The 4^th edition of "Vriddhi - The Annual Business Conclave" of IIM Visakhapatnam ended on a grand note by bringing together current and upcoming thought leaders in a bid to promote innovative ideas and deep dive into the industry know-how under the umbrella of this year’s theme ‘Metamorphosis-Into the future” 

Inaugurating the event IIMV Director Prof. M. Chandrashekhar said 25% of the start-ups are based on fin-tech. So our constant focus will be on developing the entrepreneurial mindset in the young minds using their TIDE program. He also mentioned about the importance of analytics and big data in today's businesses, especially in supply chain and logistics management. 

The panel members for the topic borderless brand experience: the hybrid future of brands include Ms. Radhika Subramanian (Head of Channel Management, Godrej and Boyce), Mr. Manish Gupta (India Sales Head for SMB Business, NielsenIQ), Mr. Javed Khan (VP, Head of Engineering, Arzooo) and Mr. Hari Prakash Karcherla  (Strategic Leader, Ex-VP/GM, CEAT Valvoline, Tata Motors deliberated on the understanding if trust is hyper-local or hyper national and establishing that omni-channel brand is the way forward. 

Discussing further, the panelists opined that E-commerce came to the rescue during the pandemic and changed the way consumers purchase. The future is all about ease and consistency, and thus emerging trends like video commerce will add to the consumer journey. The panel members argued that the next decade may see the next Google or Microsoft coming out of India.

On the topic of “Unfolding Fin-Tech: A paradigm shift”, the panel members include Mr. Gaurav Sehgal (CFO, Ola Financial Services), Mr. Harshit H Jain (Founder & CEO, Sigma Advisory), Mr. Shivkumar M (Vice President, Wells Fargo) and Mr. Souparno Bagchi (COO, Balancehero India) moderated by Mr. Anuj Suneja (Equity Analyst, ICICI Prudential Life Insurance & Author strongly underscored about the evolution, current and future prospects of Fintech.

Reiterating further, the eminent panel members strongly believed that at the end of the day, it is about how money creates value. Fintech is more than just technology and product and through this one gets to see the scale and the magnanimity of what is being processed. It has increased access, convenience, and reduced costs. However, there needs to be a cap on its usage and compliances must be regulated.

 The CMO of Jockey India, Karthik Yathindra opined that it is the intrinsic nature of human beings to try to evolve and get better. And, so it applies to businesses, products, and services as well. The jump from one growth phase to another is where innovation lies. He added, there are 4 major factors that push any business for reinvention: Customers, who want things to be better, faster, easier, and cheaper; Macro-environment, which forces to reinvent in order to survive; Technology, the new normal; and Competition, with newcomers walking into the industry, disrupting it and replacing the market leaders.  

He quoted that one should "Stick to one's core promises rather than being stuck to one’s core promises. Business maturity is important and what has brought you here may not take you further."  The business event saw a few notable sponsors such as Sarvani Sweets and CBI (Central Bank of India). 

On the second day of the event had a panel discussion on the topic “Big data to Strategic Decisions: Optimizing stressed supply chains using analytics” which was very insightful with all the dignitaries sharing their valuable knowledge regarding the topic. Demand forecasting, stock out the challenge, and statistical forecasting were some of the topics which were discussed in detail. 

The panel included Mr. Anand Garg (Vice President, Head India Supply chain, Dr. Reddy’s), Mr. Nirupam Srivastava (Vice President – Strategy, AI, New Initiatives, Hero Enterprise), Mr. Chandan Shirbhayye  (AVP & Head of Supply chain, Aragen Life Sciences) and Mr. Harshit H Jain ( Founder & CEO, Sigma Advisory). The panel was moderated by Ms. Farheen Rahman (AVP, Digital Transformation, Kotak Life).  The annual business conclave, Vriddhi, being hosted by IIM Visakhapatnam concluded on Sunday on a high note.