PAFI 13th Annual Forum 2026 — Day 1

09:12 AM · Before the opening

Venue and participation briefing

• About 25 back-to-back sessions are planned; arrive five minutes early.
• Parallel sessions in Vark have approximately 40 first-come, first-served seats.
• Wear badges, follow Q&A rules and note that all sessions are recorded.

09:19 AM · Opening Remarks

Opening Remarks

Ajay Khanna, Founder, PAFI; Chairman Emeritus, PAFI Annual Forum

• PAFI outlined its role as a trust-based platform for public-affairs dialogue.
• PAFI reported 150 corporate members and extensive cross-sector participation.
• The forum includes over 800 registrations, more than 30 sessions, and over 100 speakers.

09:34 AM · Session 1 · Leadership Dialogue

India 3.0: The Next Tech Leap

Chief Guest: S. Krishnan, Secretary, Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology · Moderator: Virat Bhatia · Welcome: Shivnath Thukral

• India’s technology strategy seeks sovereign autonomy alongside global openness.
• Diversified supply chains are viewed as a necessary resilience investment.
• Semiconductor policy focuses first on viable legacy-node capacity and R&D.

10:11 AM · Session 2 · Leadership Dialogue

Inside the State: How Government Thinks, Decides and Gets Things Done

Chief Guest: Bharat Lal, Former Secretary General and CEO, National Human Rights Commission; Founder Mission Director, Jal Jeevan Mission · Moderator: Ajay Khanna · Welcome: Harish Krishnan

• Government was described as a living institution responsive to people’s problems and opportunities.
• Implementation capability and outcome delivery were identified as the core policy challenge.
• The Jal Jeevan Mission illustrated the complexity of delivery at national scale.

10:39 AM · Session 3 · Leadership Dialogue

India at an Inflection Point: Building Strength for the Next Decade

Chief Guest: Tarun Kapoor, Advisor to the Prime Minister of India · Moderator: Arijit Sen · Welcome: Shivnath Thukral

• Speaker 3 urged confident, lawful government–industry engagement and resistance to improper pressure.
• Vixit Bharat was framed around inclusive prosperity, quality of life, infrastructure, resilience and innovation.
• India should collaborate internationally, including with China, while protecting security and domestic manufacturing.

11:25 AM · Session 4 · Partner State: Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh - SwarnaAndhra@2047: The New Growth Laboratory

Chief Guest: Nara Lokesh, Minister of Human Resources Development, IT, Electronics & Communications and Real Time Governance, Government of Andhra Pradesh · Discussant: Murali Krishna Retineni, Celkon Group · Moderator: Arijit Sen · Welcome: Rakesh Swami · Closing remarks: Sunita Patnaik

• Andhra Pradesh’s stated 2047 target is a $2.4 trillion economy, driven by speed and 23 sector clusters.
• Speaker 2 emphasized project grounding over MOUs, with an 80% grounding expectation for the Partnership Summit.
• Education, skilling and inclusive growth are positioned as core enablers of industrial development.

11:30 AM · Session 5 · PAFI@Varq parallel session (panel)

Women in Public Affairs: Breaking the Invisible Barriers

Panellists: Natasha Jog (Meta), Virat Bhatia (Past President, PAFI; Co-Chair, PAFI Annual Forum), Anita Kumar (Cisco Systems India and South Asia) · Welcome and moderator: Deepshikha Dharmaraj (Burson Group India; Past President, PAFI) · Closing remarks: Ophira Bhatia (Mondelez International)

• Women’s leadership barriers in public affairs were linked to access, stereotyping, visibility, caregiving pressures, and self-doubt.
• Sponsorship was defined as active advocacy and opportunity creation, beyond mentoring.
• Organizations should deliberately assign women visible, operationally demanding work and normalize caregiving support.

12:21 PM · Session 6 · India and Europe (panel)

Beyond the FTA: Building the Next Chapter of the India–Europe Partnership

Panellists: Amb. Jawed Ashraf (ITPO), Amb. Rasmus Abildgaard Kristensen (Royal Danish Embassy) · Moderator: Ajay Bisaria · Welcome: Anandi Iyer · Closing remarks: Vaishali Chopra

• The FTA was framed as an enabler of a wider India–Europe strategic partnership.
• Investment, supply chains, AI, defence and SME participation were identified as major opportunity areas.
• ITPO and the Department of Commerce were reported to be preparing FTA-awareness and trade-support measures.

12:45 PM · Session 7 · PAFI@Varq parallel session · PAFI Conversation

The Middle East Reset: What it Means for India

Navdeep Suri, former Indian Ambassador to the UAE and Egypt and High Commissioner to Australia, in conversation with Rahul Sharma, Managing Director, US India Business Council (USIBC); Founding Member & Past President, PAFI

• The Gulf is vital to India for trade, remittances, energy, capital and its diaspora.
• The UAE is India’s strongest regional business, logistics and finance partner; Saudi Arabia remains strategically important.
• IMEC faces its greatest obstacle in regional security, not only logistics.

01:58 PM · Session 8 · Future Leaders Dialogue (panel)

Leading India 2047: The Next Leap

Panellists: Shashank Mani, Aparajita Bharti, Lavu Sri Krishna Devarayalu, Rohit Kumar Singh, Shobhit Mathur · Moderator: R. Sukumar (Hindustan Times) · Welcome: Rakesh Dubey · Closing remarks: Sudhir Zutshi

• Youth were described as diverse, purpose-seeking, risk-taking and anxious about career uncertainty.
• Education capacity, quality, investment and regulation were identified as major constraints.
• Speakers called for agile regulation, procurement access and regulatory sandboxes for innovators.

02:00 PM · Session 9 · PAFI@Varq parallel session (panel)

Beyond Tariffs: Envisioning the Next Trajectory of India's FTAs

Panellists: J.S. Deepak (former Ambassador of India to the WTO), Dr Rajeev Ranjan (former Secretary to the Government of India), Sunjay Sudhir (former Indian Ambassador to the UAE), Pranab Dhal Samanta (The Economic Times) · Welcome and moderator: T.S. Vishwanath (VeK Policy; Founding Member & Past President, PAFI) · Closing remarks: Devashish Dasgupta (Diageo India)

• New Indian FTAs were characterized as deeper, investment- and supply-chain-oriented agreements.
• Implementation, MSME awareness, standards, and state coordination were identified as decisive constraints.
• FTAs can diversify trade risks but cannot fully resolve China dependence or preference erosion.

02:55 PM · Session 10 · Secretaries' Dialogue (panel)

Incentivising Innovation: Agile Policy Frameworks for Future Ready India

Panellists: Dr Saurabh Garg, V. Vualnam, Hari Ranjan Rao, Rajesh Agrawal (Secretaries, Government of India) · Moderator: Major Ranjeet Goswami, Retd. · Welcome: Sandeep Aurora · Closing remarks: Rishi Chawla

• Agile, interoperable and accessible data were presented as essential to Vixit Bharat 2047.
• Digitization and controlled AI use are improving official data collection, analysis and service delivery.
• Fiscal prudence, CapEx, social-sector outcomes and data-driven fund flows were key expenditure themes.

04:28 PM · Session 11 · PAFI Conversation

The Future of Influence: Global Public Affairs, Women in Policy & Leadership

Nneka Chiazor, President and CEO, Public Affairs Council (USA), in conversation with Natasha Jog, Director, Public Policy, Meta

• Adaptability, empathy, and cultural intelligence were presented as essential public-affairs leadership capabilities.
• Speaker 2 urged policy leaders to assess impacts on women, families, and overlooked stakeholder groups.
• Allyship should include listening, amplification, advocacy, and actionable feedback.

04:30 PM · Session 12 · PAFI@Varq parallel session (panel)

AI, Young India and the Future of Opportunity

Panellists: Kainaat Arif (author and artist), Lovneesh Chanana (SAP), Pragya Misra (OpenAI) · Moderator: Anil Padmanabhan (senior journalist) · Welcome: Shipra Baduni (Young Leaders for Active Citizenship, YLAC) · Closing remarks: Rakesh Dubey (Carlyle Group; Treasurer, PAFI) · In collaboration with YLAC

• AI can broaden opportunity, but meaningful access requires skills, inclusion, language support, and institutional capacity.
• Young people are concerned about disappearing entry-level work and higher expectations for job readiness.
• Panelists described AI employment effects primarily as a skills shift, while acknowledging uncertainty and anxiety.

05:15 PM · Session 13 · Boardroom 2030 (panel)

Leading Through Disruption: Strategy, Innovation & India's Next Growth Story

Panellists: Nivruti Rai (Invest India), Pramath Sinha (Ashoka University), Pooja Goyal (Udaiti Foundation), Nithyashree S. (The ePlane Company) · Moderator: Ashok Kumar Bhattacharya (Business Standard) · Welcome: Abhishek Lahiri · Closing remarks: Yashika Singh

• Resilient leaders, strong teams, and succession planning were presented as the main hedge against disruption.
• The DYME framework connected diplomacy, technology, security, and economics to India’s strategic opportunities.
• Board diversity should extend beyond representation into key decision-making committees.

05:45 PM · Session 14 · PAFI@Varq parallel session (panel)

India–China: The Thaw, the Challenges and the Road Ahead

Panellists: Ashok Kantha (former Ambassador of India to China), Ashok Malik (The Asia Group), Dr Sanjaya Baru (former Editor, Financial Express and Business Standard) · Moderator: Rahul Sharma (USIBC) · Welcome: Arijit Sen (Vivo India) · Closing remarks: Rajeev Batra (Past President and Founding Member, PAFI)

• The India–China thaw was described as stabilization, not a reset.
• China remains important to Indian manufacturing but creates dependency and security risks.
• Speakers urged more learning and engagement with China, while disagreeing on how far it should go.

06:14 PM · Session 15 · Leadership Dialogue

Building India at Scale: Securing India's Energy Future in a Disrupted World

Chief Guest: Hardeep Singh Puri, Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas · Moderator: Navdeep Suri · Welcome: Ajay Khanna · Closing remarks: Mitali Sarkar

• India has so far managed global energy disruption through diversification, refining, monitoring, and coordination.
• Refining capacity was stated to be targeting 320 million metric tonnes per annum by 2030.
• Ethanol blending is at 20%; green hydrogen and domestic exploration remain strategic priorities.

07:21 PM · Session 16 · Special Leadership Address

India 3.0: Engaging for Growth in a Disrupted World

Chief Guest: Piyush Goyal, Minister of Commerce and Industry · Moderator: Virat Bhatia · Welcome: Shivnath Thukral · Closing remarks: Major Ranjeet Goswami, Retd.

• Speaker 1 said India’s trade agreements and negotiations could connect it to approximately 75% of global GDP.
• AI should be embraced through skilling and human oversight, not treated only as a jobs threat.
• Quality, scale, infrastructure and trusted investment conditions were identified as key competitiveness drivers.