World
India
Shankar Sharma, Founder, GQuant Investech; Sergei Millian, CEO, Regal Assets Group Holding Limited; Ashishkumar Chauhan, MD & CEO, National Stock Exchange of India and S Ravi, Former Chairman, Bombay Stock Exchange sat down with Dileep Cherian on Saturday to discuss what is next in money, in finance, and in the markets at NXT Conclave 2025 in New Delhi. Excerpts:
Dileep Cherian: As the person who looks at probably the largest single trading platform in terms of numbers of stocks people engage on a daily basis, how do you see what the world is going through in terms of trading patterns, changes, and what do you think the next big thing is going to be, which will probably inevitably be presiding over the inevitable?
Ashish: If you look back the recent past or even, say, 500 years or 1000 years, the only change that happens and the only wealth that gets created is via technology. Technology is the only thing that happens and then the whole society kind of falls around it. And naturally, over the last 100 years, the pace of change has become faster, but it’s becoming even faster. So one of my hypothesis is that the way during the Industrial Revolution, the world created more wealth than was created for 10,000 years before. The next 50 years is going to create more wealth than was created in the last 10,000 years. And so for me, when we look back, we were the first generation who could sort of see an entire life cycle of a technology, and we saw the great wealth getting created. The next 50 years are going to be India’s, and I have no doubt in my mind that we are in the right place at right time.
Dileep Cherian: How do you see the entire global shift in power affecting markets, affecting trading and affecting flows of money? What is your perspective on it?
Sergei: India has so much room for growth that it hasn’t yet used. I’ve worked in China before. In May 2008, during the Summer Olympic Games in Beijing, if you remember. And what I see is you (India) at this point right now, it’s like Beijing was in 2008. Your economy last year grew by 6.6% GDP, which is, you know, amazing for such a big and wonderful country. Yesterday I was so happy to hear to all the space CEOs, and young entrepreneurs; we’re talking about exploration of space on the private level. These are your future Elon Musk’s. They just maybe don’t know about this yet, but tomorrow they could very well be new Elon Musk of India. Right now there’s also opportunity of development in a special way, like, your prime minister clearly declared, you can innovate your own the Indian way.
Dileep Cherian: How do you see products or innovations as the next frontier? Not what you see today, but what is it that you see tomorrow?
Ravi: Let us just look at the last few years. If you look at the insurance sector, the mutual funds and even the number of demat accounts growing, even if you look at the class of assets, for example, a few have come into play. Even Gift City has come into play. So if you look at all the transformation that is happening. All these sectors are going to merge in some way or the other. You will see consolidation of banks. The larger banks are safer. You see a lot of co-operative banks were down under. So what happens is the consolidation will make the banks stronger and which we saw it also state Bank of India consolidated and all the subsidiaries together. You saw Union Bank taking over Andhra Bank and Corporation Bank. I can visualize few more consolidations that will happen. And that is the first step. Second, the banking and insurance sector is going to go deeper. You will see rural insurance coming into play already. There is a paper on that and what will happen is the awareness of insurance is also increasing. If you see what it was two years and now. So what I am seeing is sort of deeper engagement with people, and the depth of the insurance companies and the banking will increase. And what I see is larger banks, larger insurance companies, larger pension funds, and I can visualize a lot of consolidation happening along with technology and also a lot of cyber security that will come into play.
Dileep Cherian: What are the things that in the next few years, India should be anxious about?
Shankar: I think India has a lot of things to be anxious about since it is a unique emerging market that has grown from a very low income country into a not a middle income, somewhat middle income-ish country on the back of services. There is no parallel to this in the developing world, not one country. Whether you take Latin American countries, you take Asian countries. All of them have become middle or higher income, than middle only on the back of manufacturing.
India has taken the route, which is more developed market route to growth than a developing market route to growth, which is services. But while it has given us amazing growth for 30 years or so since it started, that is exactly where the problem now lies. Because of the advent of AI, because, you know, in a country where IT services have driven our employment and not only employment, but because of that employment, they have driven consumption, the data is that they have driven car sales to two Wheeler sales; shoe sales, apparel sales because of the employment generated by IT services. That’s a labor intensive industry. And I simply don’t like labor. It hits at the core of labor, where it can replace literally floors and floors of people, with just a handful of licenses. So for $200 a month now, you can hire somebody which is an agent, which is equal to a PhD or a person with an IQ of 120. For India, it is a very dangerous situation emerging. And we need to do something about it. The Prime Minister is a visionary. I’m sure he will have ideas and thoughts, but that needs to be executed fast. So that, to my mind, is the single biggest challenge in front of our country: how to deal and rather be on the right side of the revolution rather than be an opponent to it.
About NXT Conclave:
As nations navigate complex economic landscapes, rapid technological advancements, and the urgency of sustainability, NXT Conclave 2025 served as a catalyst for action. Designed to accelerate innovation, influence global policymaking, and foster strategic collaborations, NXT will play a defining role in shaping the future of industries, economies, and societies.
More than just a summit, NXT drove tangible action. Attendees witnessed the game-changing product debuts, pioneering research presentations, and policy frameworks set to influence industries and governments worldwide. Live demonstrations of next-generation AI, quantum computing, and transformative technologies offered a glimpse into the future.
With exclusive leadership roundtables, NXT brought together the brightest minds to forge partnerships that drive sustainable growth, technological advancement, and geopolitical stability.
The inaugural NXT Conclave 2025 brought together some of the most influential global leaders, with Hon’ble Prime Minister of India, Shri Narendra Modi as the Chief Guest, reaffirming India’s leadership in global governance and innovation.
