Top minds to brainstorm at the three-day BS BFSI Insight Summit 2025

After strong push by govt and RBI, discussions to further enhance India's growth amid global woes

India’s premier event for the banking, financial services, and insurance (BFSI) sector, the Business Standard BFSI Insight Summit 2025, kicks off on Wednesday, bringing together top officials from the government, regulatory, banking, insurance, equity markets, and the fintech space. 

The three-day summit will focus on India’s economic outlook amid rising geopolitical tensions and new American tariffs that threaten to disrupt the country’s growth trajectory, among a host of other important topics. 

In response to these global challenges, the central government has announced several relief measures on both the direct and indirect tax fronts to spur consumption. Meanwhile, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has reduced the repo rate by 100 basis points and introduced a series of policy initiatives aimed at supporting economic expansion and cushioning the impact of external headwinds on India’s growth momentum.

 

The summit, where over 120 speakers will share their insights, is slated to begin with a conversation featuring M Nagaraju, secretary, Department of Financial Services. Chief Economic Advisor V Anantha Nageswaran will also address the gathering. 

Following the rationalisation of goods and services tax (GST), the economy has shown positive momentum, with rising sales indic­ating a clear pickup in consumption growth. The insurance industry has fully passed on GST reduction to consumers but continues to grapple with challenges related to input tax credit (ITC). 

Meanwhile, bankers are beginning to see early signs of recovery, buoyed up by the proactive measures taken by both the government and the RBI, and are optimistic about a revival in credit growth.

 

Following this, C S Setty, chairman of the State Bank of India (SBI), will join the summit for a fireside chat. Recently, Setty noted that as SBI was often viewed as a proxy for the Indian economy, India’s largest lender was aligning its growth ambitions with the nation’s broader “Viksit Bharat” vision. He emphasised that SBI aimed to increase its asset size from the current 20 per cent of India’s gross domestic product (GDP) to 25 per cent by 2047, reflecting its commitment to supporting the country’s long-term economic aspirations.

 

Poonam Gupta, deputy governor, RBI, is also expected to share her views on the outlook for India and global economic growth. Having assumed charge in May, Gupta oversees key departments including Monetary Policy, Economic and Policy Research, Statistics and Information Management, and Financial Stability. A macroeconomist by training, she specialises in issues related to emerging market economies.

 

On the second day of the event, Ajay Seth, who recently took charge as chairman of the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India, is expected to discuss developments in the sector at a time of significant transformation driven by both government initiatives and regulatory reforms. 

 

On the third day, Tuhin Kanta Pandey, chairman, Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi), will present his views on the dynamics of the equity markets. Since assuming office, Pandey has emphasised a dual agenda — empowering investors and simplifying compliance for market participants. Under his leadership, Sebi has launched several initiatives to enhance investor awareness through digital-literacy campaigns, simplified disclosures, and outreach programmes promoting informed investing across smaller cities and towns. On ease of doing business, Sebi has implemented reforms to streamline public-issue processes, rationalise disclosure norms, and reduce compliance burdens for intermediaries and listed entities.

 

The summit will also feature addresses by S Ramann, chairperson, Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority; T Rabi Sankar, deputy governor, RBI; and Arundhati Bhattacharya, chairperson and chief executive officer, Salesforce India; and Mark Mathews, managing director and head (Research for Asia), Julius Baer, among others.

 

Other eminent speakers at the three-day event include K V Kamath, independent director and non-executive chairman, Jio Financial Services; Ridham Desai, managing director and chief equity strategist – India, Morgan Stanley; Shankar Sharma, founder, GQuants; and Ananth Narayan G, former whole-time member, Sebi.

 

The three-day event will also include a host of panel discussions featuring top honchos of major banks, insurance companies, mutual fund and broking houses, fintechs, market experts, among others.