WELCOME TO THE INDIA CHAPTER OF THE GLOBAL ASSOCIATION FOR VR AND AR

Ahmedabad | Bangalore | Kolkata | Mumbai | New Delhi | Pune

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THE TEAM

VRARA India Advisory Board

Vijay Srirangan took over as the Director General of Bombay Chamber of Commerce & Industry in February 2016, and continued in the role till May 2020,and thereafter as Mentor till June 2020. Prior to this he had spent thirty six years with the Tata Group as a part of the Tata Administrative Services (TAS) focused in Tata Consultancy Services (TCS). During his career, he has had a wide spectrum of responsibilities which includes Training, Applied Technology Research, International Sales, Turnkey Engagements as well as Systems Integration. He was associated with Tata Accounts at TCS.  He is a Gold Medalist from IIT Delhi as well as from IIM Ahmedabad.

Yogesh Dayal is based in Singapore and currently mentors and consults with local tech companies. He is passionate about Emerging technologies like AI, especially in the areas of Machine Learning and Neuroscience inspired AI. Yogesh is also Director at Kayu Partners, where he leads investment strategy in tech startups in the region. In his previous stint, he spent more than 2 decades with IBM as their Vice President and Chief Operating Officer with responsibility for operations of large organizations across Singapore, Europe and India. 

Pradeep Gupta is the Chairman of the CyberMedia Group, the specialty media house, with brands like Dataquest, PCQuest, Voice&Data, DARE, CIOL, Global Services, etc. Pradeep was conferred the “National Entrepreneurship Award as the Best Mentor” by the Government of India and has mentored over 250 start-ups. Pradeep is the Chief Mentor of Electropreneur Park, Delhi & Bhubaneshwar. He is the co-founder of Indian Angel Network, Chair of the sponsor trust of IvyCap Ventures. He was a global trustee of TiE. He was also on the Board of UTI AMC with $20 Bn of AUM.  He has been the past President of PanIIT India and Association of Indian Magazines. He is/has been on the Boards of IIT Mandi, Indian Newspaper Society, IIT Delhi incubator, IIM Calcutta Innovation Park, etc. He is the recipient of the Distinguished Alumni award of IIT Delhi and IIM Calcutta and the Helen Keller award for working in the disability sector. Pradeep is an Engineer from IIT Delhi (1975) and an MBA from IIM Calcutta (1977).

Rajiv Madane is VRARA India Advisor - Banking. Rajiv has worked in the Banking and FinTech ecosystems with various multinational companies in USA, Europe and Asia Pacific for over 30 years.  Rajiv has held leadership positions in companies like FIS Global, Wipro Technologies, ACI Worldwide, Fiserv, and until recently with Virtusa, as Head of Innovation labs in Asia Pacific where he helped launch the APIX platform (API Exchange between banks and fintechs) by the Monetary Authority of Singapore.  He has been involved in FinTech solutions for core banking, digital banking, cards, payments, treasury, trade, etc. covering Retail Banking, SME Banking, Corporate Banking and Wealth Management business segments. 

Gulshan Purswani, Delivery Head at Robert Bosch Engineering and Business Solutions. AR/VR & Customer Experience. Responsible for delivery of Solutions entailing Mixed Reality, CRM, & eCommerce portfolios. Gulshan has been with Robert Bosch Engineering and Business Solutions for over 5 years, an alumnus of ICAI with about 19 years in the trade, brings a unique mix of business and technology to solve industry problems. In addition, he has completed the Executive General Management Program from IIM, Bangalore. Gulshan is also responsible for defining the technology roadmap, thought leadership and the partner ecosystem development. He was instrumental in conceptualizing and developing the ‘Digital Workshop’, a unique workshop management system by Robert Bosch Engineering and Business Solutions, designed to act as an end-to-end solution for automotive workshops. As an Expert on Enterprise scale applications, Gulshan works with global customers to accelerate their journey towards a better customer experience.

Industry Sectors Co-Leaders

Suhas Bhagwat is VRARA India Co-Leader for Oil & Gas. Suhas has thirty seven years of experience in various functions of EPC projects in Oil & Gas and Process industry. Implemented digital solutions in Project Management functions for large scale EPC projects in order to bring in greater efficiency, covering integrated project management work flow systems and solutions based on digital technologies.  Currently a Consultant engaged in conceptualizing Digital solutions for Oil & Gas value chain with focus on Virtual and Augmented Reality.  Speaker on varied topics of applications of Digital technologies, at national and international conferences and at Faculty Development programs of Educational Institutions. 

Madhu GR is VRARA India Financial Services Co-Leader. Madhu is an experienced professional spanning multiple area (Industry, Delivery and Technology) for 20+ years in the IT industry. Currently working at NTT Data Services as an Application Services Senior Specialist Advisor as part of the Chief Revenue Office, Madhu is accountable to help the global Sales teams reach their multi-million-dollar targets, across multiple industries like Financial Services, Manufacturing and Healthcare. Madhu has played key roles in prominent organizations like HCL Perot Systems, Satyam Computers and Dell Services.  Madhu has helped build Practices in multiple organizations ( ADMS, Java & Open Source) as well as played the roles of Delivery Manager of key strategic Programs. Madhu has performed several roles in his career like Lead Principal Architect (including Due Diligence Lead) for critical pursuits, Lean Initiatives to improve gross margins & gain additional revenues in ongoing projects and Agile SCRUM Master for multiple projects. Madhu has published a successful book called “Transforming Learning and IT Management through Gamification” and is currently collaborating with several others on the article titled “Immersive visualizations using AR and VR” as part of “Encyclopaedia of Computer Graphics and Games”. Based in Bangalore, Madhu has received many awards including “STAR Performance Award”, “Long-time Service Award”, “Dell Champion”. Madhu currently serves as the Vice-President of Bangalore Chapter and Co-Lead of FSS Community of Practice at the VRARA group. Madhu completed his MBA in IT & Systems and finished an Executive Education Program on “Strategic Management of Innovation” at Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore.

Somenath Ghosh is VRARA India Co-Leader for Infrastructure. Somenath has over 4 decades of experience in technology and innovation, having worked with large engineering conglomerates, technology evangelists and start-ups. His last formal job was as the Chairman & Managing Director of National Research Development Corporation where he was responsible for building businesses based on technology sourced from Indian research laboratories and universities. He has continued to support and mentor start-ups in an advisory capacity. The start-ups have been working in emerging cutting edge technologies, such as, Aerospace, Voice Biometrics, AI, etc. His current focus is in the Infrastructure Sector and has lead decision making positions in committees of several national institutions. 

Swarup Choudhry is VRARA India Co-Leader for Financial Services. Swarup brings 30+  years of executive experience in driving transformation at banks / financial institutions, mature tech / data companies and Fin-Techs globally. Swarup  started his career in the early 80s as an investment banker, and then proceeded to gain experience in every facet of banking during his time with HSBC. At the turn of the millennium, he took a plunge into the world of technology by joining IBM. In his time as a Vice President at IBM, he drove digital transformations for various banks across the ASEAN / SA  & served in a Global role in IBM headquarters in Armonk . Post IBM, he explored the fast-growing areas of data and payments in his roles as the CEO & MD of Thomson Reuters and First Data. Currently, he serves as an advisor to various FinTech & Health founders.

Pravin Hungund is VRARA India Co-Leader for Fusion of Emerging Technologies. Pravin is a passionate Technologist and Business leader with three decades of experience in the IT industry. In the last couple of years, he is has worked extensively on Technology led innovation initiatives. His expertise extends across the life cycle of innovation from ideation, design & build, conceptualization, thought leadership to Enterprise client adoption. Pravin has provided global leadership for Technovation Centre, Wipro’s state of the art Innovation incubation centre since inception in January 2013. Most recently, he was responsible for the design and build of the Silicon Valley Innovation Centre (SVIC) in Mountain View, California, USA. Pravin enjoys public speaking, has been a Keynote speaker & panellist in international Conferences.

Chaitanya Chinchlikar is the VRARA Incida Co-Leader for Cinematic VR. Chaitanya has a multi-faceted 2-decade career spanning the Film & Creative Arts industry. He is currently the Vice President at Whistling Woods International - India’s premier Film & Creative Arts institute. He also serves as the Chief Technology Officer for the institute and heads the Emerging Media Department. Over the past decade and a half, he has been instrumental in the mainstreaming of Film & Creative Arts education in India and the evangelising of multiple new & emerging technologies into the mainstream education at Whistling Woods and into the Film, Communication  & Creative Arts industry at large. He has been instrumental in the setting up of several technology development labs & initiatives at Whistling Woods through partnerships with global technology giants like Sony, Red, Apple, Google, Reliance Jio and many more, all of which have done strong development work in multiple emerging technologies and workflows. He has also acquired a strong understanding of the Indian & global Film & Creative Arts industry and how best to deliver & evangelise education in the same, as demonstrated through several papers, articles & analytical presentations. He is an active speaker at key global M&E industry, Technology & Education forums.

Ahmedabad

Chapter President Keyur Bhalavat ahmedabad@thevrara.com

A valiant young entrepreneur from Ahmedabad with vigor for XR solutions for B2B tech disruptors to Global enterprises. He is full of intellectual energy and fearless of exploring new-fresh ideas, however challenging they may happen to be in the field of technology. He is particularly passionate about the convergence of technology, business strategy in Augmented and Virtual Reality, and industry/social value

With hands-on experience in industrial operations, he has a keen interest in applications of AR/VR for productivity, training, and collaboration. Keyur is a dynamic, engaging speaker presenting across the country to discuss immersive research, VR, AR, IoT, and how technology improves our world. He has many hats as CEO, including leading Sales & Product Marketing, Strategical Alliances & Product Management, Investor relations, and contributing to community programs. As Board Member - GESIA IT Association, he is key to pushing the boundaries of innovation through extensive business networking and developing impactful programs using immersive technologies like VR/AR, including XR Townhall.

He believes the most disruptive and long-lasting products are not built through a single, emergent technology. Rather, they are crafted through an assortment of existing technologies, innovations, and new business models that appeal to customers.

Advisory Board Member: Mehul Vaidya 

Mehul Vaidya has done his Bachelor in Engineering (Electrical). He has Strong academic background with more than 25 years of experience. He has proven experience in several mega projects with attributes of Project Management and acumen to handle all pre-project development activities, Project implementation & development, Planning & monitoring overall execution. Presently he is working with India’s largest public limited company as Vice President – Project Development.

Advisory Board Member: Dr Rajen Purohit

Dr Rajen Purohit is Executive Dean at Ganpat University (India) and is a part of the Executive Leadership Team. He did MBA in Marketing from North Gujarat University and PhD on 'Adoption of ERP Systems' from Ganpat University.   Being a seasoned & grounded leader, a strategist, a creative person and a master persuader, he always inspire others to unleash their full potential and help them to achieve it.  He is a lifelong learner, an avid reader, and a technology enthusiast. His life philosophy is ‘Think Big and Act Fast’

Bangalore 

Chapter President: Pravin Hungund bangalore@thevrara.com

A Strategic Technology leader with 25 + years of global experience in technology driving customer value and building a compelling brand proposition with proven Senior Executive Leadership expertise. A strong cultural architect, he is credited with keeping high standards of employee engagement and developing high performance teams in complex environments like emerging tech innovation. An Industry thought leader, mentor and acclaimed Public Speaker, he has a vision for the future, and is an invited speaker at various industry conferences, seminars, and academia. Some of the key highlights of his career are as under-

• Adept at working in a complex stakeholder environment of Customer CXO’s and Business leaders with significant experience influencing & engaging at both Board and Executive levels.

• Out of the box thinker who thrives in collaborative environments, working across business and technical teams to increase profits, reduce costs through continuous improvement and innovation – building value for customer and organization

• Member of the Executive leadership team to formulate & implement strategic and differentiated growth planning.

• Program manager who has led turnkey global programs across infrastructure, software solution development and services that resulted in differentiated outcomes for the organization resulting in a billion+ USD for the organization by increased topline growth and reduced operational costs over the last 10+ years

• A thought leader, with demonstrated key skills in developing industry solutions, platforms, and products, developing Go-to-Market (GTM) strategies, mitigating risks, and establishing governance frameworks of multi-million-dollars’ worth global programs across USA, Europe, and APAC.

• Pioneered the sourcing and supporting key clients to lead technical transformation and innovation within large, complex, and diverse operational environments in the areas of Cloud, AI, AR/VR/MR, IoT, Robotics & Drones, 5G, and Blockchain technologies. Platforms like Cloud and Holmes have now evolved to being multi-billion dollar businesses for the organization.

Emerging Tech & Advanced Tech: Spearheaded the Technovation Centre to Develop (Ideation, Conceptualization, Storyboarding & Development) 100+ fully immersive solutions in AI, XR, IOT, Digital Twin, Blockchain, Gaming Tech leveraging Cloud. Collaborated with Customers, Partners, Startups & Academia

"The very name - eXtended Reality defines the quantum of power that can be rested into the hands of the end User. Converging multiple technologies of the last two decades to empower the end user is what will define XR in the coming years. 'If the wisdom of a few shaped the earlier world, today's world is the product of the impulse of the many'. This eventually will extend into the Metaverse world from the currently trending Experience economy and lead all the way into the Token economy."

Kolkata

New Delhi 

Pune

Chapter President position available - email info@thevrara.com

Indore

Chapter President: Gaurav Deorari indore@thevrara.com

Gaurav is the CEO and Co-Founder of Sysmetis IT Solutions. One of the fast-growing organizations based out of Indore, India delivering Enterprise IT Solutions. Gaurav experience encompasses end to end Delivery of IT applications including Planning, Leadership and Team Management, translating business needs into technology processes and solutions.

Prior to getting into the entrepreneurial spree, Gaurav has worked across the globe particularly in India, USA, and Norway for years providing IT solutions across ‘Risk Management’, ‘Renewable Energy’, ‘Wellness and Well Being’ and 'Fintech' domains. Having strong managerial, financial, and analytical abilities, Gaurav has successfully led IT transformations for organizations, delivering operational stability along with adding value to business and customer needs. As a digital strategist, he had been helping organizations in setting technology strategy to drive growth and improve what matters the most.

Being a Technology Enthusiast and 'Augmented Reality' / 'Mixed Reality' Evangelist, Gaurav and his Team at Sysmetis IT Solutions were early adopters of Augmented Reality (AR), Mixed Reality (MR), Virtual Reality (VR) Technology and are aiming to be the leading AR / MR / VR Solution and Service provider.