TEDxIITDelhi

Speakers

Speakers may not be confirmed. Check the event website for the latest lineup.

• Ankur Garg

  Principal at the Boston Consulting Group (BCG)

  Ankur Garg is a people leader and a management consultant who advises enterprises on usage of AI and tech. He advises clients across the US, Europe, and Asia-Pacific. He focuses on the Technology and Tech Services sectors, leading projects on growth strategy, market entry, sales acceleration, and large-scale transformation. Before joining BCG, Ankur was a Business Head at Paytm, where he led a P&L focused on user growth, product innovation, and partnerships, successfully scaling a new product to industry leadership and revitalizing a business vertical. He began his consulting career at McKinsey & Company, working across strategy, marketing, and transformation. An alumnus of IIT Delhi and IIM Ahmedabad, Ankur combines analytical depth with an entrepreneurial mindset. Passionate about the intersection of technology and human potential, he often writes about leadership, innovation, and the evolving role of AI in shaping our world.

• Debashish Sakunia

  PhD Research Scholar, Department of Management Studies, IIT Delhi

  Debashish's current research areas include cryptocurrency user adoption, B2B marketing, and digital trust architectures. His work advances understanding of user acceptance and regulatory adaptation in decentralized systems. An engineer by training, he has pursued advanced studies in psychology, economics, business, and technology law, enriching his interdisciplinary perspective. A serial entrepreneur, Debashish has founded ventures integrating technology and behavioral insight to address digital-era challenges. His current startup, Cerify—incubated at IIT Delhi’s FITT—develops AI and blockchain-based solutions for automated smart contract auditing and compliance. His broader interests span crypto marketing, digital ethics, startup strategy, and design thinking, uniting research, entrepreneurship, and policy to promote responsible and human-centered innovation.

• Hardika Shah

  Founder & CEO, Kinara Capital

  Hardika Shah is a pragmatic idealist driven to create large-scale impact by solving complex problems. As a social entrepreneur for 15 years, she's championed financial inclusion, empowering over half a million lives. Before entrepreneurship, she built her career as an international Management Consultant. She has also mentored numerous startups and entrepreneurs. One of four women to graduate in Computer Science from Knox College in the early 1990s, she has been breaking barriers ever since. Her work has earned UN and IFC recognition.

• Madhav Pai

  CEO, World Resources Institute (WRI), India

  He spearheads a large-scale urbanization policy research and prototyping support program focused on the country’s urban growth & sustainability. He has been a respected thinker-practitioner working on critical issues of urbanization, climate change, transportation, & environment across various countries for decades. Mr. Pai was part of the Institute's founding team when he joined WRI India in 2008. He graduated from the University of Mumbai as a civil engineer & earned a Master's degree in Transport Planning from the University of California, Berkeley. His work is rooted in systems thinking to negotiate the complexities of the contemporary city. Under his leadership, WRI India has supported pioneering projects, including the Indore BRT, the Mumbai Climate Action Plan (MCAP), the Raahgiri campaign for democratizing public streets, & the National Electric Bus Program (NEBP). He is a published author of research papers and articles on urban transport, resilience, and clean air.

• Prof. Bhaskar Kanseri

  IHFC chair professor at Department of Physics, IIT Delhi

  Bhaskar Kanseri was a postdoc. fellow at Institut d’Optique, Palaiseau France, & earlier at Max Planck Institute for the Science of Light, Erlangen Germany. He has over 75 publications in peer-reviewed international journals & about 190 conference presentations & invited lectures in his credit. He is the recipient of "Teaching Excellence Award" & "Veena Arora Early Career Research Award" in 2022 of IIT Delhi. In 2023, he has been selected as a member of The National Academy of Sciences India (NASI), & Associate Fellow of the Indian National Science Academy (INSA). His notable contributions are realization of the first long distance quantum secure communications in India in both fibre and free-space channels. He is cofounder of a deep-tech start-up “Qbitonix Technologies”, which focuses on developing quantum technology products and services. Currently he is pioneering entanglement-based quantum communication network activities at IIT Delhi under National Quantum Mission of India.

• Prof. Deepak Jain

  Professor Optics and Photonics Centre, IIT Delhi & Founder, DeepLase Technologies

  Deepak Jain is an Associate Professor at the Optics & Photonics Center, Indian Institute of Technology Delhi. Previously, he served as a faculty member in the Electrical Engineering Department at IIT Bombay. Earlier, he was a University Research Fellow at the University of Sydney and a Hans Christian Ørsted–Marie Curie Fellow at the Technical University of Denmark. He earned his Ph.D. from the Optoelectronics Research Centre, University of Southampton, UK, and his M.Tech. from IIT Kanpur. His research focuses on optical fibers and semiconductor-based devices for AI, data centers, and high-performance computing. He founded Deeplase Technologies, a Delhi-based photonics company, and co-founded SpecPhotonics, a Sydney-based specialty optical fiber company. He has authored over 60 publications, including 30 journal papers and numerous invited talks. He served as an Optica Ambassador (2020) and is a Senior Member of Optica and IEEE.

• S Bituila

  PhD Research Scholar (SIRe), IIT Delhi

  S Bituila is a PhD researcher at IIT Delhi specializing in climate change mitigation and net-zero emissions in land-use systems. She integrates indigenous knowledge with modern science to design context-specific climate solutions for vulnerable communities. Beyond her technical expertise, she is deeply committed to democratizing climate science and amplifying the voices of marginalized communities within global environmental policy. She has co-convened the Science Summit at the UN General Assembly (79th & 80th sessions), where she also served as a keynote speaker and panellist, advocating for the meaningful participation of vulnerable communities in climate decision-making. Through her research and engagement with platforms such as the SSUNGA and the UN Youth Constituency, she continues to bridge the gap between innovative solutions and communities that need them most, ensuring that scientific progress translates into enabling polices and equitable, sustainable action on the ground.