The 20th Wharton India Economic Forum on March 26 to Feature Dignitaries Including Arun Kumar Singh, India’s Ambassador to the US; Kamal Haasan, Popular Indian Actor; and Sri Rajan, Chairman of Bain India

PHILADELPHIA, PA – 3/16/2016 (PRESS RELEASE JET) -- The student co-chairs of the Wharton India Economic Forum (WIEF) announced today that the Philadelphia leg of the landmark 20th edition of the conference will be held at the Union League of Philadelphia on March 26, 2016.   The conference will examine the past 20 years of India’s economic growth and future prospects for the country over the next 20 years. Keynotes include:

• Kamal Haasan (morning keynote) - one of India's most prolific actors and philanthropists, who will speak about his inspirational film and philanthropic careers

• Arun Kumar Singh (afternoon keynote) Indian Ambassador to the United States who will speak about evolving India-US relations and what the future holds for the relationship between these two countries

Other speakers at the conference include leaders from the venture capital, private equity, technology, education, media, healthcare, and entertainment industries as follows:

• Sri Rajan - Chairman of Bain & Company's India office, one of the firm's fastest growing regions

• Vinnie Badinehal - Managing Director and Head of Americas Financial Institutions at Deutsche Bank and founder of the Wharton India Economic Forum 20 years ago.

• Vikram Limaye - Managing Director and CEO of India's Infrastructure Development Finance Company

• Apu Gupta - CEO and Co-founder of Curalate, one of Philadelphia's hottest tech startups, and former COO and CMO of MedPlus, one of India's largest pharmacy chains

• Geoffrey Garrett - Dean of the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania

This event is the second of two conferences being held in 2016 to commemorate the 20th year of WIEF.  In January, a sold-out conference was held in Mumbai and played host to the 3rd Annual Wharton India Startup Competition. Founders of the competition’s Grand Prize winner, Ketto (an online crowdfunding platform), and People’s Choice award winner, Kheyti (a greenhouse technology solution for farmers), will be presenting their businesses at the conference in Philadelphia on March 26th.

Over the years, WIEF, the largest Indian business conference in the United States, has been attended by over 800 people annually and has included renowned and influential keynote speakers and panelists such as the Former President of India, Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam; the former Union Minister of Finance, Mr. P. Chidambaram; Mr. K.V. Kamath, the former Chairman of Infosys Limited; Ambassador Arun K. Singh; member of the parliament, Varun Gandhi; and industrialists like Mr. Anil Ambani and Mr. Sunil Mittal.