In an exclusive conversation with Siddharth Zarabi, Group Editor, Business Today, Tuhin Kanta Pandey, Chairman of the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI), addressed risks from AI-driven trading and outlined his long-term market vision. He said AI is inevitable but must enter markets with safeguards, disclosures and human accountability, with intermediaries responsible for its use. On India’s outlook, Pandey stressed that capital markets reflect real economic strength—citing robust growth, fiscal consolidation and strong IPO rankings. He emphasized disciplined investing, sound corporate governance and diverse funding instruments to make India a resilient, preferred global listing destination.
In an exclusive conversation with Siddharth Zarabi, Group Editor, Business Today, Tuhin Kanta Pandey, Chairman of the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI), explained the rationale behind the recent mutual fund overhaul. He said the objective was to declutter schemes, remove overlaps and ensure products remain “true to label,” improving clarity and comparability for investors. SEBI also introduced lifecycle funds to replace restrictive solution-oriented categories. On MSMEs, Pandey highlighted tighter SME listing norms, stronger due diligence and action against errant merchant bankers, stressing responsible participation to enable genuine small businesses to raise capital and unlock value through markets.
In an exclusive conversation with Siddharth Zarabi, Group Editor, Business Today, Tuhin Kanta Pandey, Chairman, Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI), reflects on his first year at the helm of India’s capital markets regulator and outlines a reform agenda anchored in trust, transparency, teamwork and technology. He highlights the implementation of 58 ease-of-doing-business reforms, easing compliance overlaps for intermediaries, streamlining Foreign Portfolio Investor registration, and strengthening investor protection architecture. Pandey makes several significant and forward-looking observations. He underscores that India’s corporate bond market, now about ₹58 lakh crore and growing at nearly 12% annually, must deepen further, with corporate bond indices and derivatives in coordination with the Reserve Bank of India expected to move ahead soon. On derivatives, he clarifies that regulatory tightening targeted only short-dated options hyperactivity, adding that SEBI will review impact data before considering further steps. He explains the rationale behind mutual fund rationalisation to ensure schemes are “true to label” and avoid overlap, and stresses accountability in artificial intelligence-driven trading. Pandey also notes India ranked number one globally in number of Initial Public Offerings in 2025, reinforcing the country’s growing stature as a preferred capital-raising destination.
India’s Q3 FY26 GDP grew 7.8% under the new 2022-23 base year series, led by strong manufacturing output and resilient private consumption. In a conversation with Siddharth Zarabi, Group Editor, Business Today, Rumki Majumdar, Economist at Deloitte India, highlighted that the updated statistical series provides a more accurate representation of the economy, including the digital sector and global capability centers. She noted that better data allows policymakers to tailor strategies effectively, identify growth drivers in manufacturing and services, and design targeted interventions. The new series helps stakeholders understand sectoral contributions and innovation’s impact, improving economic planning and policy decision-making in a rapidly evolving economy.
India’s Q3 FY26 GDP grew 7.8% under the new 2022-23 base year series, moderating from 8.4% in the previous quarter. The growth was supported by robust manufacturing output, which expanded over 13%, and steady private consumption, reflecting resilient household demand. The secondary sector, including manufacturing, construction, and utilities, remained a key driver, though construction slowed to 6.6%. Services activity, especially trade, transport, communication, and hospitality, also showed strong expansion, underlining continued urban demand. Despite global uncertainties and uneven sectoral performance, India’s economy maintained momentum, with industrial activity and consumption anchoring growth, highlighting the resilience of domestic demand in Q3 FY26. Watch Siddharth Zarabi, Group Editor, Business Today in Conversation with Sunil Sinha, Director & Principal Economist, India Ratings and Rumki Majumdar, Economist, Deloitte India on GDP growth numbers.
On the sidelines of the India AI Impact Summit 2026, Siddharth Zarabi Group Editor Business Today speaks exclusively with Kristalina Georgieva, Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund. Georgieva describes AI as a transformative force that could lift global growth by 0.8% but warns of significant labour disruption and widening inequality without proper guardrails. She praises India’s digital public infrastructure model as a template for democratizing AI across the Global South. The discussion also spans trade fragmentation, tariffs, climate risks and the need for global cooperation to ensure resilient, inclusive and sustainable growth.
At the India AI Impact Summit at Bharat Mandapam, Siddharth Zarabi speaks with Deepak Sharma, MD & CEO, Schneider Electric India, on what this defining moment means for India’s AI ambitions. Reflecting on the massive public engagement and the growing curiosity around artificial intelligence, Sharma emphasises that AI is no longer confined to technologists — it is touching businesses, households and individuals alike. In this wide-ranging conversation, he addresses concerns around AI and jobs, arguing that India’s growth story remains firmly in “build mode”, requiring new skills rather than fearing displacement. He explains the critical role of Schneider Electric in powering India’s AI future — from grid to chip and chip to chiller — enabling the energy and infrastructure backbone that data centres depend upon. As India eyes a sharp rise in data centre capacity by 2030, Sharma highlights the real challenge: not merely generating energy, but ensuring grid stability, digitisation and resilience to manage peak loads. The discussion also explores whether rising AI-driven demand could impact consumer energy prices, the importance of storage and smart grids, and how India’s frugal, innovation-led approach could become a global template. With 31 factories and exports to 30 countries, Schneider Electric’s India operations are already contributing to global technology and AI ecosystems. From energy intelligence to artificial intelligence, this conversation underlines why infrastructure, talent and smart execution will determine India’s place in the global AI race.
In an exclusive conversation at the India AI Impact Summit 2026, Kanishka Narayan, the United Kingdom’s AI Minister, spoke with Siddharth Zarabi, Group Editor of Business Today, on the deepening technology partnership between India and the UK. Narayan praised India’s rapid advances in artificial intelligence and its globally recognised IT talent base, describing innovation as central to strengthening the proposed UK-India trade agreement. He emphasised the importance of AI safety, democratisation of technology, and resilient bilateral ties in an increasingly uncertain global environment. The discussion also explored the potential for a collaborative India-UK AI stack and the role of large-scale digital infrastructure in shaping the next phase of global AI leadership.
Vivek Raghavan, Co-founder of Sarvam AI, is a leading technologist driving India’s push toward sovereign, full-stack artificial intelligence. Sarvam AI is building foundational AI models, infrastructure, and applications entirely in India, with a strong focus on Indian languages, cultural context, and large-scale public use cases. Under Raghavan’s leadership, the platform aims to give India strategic autonomy in AI by developing homegrown large language models, speech and vision systems, and developer tools—positioning Sarvam AI as a cornerstone of India’s national AI ecosystem.
In an exclusive interview with Business Today's Siddharth Zarabi at the AI Impact Summit at Bharat Mandapam, Dr. Pratyush Kumar, co-founder of Sarvam AI, discussed India's milestone in developing its first sovereign Large Language Model (LLM). Kumar emphasised that India must build its own technology rather than relying on global monopolies, stating, 'India should be building its own thing' to ensure AI serves as a public good. He highlighted how Sarvam AI achieved resource-efficient 'frugal engineering' to train competitive models at a fraction of the typical cost. Kumar revealed that a consumer chatbot app will launch within days, supporting voice-first interactions in Indian languages to bridge the digital divide. Additionally, he announced that Sarvam AI is developing India-designed smart glasses to provide mobile access to AI intelligence. The interview underscores India's shift from being an AI consumer to a global creator, focusing on population-scale accessibility through voice enablement and deep tech innovation.
Magnus Ewerbring, Chief Technology Officer, APAC, Ericsson, discusses the role of telecom networks, connectivity, and infrastructure in enabling inclusive and sovereign AI systems. He highlights how next-generation networks can support AI at scale across industries and public services. The session explores collaboration between governments, telecom providers, and technology firms to ensure AI benefits reach all sections of society while maintaining resilience and security. Moderated by Siddharth Zarabi, Group Editor, Business Today, the conversation connects infrastructure strategy with national AI ambitions.
This high-powered panel examines whether India’s globally admired digital governance framework can sustain reform momentum as artificial intelligence becomes central to policymaking and service delivery. Umesh Sachdev, Chief Executive Officer, Uniphore, CP Gurnani, Co-founder and Vice Chairman, AIonOS, and Saurabh Sahu, Managing Director and Lead – Accenture (India), who bring industry perspectives on scaling AI responsibly across enterprises and public systems. Moderated by Siddharth Zarabi, Group Editor, Business Today, the discussion explores governance, institutional capacity, private–public collaboration, and how India can preserve agility while embedding accountability and trust into AI-led reforms.
This session focuses on the commercial realities of artificial intelligence adoption. M R Rangaswami, Founder, Indiaspora, Jonathan Siddharth, Founder and Chief Executive Officer, Turing, and Aneesh Chopra, Chief Strategy Officer - Arcadia discuss how organizations can move beyond hype to measurable business outcomes. The speakers explore investment strategies, talent models, execution challenges, and performance metrics that define successful AI deployments. The conversation highlights how start-ups and enterprises can align AI initiatives with revenue, productivity, and long-term value creation. Moderated by Siddharth Zarabi, Group Editor, Business Today, the session provides practical insights into maximizing return on AI investments.
Ivana Bartoletti, Global Chief Privacy and AI Governance Officer, Wipro, addresses one of the most critical challenges of modern AI: accountability at scale. She discusses how enterprises can deploy AI responsibly while meeting regulatory, ethical, and societal expectations. The session examines governance frameworks, risk management, transparency, and the role of leadership in ensuring AI systems remain trustworthy as they scale across global operations. Moderated by Siddharth Zarabi, Group Editor, Business Today, the conversation bridges enterprise realities with evolving global AI regulations and public expectations.
This session focuses on how governments worldwide are recalibrating economic policy in response to artificial intelligence. Victor Anthony Fedeli, Minister of Economic Development, Job Creation and Trade, Ontario, Canada, shares insights into how AI is influencing trade, workforce transformation, industrial policy, and international competitiveness. Fedeli discusses how governments can attract AI investment, support innovation ecosystems, and prepare workforces for large-scale technological change, while ensuring inclusive economic growth. The session also highlights lessons from international collaboration and policy alignment in an AI-driven global economy. Moderated by Siddharth Zarabi, Group Editor, Business Today, the discussion connects global policy perspectives with India’s own AI ambitions, examining how public policy can enable innovation while mitigating disruption.
Spiritual leader Sadguru Sri Madhusudan Sai discusses the intersection of spirituality, business ethics, and social welfare in an interview at the National Stock Exchange. Reflecting on the teachings of Bhagavan Sri Sathya Sai Baba, he outlines his mission of 'Jan Seva' and the 'One World, One Family' initiative, which provides free healthcare and education. He addresses the role of temples as centers for mental wellness and faith, describing Lord Rama as a moral ideal for a compassionate society. Regarding corporate governance, he emphasizes that Dharma must be the foundation for earning Artha, or wealth, and warns against profiteering in healthcare. He proposes a '3S formula' involving Government (Sarkari), Society (Samaj), and Institutions (Samatha) to ensure healthcare accessibility. Highlighting the principles of Sanatana Dharma, he urges business leaders and the younger generation to prioritize ethical impact and selfless service over unsustainable growth. The conversation explores how spiritual anchoring and ancient ideals provide a necessary compass for modern social and economic infrastructure.
In a wide-ranging conversation with India Today, Chief Economic Adviser Dr V. Anantha Nageswaran addresses concerns around the weakening rupee and whether India has reached a trade-off point where depreciation hurts more than it helps. Responding to questions on export competitiveness versus rising import costs, the CEA explains why, on balance, India continues to benefit from a weaker currency, particularly given its manufacturing ambitions and evolving trade structure. Dr Nageswaran notes that while unavoidable imports such as crude oil and fertilisers do become costlier, the broader macroeconomic impact remains manageable. He highlights how a weaker rupee can discourage non-essential imports like gold, while also boosting export competitiveness. Emphasising that the current currency movement is part of a global trend driven by dollar strength, he underlines that India’s strong foreign exchange reserves, diversified export destinations and policy preparedness provide adequate buffers
Business Today Group Editor, Siddharth Zarabi hosted a discussion on the historic India-EU trade deal signed on January 27, 2026, with the 27-member bloc. Panelists included R Mukundan (President Designate, CII and MD & CEO, Tata Chemicals), Chandrajit Banerjee (Director General, CII), Kulin Lalbhai (Executive Director, Arvind Ltd), and Anjali Singh (Executive Chairperson, Anand Group). They hailed it as the "mother of all deals," covering 25% of global GDP and over two billion people. Key benefits include tariff elimination on 96.8% and 92.1% of lines respectively, market access to Europe's $125 billion textile imports, technology transfer, investment flows from 6,000+ European companies, and mobility partnerships. The deal promises job creation, enhanced competitiveness, and positions India as a global manufacturing hub, marking a moment as significant as 1991's economic reforms.
In this exclusive interview, Anant Goenka, Vice Chairman of RPG Group and President of FICCI, discusses the historic India-EU Free Trade Agreement with Siddharth Zarabi, Group Editor, Business Today. He explains how this $6 trillion import opportunity represents only 3% of India's current share, highlighting massive export growth potential. Goenka emphasizes benefits for labor-intensive sectors like textiles, leather, footwear, and apparels, which will create significant employment. He addresses concerns about automotive imports, asserting Indian manufacturers are globally competitive and ready. With 6,000 European companies already operating in India, the deal will boost FDI inflows. Goenka highlights the complementarity—India offers manufacturing base while EU provides high-tech products, wines, and spirits. He also discusses services benefits including visa mobility for 1 million Indian-origin people in EU, marking India's transformed trade policy approach.
As India steps into the new calendar year, economists are assessing whether the economy is entering a so-called ‘Goldilocks phase’ — a period marked by steady growth, improving demand and manageable inflation. In this discussion, Saugata Bhattacharya, Senior Fellow at CPR and Member of the Monetary Policy Committee, explains how coordinated policy reforms undertaken in 2025 could begin delivering tangible results in calendar year 2026, even in the absence of major global trade tailwinds. He highlights the revival in private final consumption expenditure (PFCE), which has grown at 7.8%, signalling a reversal of the slowdown seen over the past few years and suggesting a transfer of income strength to households. Siddhartha Sanyal, Chief Economist at Bandhan Bank, adds that private consumption remains the bedrock of India’s growth model, typically contributing a large share to GDP expansion, and its renewed momentum provides a strong foundation for investment-led growth ahead. Together, they outline why the recovery in consumption, combined with reform-driven momentum, could shape India’s economic trajectory in 2026.
With India’s first advance estimates pointing to weaker-than-expected nominal GDP growth, attention now turns to the assumptions the government may make in the forthcoming Union Budget. In this conversation, Saugata Bhattacharya, Senior Fellow at CPR and Member of the Monetary Policy Committee, outlines why policymakers are likely to rely on a broad set of inflation forecasts from the RBI, government think tanks and the Chief Economic Adviser’s office. He suggests that with CPI inflation expected to hover around 3.5–4% and WPI inflation around 2.5–3%, nominal GDP growth assumptions for the next fiscal year could settle in the 9.5–10.5% range. Siddhartha Sanyal, Chief Economist, Bandhan Bank, adds that a partial normalisation of the gap between real and nominal GDP is likely, making a near double-digit nominal growth estimate a realistic working assumption for the upcoming Budget.
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