BizLitFest Bangalore
Great Books. Great Businesses.
@ Koramangala Club
October 31, 2026 - 10.00 am to 7.30 pm
HALL 1
9.30 am to 10.20 am
Registration, Networking, Explore Books at Atta Galatta Bookstore
10.20 am to 10.30 am
Welcome
Milen Anugraha Paul, Festival Host, Team BizLitFest
V Raghunathan, Chair, BizLitFest
10.30 am to 11.00 am
The Making of Swiggy - The Inside Stories of Startups
Saptarshi Prakash, Author, Inside a Unicorn - Behind the Scenes of the Great Indian Startup Dream
Dr. Manisha Singh, Deputy Director, Corporate Relations, ICFAI Business School (IBS), Bangalore
11.00 am to 11.30 am
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
Vineetha Vijayakumar, Founder, Turning Pages
11.30 am to 12.00 pm
The True Cost of Capital
V Raghunathan, Author, Cost of Capital: What Every Business Leader Needs to Know, Former Faculty, IIM Ahmedabad, Chair, BizLitFest
Anish Bafna, Chairman, Healthium
12.00 pm to 12.30 pm
Who Pays, Who Gains - Making Sense of the Fiscal Maze
Pranay Kotasthane, Co-author, Fiscal Fables: A Citizen’s Guide to Public Finance, Deputy Director, Takshashila Institution, Chair, High Tech Geopolitics Programe
Sarthak Pradhan, Co-author, Fiscal Fables: A Citizen’s Guide to Public Finance, Assistant Professor, Takshashila Institution, Public Policy Researcher
V Raghunathan, Author, Cost of Capital: What Every Business Leader Needs to Know, Former Faculty, IIM Ahmedabad, Chair, BizLitFest
12.30 pm to 1.00 pm
Leaders Reveal Legends
Manish Sabharwal, Co-author, MADE IN INDIA : The Story of Desh Bandhu Gupta, Lupin and Indian Pharma, Vice-Chairman, TeamLease Services
Madanmohan Rao, Co-founder, MXR.world, Research Director, YourStory, Team BizLitFest
1.00 pm to 1.40 pm
Lunch
1.40 pm to 2.00 pm
Fun Business Quiz by Team MXR.world
2.30 pm to 3.30 pm
Townhall - Making Sense of AI
Prof. U Dinesh Kumar, Professor of Decision Sciences and Information Systems, Acting Director, IIM Bangalore
Pankaj Rai, Group Chief Data and Analytics Officer, Aditya Birla Group
Kashyap Kompella, Educator, Author, AI Governance and Regulation, Columnist
Shweta Taneja, Author, Journalist, AI, Deeptech, Columnist Hindustan Times
3.30 pm to 4.00 pm
From the Brink of Collapse to a Successful Venture - The Fascinating Turnaround Story of Imagicaa
Dhimant Bakshi and Mayuresh Kore, Imagicaaworld Entertainment Limited
Dr. Radhika Ramesh, Area Chair for Soft Skills, ICFAI Business School (IBS), Bangalore
HALL 2
12.00 pm to 12.30 pm
Offside
Santhosh Jayaram, Author, Operating from the Zone of Incompetence: Why Not-Knowing Is the New Intelligence, Professor of Practice, Amrita University, Sustainability Leader
Richard Rekhy, Consultant and Board Member, Grant Thornton Bharat LLP
12.30 pm to 1.00 pm
Leadership from the Trenches
Shyam Srinivasan, Author, Better Never Stops: Leadership Insights from Life’s Unscripted Moments, Former MD, Federal Bank
Murali Sunderraghavan, Founder klib, Corporate Library
1.00 pm to 1.40 pm
Lunch
1.40 pm to 2.00 pm
Fun Business Quiz by Team MXR.world
2.00 pm to 2.30 pm
Back from the Brink
S Devarajan, Author, Designed to Win: The Tata Elxsi Story, Former MD Tata Elxsi
Biju Varghese, Business Leader, Consultant
2.30 pm to 3.30 pm
Impact Founder Stories
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
Kevin J Houston, Executive Chairman & Co-founder, Carbon Masters
Benedict Paramanand, Author, CK Prahalad - The Mind of the Futurist - Rare Insights on Life, Leadership & Society, Co-founder BizLitFest
3.30 pm to 3.45 pm
Tea
3.45 pm to 4.30 pm
Beyond the Market Hype
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
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
Ramya Ranganathan, Adjunct Faculty, IIMB, Writer, Speaker, Facilitator, Life Coach
5.15 pm to 5.45 pm
Business & Spirituality
Sanjiv Sarin, Author, The Other Side of the Mountain: A CEO's Journey Through Spirituality, Former MD, Tata Coffee
Yumna Hari Singh Jawa, Founding Trustee and President, ArtMantram
Grand Evening - 5.45 pm to 7.30 pm
Book Launches
Host Reena Pereira, Team BizLitFest
BiitFest CK Prahalad BestBusiness Book Award 2026
Opening Remarks
Benedict Paramanand, Festival Curator
Guest of Honour
Kevin J Houston, Executive Chairman & Co-founder, Carbon Masters
Jury Insights
Sandhya Vasudevan, Author, Former MD, Deutsche Bank
Deepti Bhaskaran, Editor, Mint Money
Lokesh Venkataswamy, MD and CEO, Innomantra
Winner Announcement
Award Winner's Acceptance Speech
Vote of Thanks
WORKSHOPS
Room 203
Register separately for each workshop
Each Session - 60 minutes
40 seats only
Complimentary book
12.00 pm to 1.00 pm
On How to Write an Amazing Business Book
Avni TCA
Commissioning Editor, Penguin Random House India
2.30 pm to 3.30 pm
Marketing for Early Startups
Sairam Krishnan
Author, Super Cool Startup: Get Your Early-Stage Marketing Right for the AI Age, VP, Blume Ventures
3.30 pm to 4.30 pm
The Art and Science of Climate Storytelling for Marketing and Communication Professionals, Startup Founders and Graduate Students
Amarja K Puranam
Founder, Coconut Thinking
4.30 pm to 5.30 pm
Seal the Deal: Close Sales Like a Pro! | Leverage AI to Close More Deals | Modern Sales Tactics | Proven Systems, Tools & Strategies
Subhash Bhaskaran
Author, Creator of Modern Sales Frameworks, Global Sales Architect
BOOK LAUNCHES
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