Dr. Krishna Srinivasan, IMF’s Director of the Asia and Pacific Department, takes us on a journey of Asia, which is facing a major challenge to its export-led growth model. With geoeconomic fragmentation intensifying, how do nations strike a balance between trade promotion and domestic demand support? From China to India, South Korea to Vietnam, wha…

Alicia Gregory, Managing Director at Blue Owl, an alternative asset manager, joins Kopi Time to walk us through private equity, a USD12trln asset class. Drawing on her extensive experience as a PE investor, Alicia begins by going over the genesis of the industry. We then go through a number of topics, including the structure of private equity inves…

In this episode of The Core Report Special Edition, Govindraj Ethiraj sits down with C Vijayakumar, CEO & MD of HCLTech, to explore how Generative AI is reshaping the future of business, software development, and human potential.From the first time he used ChatGPT to how HCLTech is driving billion-dollar transformations using AI—this conversation d…

"AI won’t replace you — but someone using it will."In this eye-opening conversation, Noshir Kaka, Senior Partner at McKinsey & Company, breaks down how AI is reshaping careers, industries, and leadership itself. Hosted by Govindraj Ethiraj, this episode of The Core Report Special Edition explores what it truly means to be future-proof in the age of…

In this episode of The Core Report Special Edition, we dive deep into the evolving frontier of artificial intelligence and human consciousness with renowned neuroscientist and author Professor Anil Seth.As AI systems like ChatGPT become increasingly human-like in how they communicate, are we mistaking fluency for understanding? And what happens whe…

Kopi Time hits 5 years and 150 episodes! We celebrate the milestone with Piyush Gupta, outgoing CEO of DBS Bank Ltd. Piyush brings his remarkable intellectual breadth in this conversation, in which we touch upon various aspects of the present and future of banking. We begin by discussing how banks in Asia and the West have evolved since the 2008/09…

In this episode of The Core Report Weekend Edition, Govindraj Ethiraj speaks with Piyush Gupta, CEO of DBS Bank, on how DBS transformed from a traditional bank into the world’s best digital bank.🔍 Discover how AI, customer obsession, and cultural change helped DBS lead a fintech revolution — and how they're using embedded finance, predictive analyt…

We welcome a foremost expert on the science of aging, lifespan, and healthspan, Professor Brian Kennedy, Distinguished Professor of Biochemistry and Physiology, National University of Singapore. In this fascinating conversation, we begin by understanding senescence, the process of functional decay of organisms. Prof Kennedy explores aging at physic…

AI is revolutionizing supply chains, logistics, and quick commerce. In this exclusive conversation, Govindraj Ethiraj speaks with Suresh Narayanan, Chairman & MD of Nestlé India, about how AI is transforming Nestlé’s operations—from Maggi production to predictive demand forecasting and logistics efficiency.From cutting logistics costs by ₹500 milli…

We dive into the rapidly growing world of private credit. Meghan Neenan, managing director and the North America head of Non-Bank Financial Institutions at FitchRatings, walks us through the sector’s genesis, scale, depth, structure, participants, transparency of reporting, and regulatory dimension. What are the vulnerabilities around the economic …

We welcome back to Kopi Time Kishore Mahbubani, distinguished diplomat, academic, and writer on geopolitics. Our conversation, recorded in Mumbai, kicks off with India’s promise and challenges vis-à-vis the US and China, with the former turning increasingly protectionist and latter facing a myriad of domestic and external challenges. Mahbubani sees…

We welcome back Dr. Deborah Elms, Head of Trade Policy at Heinrich Foundation, Singapore, for a timely discussion on intensifying trade wars. We set the context by looking at the past decade of rising protectionism and the impact on the global economy. Deborah points out that despite all the frictions, global trade volume has increased. But at the …

Happy new year! We kick off the year with a discussion on the likely impact of Trump policies on US markets, starting with the 1890s McKinley tariff narrative. There are major lessons for the market outlook from that episode, in our view. Returning to the present, we think through the ways tariffs and immigration measures can complicate the inflati…

With generative AI poised to reshape industries, how can India’s IT sector keep up? In this episode, Rajesh Nambiar, President of NASSCOM, joins Govindraj Ethiraj to explore the transformative impact of AI on the traditional IT model. Reflecting on pivotal moments like Y2K and the importance of learnability, Nambiar discusses how the industry can p…

We bring the year to an end with astute market strategist and Fed watcher Dr. Komal Sri-Kumar. Sri begins by taking stock of the US economy and markets, how they have been fuelled by fiscal stimulus and the Fed put. Sri is a strong critic of the Fed’s track record on price and financial stability, and he worries that inflation and market risks coul…

Are today’s policy challenges and market behaviour largely about post pandemic macro, or are they reflecting fiscal, monetary, and financial “dominance” that stem from two decades of interventions? Mustafa Chowdhury, a veteran of bond and credit market analysis, returns to Kopi Time to offer a nuanced but highly important perspective on the impact …

From upskilling employees to driving innovation, AI is revolutionizing the way companies operate. In this episode, Sanjeev Jain, Member of the Executive Board and Chief Operating Officer at Wipro, shares how the company is preparing its 240,000 employees for the future of AI. From creating personalized learning paths to integrating AI into business…

Gaurav Keerthi, Head of Advisory and Emerging Business at Ensign InfoSecurity, joins Kopi Time to provide a fascinating overview of the current state of affairs in cybersecurity. We begin with the intersection of geopolitics and cyberattacks. From state sponsored defensive and offensive teams to independent actors with a range of motives, the numbe…

All about India’s financial markets with Ashish Gupta, CIO of Axis Mutual Fund, one of the largest and fastest growing asset management companies in India. Ashish digs into his multi-decade experience on covering Indian banks and nonbank financial companies to lay out a comprehensive picture of the current state of affairs. We go over the factors u…

From transforming healthcare to reshaping customer service, AI is making a tangible impact across industries. In this episode, Srikanth Velamakanni, Co-Founder and Group Chief Executive of Fractal Analytics, discusses how AI is augmenting human capabilities and driving real-world outcomes. What does this mean for businesses in India? How can India …

We dive into the implications of Donald Trump’s emphatic win at the US presidential elections. Angela Mancini, partner at Control Risks, a global specialist risk consultancy, discusses the factors underlying the outcome, its implication for US policy, especially with regards to Asia. We talk about business strategies under Trump 2.0, and the key is…

What is the current state of fintech? Varun Mittal, founder of Fintech Nation, returns to Kopi Time after nearly 100 episodes to comment on the changes in the last four years. We discuss the depth and breadth of the sector, its profitability and investor returns across geographies, and the competition/collaboration relationship between banks and no…

This podcast is an 11-minute reflection on the recently concluded IMF annual meetings, held at Washington DC. The meetings were characterised by relief over global economic resiliency, juxtaposed by heightened concerns about a variety of risks. Global growth is expected to remain stable between 2024 and 2025. Concerns about inflation have receded, …

Shai Akabas, Executive Director of the Bipartisan Policy Center’s Economic Policy Program, joins Kopi Time to discuss all things US fiscal. There is no silver lining in this conversation, the outlook is gloomy, period. We begin with the US fiscal position over the past 25 years, going from balanced budget to deficits of around 7% of GDP, from net d…

With the growing convergence of AI and accelerated computing, India is at the cusp of leading a new global tech revolution. But what does this mean for the country's future in the digital economy? In this episode, Rohit Kapoor, CEO of EXL, joins Govindraj Ethiraj to discuss India's critical role in shaping the global tech landscape. How are acceler…

Drew Thompson, Senior Fellow at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies at Nanyang Technological University, brings his deep China and Taiwan expertise to Kopi Time. Taiwan stands at the crossroads of tech manufacturing excellence and geopolitical tension. How does its recent political developments look from the perspective of its local p…

Writer and academic Alexander Capri returns to Kopi Time after nearly 5 years, but the issues we discussed then and now remain relevant, if not even more so. In this engaging chat, Alex walks us through the expanding notion of techno-nationalism, its impact on trade patterns and flows, and corporate strategies around geopolitical fragmentation. We …

Vasuki Shastry, Senior Advisor at Gatehouse Advisory Partners, returns to Kopi Time to talk about the decade-old “Make in India” initiative. From Production Linked Incentives (PLI) to splashy marketing campaigns, this has been a signature initiative by the Indian government under Prime Minister Modi. What has been the accomplishment of this effort …

Jennifer Sciubba, PhD, President and CEO of Population Reference Bureau, joins Kopi Time to discuss the science and policy dimensions of demographics. She begins by explaining the various ways of looking at population projections, pointing out that for most cases in recent decades, forecasts have ended up erring on the side of higher fertility. Wit…

With the significant rise in cyber attacks, particularly ransomware, cybersecurity has now more than ever become a very important facet of the digital economy. So what role has the Data Security Coucil of India (DSCI) have in collaborating with Government and guiding industry sectors, including manufacturing, healthcare, and energy? How has AI and …

Prakash Kannan, Chief Economist and Director of the Economics & Investment Strategy department at GIC, returns to Kopi Time to talk about evolving macro developments and implications for asset allocation. We cover it all in this discussion, from Fed outlook to EM resiliency, global liquidity to China policy, yen carry trade to gold, and how a portf…

This conversation is about a flagship report on Southeast Asia’s outlook. Earlier this year, researchers from DBS, Angsana Council (backed by Monk’s Hill Ventures), and Bain & Company came together to query the drivers of regional economic performance in recent decades and the outlook for the coming decade. The work was done taking into account ong…

Shekhar Aiyar, a Non-resident Fellow at Bruegel, on leave from the International Monetary Fund, joins Kopi Time to mount a substantive case for globalisation, a much-maligned word in some circles these days. Sharing his cutting edge research, Shekhar refers to considerable empirical evidence to establish the gains from trade for various parts of th…

With the current hype around AI along with companies scrambling to integrate it into their own processes, what are the real benefits of artificial intelligence when it comes to ROI? What are the opportunities it presents to a country like India? What problems in the AI value chain are primed for businesses to create something cutting-edge? Presiden…

James Crabtree, distinguished visiting fellow at the European Council on Foreign Relations and a senior fellow at the Asia Society, returns to Kopi Time to shed light on this year of momentous elections. We delve right into the US, first by taking stock of the ongoing drama around Trump, Biden, and Harris. We then consider the scenario of a Trump r…

DBS Group CEO Piyush Gupta has built his reputation by transforming DBS from a Singaporean bank into one of Southeast Asia’s largest, with a market cap of over $90 billion. While he’s had a 40-year career in banking, he also had a short stint as a startup founder. We had the pleasure of hosting him at our annual growth equity conference, PitStop, i…

We discuss global payment trends with David Mann, Chief Economist for Asia Pacific at Mastercard. From experiential travel to business events, there has been a dramatic change in consumer preferences since the pandemic, with the rise in cost of living playing a key factor. We talk about the patterns picked up from Mastercard’s extensive data on tra…

Mdm Kay Kuok, Chair of the Yale-NUS Governing Board Members of the Yale-NUS Governing Board Professor Aaron Thean, Deputy President (Academic Affairs) and Provost of NUS Professor Joanne Roberts, President of Yale-NUS College Families, Yale-NUS community, and Friends And dear graduates, Most of you were the class of 2020 in high school, your gradua…

We hear about the subject of the moment from Microsoft’s Asia head of business development, Zia Zaman. We begin with the question if the world has been transformed in a comparable manner in the past year and a half as the smartphone and Appstore revolution achieved during 2007/08. Zia argues the transformation has been similar in influencing corpor…

Michelle Zatlyn, Co-founder, President, and Chief Operating Officer at Cloudflare, chats with Peak XV CMO Gayatri Yadav about building Cloudflare, the global powerhouse that stops 209 billion cyber threats a day. In this conversation, Michelle reflects on the initial struggle to garner support for Cloudflare’s offerings and emphasizes the importanc…

Mitchell Presnick, a visiting fellow of practice at the Fairbank Center for Chinese Studies at Harvard University, joins Kopi Time to bring much needed pragmatism to the China-US discourse. Mitch, researching the future of US- China commercial relations in the post-engagement era, is no China apologist. But his decades of doing business in China ha…

Recorded in Jakarta, Kopi Time delves into Indonesia’s elections, domestic and foreign policy, investment environment, and economy with Kevin O'Rourke, Principle, PT Reformasi Information Services. Kevin’s team has provided independent political risk consultancy for many years, and he demonstrates his deep insights in this far-reaching conversation…

Today’s episode subject is in response to popular demand. Whether at work or at home, concerns on cybersecurity are elevated to say the least. Nicolas Reys, Partner leading Control Risks’ Digital Risks Americas and Global Threat Intelligence practices, begins by going the three kinds of cyberthreats out there—state sponsored, ransomware, and “hacti…

Martin Mühleisen, nonresident senior fellow at the Atlantic Council, returns to Kopi Time to talk about the state of multilateralism. He sees the recent IMF meetings marked by modest progress in securing greater funding for development and climate change, but much more remains to be done to give developing nations their requisite voice in global bo…

We catch up in Washington DC with Dr. Alexis Crow, lead, Global Geopolitical Investing Practice, pwc. Recorded on the last day of the IMF-World Bank 2024 spring meetings, we go over the key takeaways from our interactions with policy makers and analysts. From a mild upgrade in global growth forecasts to taking stock of the scarring of the pandemic,…

Henny Sender, after several decades of writing on international finance for the Finance Times and Wall Street Journal, presently runs Apsara Advisory, a New York-based consultancy. She joins Kopi Time to talk about her sense of the challenges facing the Chinese economy, especially the weakness in consumer sentiment. While recognising the wisdom beh…

Angela Mancini, Partner and Head of the Geopolitical Risk Analysis practice for Asia Pacific at Control Risks, returns to Kopi Time after four years. The issues haven’t changed that much in the interim—we talk about Indonesia, Malaysia, and Singapore’s elections and economic prospects, state of China-US friction in the context of business risks, an…

Bert Hofman, adjunct Professor at the East Asian Institute at National University of Singapore, returns to Kopi Time to comment on the National People’s Congress of China and the direction of policy in the coming years. We also talk about the property sector crisis, ways to revive business and consumer confidence, deflation risks, green transition,…

We welcome back Munib Madni, CEO of Singapore-based Panarchy Partners, a fund management company with responsible investing at its core. In this chat, Munib talks about latest developments and trends in the world of climate impact investing, while pointing out a gap in the current scene. Munib sees many listed equity companies setting laudable goal…

We explore the present state of digital payments, their impact and potential, and tech-enabled investment platforms with Caeser Sengupta, CEO and co-founder of Arta Finance. Previously, Caeser spent a number of years at Google as VP & GM of Payments & the Next Billion Users initiative. In this podcast, we begin by discussing the economic and social…