BizLitFest Bangalore Schedule 2026

BizLitFest Bangalore

Great Books. Great Businesses.

@ Koramangala Club

October 31, 2026 - 10.00 am to 8.00 pm

Program (Tentative)

10.00 am to 10.30 am

Registration, Networking, Explore Books at Atta Galatta Bookstore

10.30 am to 11.00 am

The True Cost of Capital

V Raghunathan, Author, Cost of Capital: What Every Business Leader Needs to Know, Former Faculty, IIM Ahmedabad, Chair, BizLitFest

in conversation with Anish Bafna, Chairman, Healthium

11.00 am to 11.30 am

De-coding the Fiscal Code

Pranay Kotasthane, Author, Fiscal Fables: A Citizen’s Guide to Public Finance, Deputy Director, Takshashila Institution, Chair - High Tech Geopolitics Programe

Sarthak Pradhan, Author, Fiscal Fables: A Citizen’s Guide to Public Finance, Assistant Professor, Takshashila Institution

11.30 am to 12.10 am

Leaders Reveal Legends

Harish Bhat, Author, Doing the Right Thing: Learning from Ratan Tata, Director, The Tata Group

Manish Sabharwal, Co-author, MADE IN INDIA : The Story of Desh Bandhu Gupta, Lupin and Indian Pharma, Vice-Chairman, Teamlease

in conversation with Sudhakar Rao, Author, Brand Strategist and Director at ICFAI Group

12.10 pm to 12.40 pm

The Cafe Coffee Day Saga

Rukmini Rao, Co-author, Coffee King: The Swift Rise and Sudden Death of Café Coffee Day Founder V. G. Siddhartha, Financial Journalist

12.40 pm to 1.10 pm

Leadership from the Trenches

Shyam Srinivasan, Author, Better Never Stops: Leadership Insights from Life’s Unscripted Moments, Former MD, Federal Bank

1.10 pm to 1.50 pm

Lunch

2.00 pm to 2.30 pm

Offside

Santhosh Jayaram, Author, Operating from the Zone of Incompetence: Why Not-Knowing Is the New Intelligence, Professor of Practice, Amrita University, Former Head Sustainability, HCL Ltd.

2.30 pm to 3.30 pm

Flagship Session - Making Sense of AI

Rohini Srivatsa, Former CTO, Microsoft India

Prof. U Dinesh Kumar, Professor of Decision Sciences and Information Systems, Acting Director, IIM Bangalore

Kashyap Kompella, Educator, Author, AI and Governance, Columnist

Shweta Taneja, Author, Journalist, AI, Deeptech, Columnist Hindustan Times

Hall - 2 - 12.00 pm to 8.00 pm

Hall - 2

12.00 pm to 12.30 pm

Business & Spirituality

Sanjiv Sarin, Author, The Other Side of the Mountain: A CEO's Journey through Spirituality, Former MD, Tata Coffee

12.30 pm to 1.00 pm

The Big Chase

Indrazith Shantaraj, Author, Let Money Chase You! Smart and Simple Ways to Build Lasting Wealth, Trader, Retail Investor

1.10 pm to 1.50 pm

Lunch

1.50 pm to 2.30 pm

Back from the Brink

S Devarajan, Author, Designed to Win: The Tata Elxsi Story, Former MD Tata Elxsi

in conversation with Biju Varghese, Business Leader, Consultant

Dhimant Bakshi, Co-author, Rollercoaster of Hope: The Turnaround Story of Imagicaa, CEO, Imagicaaworld Entertainment Limited

Mayuresh Kore, Co-author, Rollercoaster of Hope: The Turnaround Story of Imagicaa, CFO, Imagicaaworld Entertainment Limited

2.30 pm to 3.30 pm

The Founder Stories - Dream. Build. Scale

Meera Shenoy, Co-author, You Can Be Smarter & Wiser, Founder, Youth4Jobs, Social Entrepreneur

Vishwanath Mallabadi, Contemporary Eco-artist, Founder, The Upcycle Store, Creative Director, ABHA Creations

in conversation with Madanmohan Rao, Author, Research Director, YourStory, Team BizLitFest

3.45 pm to 4.30 pm

Making Sense of Stock Market’s Madness

Jayant Shilanjan Mundhra, Author, The IPO Trap: How Smart Money Play the IPO Game, and How You Can Too

Ajay Sharma, Author, Good to Great to Gone: Why the Most Successful Investors Say No and You Should Too

in conversation with Deepti Bhaskaran, Editor, Mint Money

4.30 pm to 5.15 pm

Career Transition Pangs

Sandhya Vasudevan, Author, Hatching Butterflies: Transitioning from Corporate Career to Self-Determined Future, Former MD, Deutsche Bank

Tushara Reddy, Author, Hired. Fired. Tired: What No One Tells You Before Choosing a Career, AI Product Leader, Career Mentor

Grand Evening - 5.15 pm to 8.00 pm

Pitch Your Book Idea

BizLitFest is offering a rare opportunity for aspiring authors to pitch their book ideas to the Avni TCA, Commissioning Editor, Penguin Random House India.

Two winners from the 5 shortlisted will get a second round with the Penguin Team.