Srikanth Kondapalli is Dean, School of International Studies at Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi

Ankur Nijhawan is CEO, AXA France Vie Reinsurance Branch India

Priyavrata Mafatlal is vice chairman, Arvind Mafatlal Group

Annanya Sarthak is cofounder and CEO, Awign

Mahesh Joshi is HR Director, PMT and Honeywell Automation India

Devender Gupta is vice president, human resources, Dabur India Ltd

Varun Sachdeva is APAC Recruitment and Business Leader, NLB Services, a global talent solutions company

Kamal Karanth is cofounder of Xpheno, a specialist staffing firm

Srimanto Bhattacharya is cofounder of Spearhead Intersearch, a global executive search firm

Rekha Sethi is director general, All India Management Association (AIMA)

Rahul De’ is Dean (Programmes) and Professor of Information Systems at IIM Bangalore

Ashima Roona is vice president, human resources, Cosmo First

Sujata Assomull is a Dubai-based fashion journalist and a contributing editor at Vogue India. She was the fashion editor of Khaleej Times and the founding editor of Harper’s Bazaar India. She is also the author of 100 Iconic Bollywood Costumes

Mark Galeotti is a political scientist who writes on Russian politics and security

When Bijal Vachharajani is not reading a children’s book, she is editing or writing one

Anirudh Kanisetti is the author of Lords of the Deccan: Southern India from Chalukyas to Cholas

Pico Iyer is the author of more than 15 books

Naleen Kumar is a freelance journalist and translator based in Jaipur. He has worked with Press Trust of India, New Delhi, and BBC World Service, London

John Keay is a British historian specialising in India, China and the Far East