The Wharton India Economic Forum (WIEF) is Wharton's student-run, India-centric business conference bringing together leaders, professionals, academics and students from around the world to discuss India's evolution into a prominent global economic power
In its twenty fourth year, WIEF is the one of the largest and oldest India-focused student-run business conference bringing together business and political leaders, professionals, and academics to discuss India’s evolution into a prominent global economic power and its future prospects. The theme for this year’s conference is Empowering Innovation and the focus is to cover economic trends responsible for shaping the business landscape in India and driving innovation through panels and fireside chats. WIEF aims to provide a platform for collaboration between academics and students from diverse backgrounds(including Wharton MBAs, Penn Law, Penn Design and Penn Engineering) with professionals from Finance, Consulting, Policy, Economics, Entrepreneurship and Media & Entertainment industries.
Every Year WIEF features renowned speakers who are at the forefront of India’s economic and business growth and development. The forum receives extensive media coverage in India and in the wider business community. Recent forums have been covered by networks such as CNBC, Republic TV, NDTV and Bloomberg, broadcast over TV and the Internet, and covered by over 30 journalists and all major publications.
Breakfast & Registration
08:00 AM - 08:45 AM
Opening Remarks and Dean's speech
08:45 AM - 09:00 AM
Opening Keynote: Deepak Bagla (MD & CEO, Invest India)
09:00 AM - 09:20 AM
Fireside Chat
Speaker: Vikram Limaye (MD & CEO, NSE), Niranjan Narayanaswamy (Editor, Republic TV)
9.20 AM - 9.50 AM
Panel: Energy Outlook in India
Moderator: Saikat Chaudhuri (Executive Director, Mack Institute for Innovation) ;Speakers: Kuldeep Jain (MD, CleanMax Solar), Zia Nariman (Investment Officer, IFC, World Bank), Rahool Panandiker (Partner and MD, Boston Consulting Group)
9.50 AM - 10.40 AM
Coffee Break
10.40 AM - 11.00 AM
Panel: Future of Mobility
Moderator: Jayesh Ranjan ( Principal Secretary, Government of Telangana) Speakers: Abhay Damle (Joint Secretary, MoRTH, GoI) , Ann Lavin (Senior Director, Public Policy, Asia Pacific, UBER), Anumita Roychowdhury (Executive Director, Centre for Science and Environment)
11.00 AM - 11.50 AM
Panel: Investing in India
Moderator: Vinay Nair (Chairman, 55ip; Professor at Wharton) ; Speakers: Amit Dixit (Senior MD, Blackstone India), Shweta Jalan (MD, Advent International) Vishal Mahadevia (MD, Warburg Pincus India), Manas Tandon (MD, Head of India, Partners Group)
11.50 AM - 12.40 PM
Lunch Break
12:40 PM - 01:30 PM
Panel: Impact Investing
Moderator: Deval Sanghavi (Founder, Dasra); Speakers: Vikram Gandhi (HBS Professor | Founder, Asha Impact) , Soumitra Pandey (Partner, The Bridgespan Group) ,Vineet Rai (Founder, Aavishkaar Intellecap Group), Chetna Sinha (Founder, Mann Deshi Foundation), Smita Aggarwal (Director - Investments, Omidyar Network)
1.30 PM - 2.20 PM
Fireside Chat
Moderator: Harbir Singh (Co-Director, Mack Institute for Innovation) Speaker: Naveen Jindal (Chairman, Jindal Steel & Power)
2.20 PM - 2.50 PM
Panel: India's Evolving Healthcare Landscape
Moderator: Gans Ganapati (Director & Co-Founder, HealthCare Global); Speakers: Vishal Bali (Executive Chairman, Asia Healthcare Holdings; Senior Advisor, TPG Growth) , Meena Ganesh (MD & CEO, Portea Medical), Dr. Srinath Reddy (President, Public Health Foundation of India) , Annaswamy Vaidheesh (VP South Asia & MD - India, GlaxoSmithKline)
02:50 PM - 3.40 PM
Coffee Break
3.40 PM - 4.00 PM
Panel: Entrepreneurship and Innovation in Bollywood
Moderator: Rajeev Masand (Film Critic) ; Speakers: Richa Chadha (Bollywood), Tarun Mansukhani (Director, Bollywood), Milan Luthria (Director, Bollywood)
4.00 PM - 4.50 PM
WISC Award Ceremony
4.50 PM - 5.00 PM
Closing Keynote : Pankaj Munjal (MD , Hero Cycles)
5.00 PM - 5.20 PM
Closing Remarks
5.20 PM - 5 30 PM
Two events across two very cool cities or something else blah blah blah
