BFSI Summit 2026: Mapping India’s financial future, next phase of growth | BS Events

The Business Standard BFSI Insight Summit, India’s biggest financial-sector gathering, returns with a line-up of regulators, policymakers, bankers, investors and industry leaders to debate the forces reshaping finance: From interest rates and market volatility to artificial intelligence (AI) and the next phase of growth. The three-day summit at the Jio World Convention Centre in Mumbai’s Bandra Kurla Complex starts on October 26, bringing together the people steering India’s financial system at a time of shifting monetary policy, volatile markets, and mounting global uncertainty. Keynotes, fireside chats, and panel discussions will span banking, insurance, pensions, capital markets, fintech, and AI’s growing role in financial services. C S Setty, chairman of State Bank of India, will inaugurate the summit and participate in a fireside chat. Shaktikanta Das, principal secretary 2 to the Prime Minister, will be the chief guest. The regulatory line-up includes Tuhin Kanta Pandey, chairman of the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi); Ajay Seth, chairman of the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India; S Ramann, chairperson of the Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority, and Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Deputy Governor Poonam Gupta. National Financial Reporting Authority Chairperson Nitin Gupta, Sebi whole-time member Kamlesh Chandra Varshney, and Dipesh Shah of the International Financial Services Centres Authority will also take the stage. Banking leaders will tackle the opportunities and fault lines facing the sector. Uday Kotak, founder and non-executive director of Kotak Mahindra Bank, and Amitabh Chaudhry of Axis Bank will be among the prominent names at the summit. Public-sector bank chiefs Debadatta Chand of Bank of Baroda, Ashok Chandra of Punjab National Bank and Asheesh Pandey of Union Bank of India will discuss the “FCNR(B) playbook”. Heads of private, foreign and small finance banks, along with non-banking financial companies (NBFCs), will examine the India opportunity, the growing role of AI in banking and whether the NBFC advantage is beginning to fade. Treasury heads of HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank, Standard Chartered and Citi will take on another pressing question: How to navigate the interest-rate cycle and a bond market buffeted by changing macroeconomic conditions. With growth prospects, inflation and global risks shaping the economic outlook, the summit will bring together economists Aditi Nayar, Sonal Varma, Samiran Chakraborty, Aastha Gudwani, Sajjid Chinoy and Soumya Kanti Ghosh. Discussions will examine India’s growth story, the risks ahead and how the gains from expansion can be made more equitable. For investors, the focus will be on navigating volatility, identifying opportunities and preparing for the next phase of the markets. Leaders from Nippon India, Edelweiss, ICICI Prudential and DSP mutual funds will discuss the future of asset management, while chief investment officers will examine strategies for investing through uncertain markets. Investors Shankar Sharma, Prashant Jain and Rajeev Thakkar will share their perspectives on markets and investment opportunities. Insurance leaders will discuss the changing distribution landscape, with chief executives of HDFC Life, Kotak Life and other companies taking up the impact of distribution reforms. Other sessions will examine health insurance after goods and services tax rationalisation, as well as the challenges posed by climate and cyber risks. The agenda will also cover microfinance, private equity, payments, crypto regulation and GIFT City’s ambition to serve as India’s gateway to global financial markets. PhonePe founder Sameer Nigam, as well as private equity investors Amit Chandra and Renuka Ramnath, will be among the speakers. A parallel Arena track will bring the conversation closer to retail investors. Ankur Warikoo, Devina Mehra, Rachana Ranade and Vijay Kedia will feature in sessions aimed at investors looking to make sense of the markets. The summit comes at a challenging time for India’s financial system. The RBI’s Monetary Policy Committee raised the repo rate by 25 basis points to 5.50 per cent on October 7 — its first increase since February 2023 — and shifted to a calibrated tightening stance. Foreign portfolio investors have pulled out about ₹52,100 crore out of Indian equities in October so far, taking net outflows for the year to ₹3.12 trillion, well above the ₹1.66 trillion recorded for the whole of 2025. Meanwhile, tensions in West Asia have kept Brent crude oil prices above $100 a barrel, adding to the uncertainty around inflation and capital flows and the rupee. Against this backdrop, the summit will bring together the financial sector’s decision-makers to debate challenges ahead, opportunities opening up, and the choices that will shape India’s financial markets and institutions.