SBI, India’s largest Bank. He was associated with SBI in various capacities and has a rich experience in diverse fields ranging from credit to human resources. He joined SBI as a Probationary Officer in 1983 and during his 37 years of service with the Bank, he held various key assignments including Dy. Managing Director - HR & Corporate Development Officer; Dy. Managing Director & Chief Operating Officer; Chief General Manager - Kolkata Circle; General Manager - Local Head Office Mumbai; DGM (Industrial relations) and faculty in Bank’s Apex Training Institute – State Bank Academy, Gurugram.

He holds a degree each in Science and Law from Delhi University.

Mr. Rajiv Sabharwal, a B. Tech from IIT Delhi and PGDM from IIM Lucknow, has over 26 years of experience in the banking and financial services industry. Mr. Sabharwal is currently the Managing Director & CEO of Tata Capital Limited. He is also the Chairman of Tata Capital Financial Services Limited, Tata Capital Housing Finance Limited, Tata Securities Limited and Tata Asset Management Limited and is also on the Board of Tata Capital Cleantech Limited, Tata Capital Pte Ltd. and Tata Realty and Infrastructure Limited.

He has served as an Executive Director on the Board of ICICI Bank where he was responsible for several businesses including retail banking, business banking, rural banking, financial inclusion, technology and digital banking. He has also served as the Chairman of ICICI Home Finance Company Limited and was on the Board of ICICI Prudential Life Insurance Company Limited. He was also on the Investment Advisory Committee (Real Estate) of ICICI Prudential AMC.

Mr. Sabharwal has been acknowledged for his contribution to the growth of the Retail Banking and Real Estate & Housing Finance market in India.

Mr. Sabharwal also has had experience in both Venture Capital and Growth Capital investing at Sequoia Capital and True North. He has been on the Board of a number of early stage and growing companies in Financial services space.

He has also served on a number of committees of RBI and IBA.  

Mr. Sabharwal has had successful stints with True North Managers LLP, Sequoia Capital, Godrej Group, SRF Finance, GE Capital and Times Bank.

Mr. Karthik Srinivasan is Senior Vice President and Group Head – Financial Sector Ratings at ICRA Limited.

He holds a B.E. degree in Electronics Engineering from the K J Somaiya College of Engineering, Mumbai University, and a Masters in Management Studies (Finance) from the Narsee Monjee Institute of Management Studies, Mumbai University. He also holds the CFA charter awarded by the CFA Institute, USA.

Karthik has an aggregate work experience of around 23 years, out of which he has been associated with ICRA for nearly 20 years.

Amit Pandey joined Moody’s APAC FIG in Singapore in 2023. He covers a rating portfolio of banks in Asia-Pacific, in particular the South and Southeast Asian region.

Previously, Amit was with S&P Global Ratings for over 10 years in Singapore covering a portfolio of ASEAN and South Asian financial institutions. Prior to that, he served in the debt capital market team of HSBC India and the credit department of Axis Bank in Mumbai. 

Amit has extensive credit experience in providing rating and capital advisory services to issuers across the Asia-Pacific region, as well as debt origination and management services of credit portfolios.

Amit has a Bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering from Harcourt Butler Technological Institute, Kanpur, and an MBA from the Indian Institute of Management, Calcutta.

Jacintha Poh is an Associate Managing Director for the Corporate Finance Group at Moody's, based in Singapore. She leads a team of analysts who are responsible for Moody's nonfinancial corporate ratings and research in the South and Southeast Asia region.

Jacintha joined Moody's in 2012 taking several Lead Analyst roles, where she demonstrated her ability to execute complex analyses across a diverse range of sectors, including real estate, hospitality, and investment holding companies.

Before joining Moody's, Jacintha worked for Lion Global Investors, where she served as a Credit Analyst on the Fixed Income team. Jacintha holds an honors BSc in Accounting and Finance from the University of London.

Mr. R. Govindan is the Senior Vice President – Corporate Finance & Chief Risk Officer for Larsen & Toubro Limited. He has completed his B.Sc. in Statistics from Loyola College, Madras, and completed his Post-Graduate Diploma in Management from IRMA (India) and an alumnus of London Business School.

Mr. Govindan heads the Finance and Treasury functions, including regional finance and treasury centers outside India. He manages the finance and treasury portfolio of more than a 100 group companies at the policy level. He also oversees the Enterprise Risk Management and Insurance functions for the group.

He has been instrumental in developing the Risk Management Policy under the aegis of Risk Management and Audit Committees. In his current role, he takes care of Capital Allocation, Financial Risk Management and Strategic Investments. He has been a part of many international/domestic benchmark transactions in various sectors for the L&T Group (GDR, QIP, FCCB, etc.). 

He led many strategic initiatives of L&T Group including Hyderabad metro, infrastructural developments projects, foray into services businesses. He also Chairs the Credit Committee and part of the Risk Committee of the board on L&T Finance.

He is founder of RMNext – A Forum of Chief Risk professional of various Indian and MNC’s companies (more than 400 companies). He is a part of various committees of FICCI, CII, RBI and SEBI.

He represents L&T on various industry bodies and professional committees. Under his leadership, L&T won many prestigious awards like EuroFinance Best Treasury Team Award in 2009, Adam Awards Asia 2014 for the Judges Choice Award for 2014 for managing investments, Adam Awards Asia 2014 as highly commended for the best foreign exchange solution implemented, etc. He himself won the Euro Finance Best Treasurer Award for Asia in 2013.

Ravichandran has an aggregate work experience of around 28 years, out of which he has been with ICRA Limited, for a period of around 25 years. He currently heads the entire analytical team in ICRA, comprising Corporate, Financial and Structured Finance sectors. He also oversees the functioning of the Rating Committees in ICRA. His other responsibilities include regulatory interactions and credit policy reviews. He is a regular speaker in industry conferences and has also been interviewed by leading business news channels. He has also authored various research pieces on Indian credits.

He holds a B.Tech in Chemical Engineering from Anna University, Chennai and a MBA from Bharathidasan Institute of Management (BIM), Trichy. He also holds the Financial Risk Manager (FRM) charter awarded by the Global Association of Risk Professionals (GARP), USA.

Kaustubh Chaubal is a Senior Vice President with Moody’s Corporate Finance Group. Based in Singapore, he covers a portfolio of Indian and India-based issuers in the metals and mining (ferrous and non-ferrous), automobile, chemicals and pharmaceuticals industries.

Prior to joining Moody’s in 2015, Kaustubh spent eight years as a Ratings Advisor with Standard Chartered Bank in Singapore, the last two of which was as Head of ASEAN Ratings Advisory, while also covering issuers in the Middle East and Africa.

Kaustubh has also worked as a Senior Analyst at Standard & Poor’s India-based subsidiary, CRISIL, covering a broad array of industries including pharmaceuticals, building materials, chemicals, and investment holding companies. And, he has previously held analytical roles at ING Vysya Bank and Unit Trust of India Investment Advisory Services, as well as auditing roles at RM Ajgaonkar & Company and RD Samant & Company.

Kaustubh holds an MBA from The University of Chicago Booth School of Business and a Bachelor of Commerce from Mumbai University. He is also a Chartered Accountant with the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India.

Sweta Patodia is an Assistant Vice President – Analyst in the Moody’s Corporate Finance Group. Based in Singapore, Sweta covers a diversified portfolio of Indian corporates across the oil and gas, technology start-ups and IT sectors.

Sweta joined Moody’s in 2014 as an Associate Analyst. Prior to joining Moody’s, Sweta worked as a Credit Analyst for over three years at HSBC in India.

Sweta is a Chartered Accountant, Company Secretary and a CFA charter holder.

Mr. L Shivakumar is the Chief Executive Officer of ICRA ESG Ratings Limited. He is responsible for generating business in the ESG rating sector, overseeing the company's overall growth, thought leadership and outreach. Additionally, Mr. Shivakumar holds the position of EVP of Business Development and Chief Business Officer of ICRA Limited. In this role, he has a countrywide responsibility for originating new business and serving existing clientele for ICRA's ratings and research products. 

Mr Shivakumar joined ICRA in June 1994 as an analyst and has led analytical teams for over a decade, demonstrating his commitment and capability. Before joining ICRA, he worked as a management consultant at A F Ferguson & Co. Before his post-graduation, Mr. Shivakumar worked as an assistant construction engineer with MECON Limited. He holds a Bachelor of Technology degree in Civil Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi, and a Postgraduate Diploma in Management (equivalent to an MBA) from the Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore.