My family and I are forever indebted to Aditya Birla Group for this generous scholarship. I currently work at Meta Platforms (Facebook). I have specialised in applied machine learning and became a pioneer in applying machine learning in trading (high frequency trading). I started three successful companies in this field, both in the US and India. After spending 14 years in high frequency trading, I moved to tech companies. I have worked at Google, Waymo, Discord, and Meta in senior software engineering leadership roles.

I was a part of the second batch of Scholars and although it has been more than two decades, the memories and associated emotions are so vivid that it still just feels like yesterday! I completed my B. Tech in Mechanical Engineering from IIT Kharagpur in 2004, PGDM from IIM Ahmedabad in 2007, and Fellowship in Finance and Control from IIM Calcutta in 2015. I then worked at Tata Hitachi and Union Bank of Switzerland (UBS) in investment banking before deciding to join academics. Currently, I am an Associate Professor in the area of Finance and Control at IIM Calcutta, with an interest in corporate finance, investment analysis and portfolio management, investment banking, and financial markets.

I graduated from the 2008 batch from IIT Kanpur. Now, I am the founder of a VC fund called Together and based in Bangalore. We are a USD 85 million fund and the first SaaS-focused fund in India.

I have always felt that the scholarship has played a crucial role in shaping my life and career. I am currently a Staff Research Scientist and Research Manager at the MIT-IBM Watson AI Lab in IBM Research. I lead research collaborations with MIT to develop state-of-the-art machine learning algorithms. My research has been published in top AI conferences and journals. I am also recognised as an IBM Master Inventor for filing several patents in machine learning.

It has been many years, but I still take immense pride in being an Aditya Birla Scholar and this has always been a source of inspiration for me over the years. I am an alumnus of IIM Ahmedabad and IIT Kharagpur and currently head Corporate Strategy, M&A and Product at Indegene, an Indian company helping the global life sciences industry become future-ready. Prior to this, I was the Chief Business Officer at Zapr Media Labs, a media technology startup where I helped set up the P&L from scratch, scaling it up and making it profitable before selling it to one of the largest Smart TV OEMs in the world. I have also worked with Atos Syntel, Bain & Co. and Goldman Sachs in roles across business and strategy. I am based out of Bengaluru and am passionate about equity investing and philately.

Being an Aditya Birla scholar is indeed an honour that stands out from all my other awards and accomplishments. I graduated as a double gold medalist from IIM-B (only the third person ever to do so). After completing my MBA, I started a software company called Appycodes with my wife. We are today an award-winning company, serving customers across the world. We believe in staying true to our roots and ensure that our team is 100% home-grown.

After spending a year at IIT Bombay, I transferred to Massachusetts Institute of Technology from where I graduated with a double major in Physics and Mathematics. For the past five years, I have been a graduate student at UC Berkeley. My current area of research is quantum gravity and string theory. I will soon be starting as a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Pennsylvania.

I graduated from WB National University of Juridical Sciences in 2020 and have been practising at AZB & Partners in Lower Parel since then. I'm a part of the corporate M&A team which specialises in the financial services regulatory and fintech practice.

I started out as a Management Trainee at Johnson & Johnson in 2018, and went on to lead a team of Sales Officers to win Best Performing Area Sales Manager in 2020 — becoming the first woman to win this honour at the company. I then pursued a Brand Manager role at Flipkart, leading their Private Brands business for two categories wherein I cracked a licensing deal with the brand MasterChef to launch its products in India through Flipkart. I received a fast-track promotion within a year and am currently handling the P&L for Flipkart Group's new venture, Shopsy.

I'm currently working in the CEO's Office at Zomato. As an undergraduate, I completed a research internship at the University of Sydney and participated in an exchange semester at Chalmers (Sweden), both of which piqued my interest in pursuing further studies abroad. The Aditya Birla Scholarship has not only expanded my professional network, but has also boosted my confidence and strengthened my long-term resolve to build my own venture.

After graduating from BITS Pilani in 2016, I went on to complete an MBA from IIM Kozhikode and obtain the CFA designation. Currently, as a Senior Manager at a fintech company, I utilise my analytical skills, strategic mindset, and leadership abilities to shape decisions. My career trajectory reflects my commitment to professional growth in the fast-paced financial industry.

I am presently a fourth year undergraduate student at National Law School of India University, Bangalore. My core area of academic research and interest is Constitutional Law, especially the structural relationships between the institutions set up by or under the Indian constitutional framework, and their interface with politics. In the recent past, I have served as a Member of the Indian Delegation at the VII BRICS Youth Summit 2021 and a Team Leader at the 10th Asian Youth Leaders Travel and Learning Camp 2023, Singapore. My hobbies and extra-curricular interests include watching anime and organising small-scale cultural events.

It was the privilege of being an Aditya Birla Scholar that gave me the confidence to pursue each opportunity that I was presented with at law school. My team won several accolades at the prestigious Willem. C. Vis International Commercial Arbitration Moot Court Competition 2024. Additionally, I became a member of the editorial board of the Indian Journal of Constitutional Law last year. This scholarship provided me with a platform, resources, and network to amplify my impact and contribute meaningfully to the world.