Ideas for India confirms status as pre-eminent, independent forum

Dear all,

Bridge India has firmly established its reputation as the pre-eminent, independent platform for UK-India dialogue, after the successful conclusion of its flagship annual Ideas for India® conference last week.

What makes Ideas for India distinct from other forums is that it is non-partisan, curated independently and engages leaders across business, tech, media, academia and elsewhere.

Thank you to all the wonderful partners across India Week, including: Regent Group, Federation of Indian Export Organisations, Ahluwalia Foundation, Maharana of Mewar Charitable Foundation, Operation Eyesight Universal, London Chamber of Commerce and Industry, ReelN, Integrity International Group, Talk Journalism, Franchise India, Khoki United, Lorefully, LycaRadio and Halo Drinks.

Scroll down to read more about the event and a link to the photos.

On the day, we worked with AI-driven market research company Lorefully, interviewing nearly 200 participants. We'll publish the exclusive insights from this research in the coming days.

Bridge India were also delighted to be partners for Jaipur Literature Festival in London over the last few days at the British Library. More on this next week!

Today, Artium powers a thriving community of 43,000+ learners globally with the support of 400+ educators and 1000+ classes conducted every day.

Visit artiumacademy.com to book your free trial class and begin your musical journey.

Like what you see? Check out our Membership options.

Individual Membership is £150 annually, a Steering Member is £500, and Corporate Membership options start from £750. Corporate Membership is for businesses, non-profits, advocacy organisations and others, looking for bespoke services that meet their strategic goals. We can provide in-depth alignment with a series of networking opportunities, policy initiatives or curated programmes.

NRI remittance service Aspora has a special offer for you: use code BI20 or 📲 download at https://link.aspora.com/DYot/9lbkljd7 to get £20 off your first transfer.

Become a Member

Dev Mukherjee is Managing Partner of India’s oldest legal institution that was established in the 1860s in British-India, called Orr, Dignam & Co. Since 'Soft power' is built on institutions, India–UK cooperation in law, governance, and rule of law is an explicit bilateral priority. A 2025 high‑level meeting between the UK Ministry of Justice and India’s Ministry of Law & Justice emphasised collaboration on legislative drafting, tribunal reform, and governance. He says an heritage Indian law firm with British roots is an ideal non‑state actor to support these themes.

Mahesh Jain is Co-founder, director and CEO of Hirexa’s businesses, a new age talent supply chain firm serving the tech sector, leading the organisation strategy and being responsible for growth. He has scaled the organisation to 350+ associates, with a presence across the UK, Netherlands, Germany, Poland, North America and India.

Arvind Chari is the Chief Investment Strategist at Q India/Quantum Advisors India. They manage India dedicated public equities for global investors. He has been in the UK since end 2022, with his wife and daughter and had the opportunity to speak at Ideas of in 2024.

Dr Bala Raju is the owner of care homes in London and East Africa, with active roles and responsibilities in BioPharma and Life Sciences since 2024, as well as hospital software, fitness and longevity IoT software and care home and domiciliary care services staff (all grades) trainer since 2022. He was previously a psychiatrist working in Leicester.

Jyothis Jalan is part of Norman K, an asset management and advisory firm with offices in London, Paris, and Luxembourg. They work closely with family offices and ultra-high-net-worth individuals, providing investment advisory and portfolio management services across public and private markets, credit solutions, and real estate finance. He is based in London and focus on wealth management and bespoke investment solutions for clients across the UK, Europe, and the Middle East.

***LAST CHANCE TO BOOK*** Summer Soiree (5pm, Wed 10 June | Book here)

Business networking organisation Network Tree and Bridge India get together once more on a rare night of no World Cup football, for an evening of informal networking, with a clear focus on the professional services sector. It will be an evening of good vibes and great Indian food. No policy discussions, just business networking.

When: 5pm Arrivals, welcome drink and canapes, 8pm Close | Wednesday 10 June

Where: Crown & Pepper Farringdon, Unit 5, Cowcross St, EC1M 6DQ

Price: £40, including welcome drinks and canapes | 10% off for BI Members (check your Member newsletter for the code)

Binghatti reception (6pm, Wed 1 July, Knightsbridge | Request to attend)

Bridge India is a Community Partner for the upcoming Asian Achievers Awards on Friday 18 September. Before that event, Dubai-based luxury real estate developer Binghatti and EPG are hosting a (non-alcoholic) drinks and canapes reception in Knightsbridge to bring together entrepreneurs, company builders and change-makers from across South Asian communities in London.

When: 6-9pm | Wednesday 1 July

Where: Binghatti, 201 Brompton Road, London SW3 1LA (in between Knightsbridge, Sloane Square and South Kensington stations)

Who: 100+ business leaders, entrepreneurs and others, with inspirational speeches from senior business leaders

Request to attend: Fill in this form

A recent article in Foreign Affairs challenged the assumption that India’s regional leadership has been a stabilising force and asked whether New Delhi’s choices have instead helped create openings for China across South Asia. A discussion for Carnegie explored how the “India Out” phenomenon in countries from Nepal to the Maldives is enabling China to jostle into a more advantageous geopolitical position.

The conference discussed India’s place in a multipolar world, where Dr John Jemmings from the centre-right Henry Jackson Society said that China has made real inroads into India’s backyard, without a successful pushback from India.

A session on India’s relationship with its neighbours built on such topics, featuring former NDTV Executive Editor Sonia Singh, Shabnam Nasimi (Social activist and writer), Tim Willasey-Wilsey CMG (Author, academic and former diplomat) and Rahul Roy-Chaudhury (Senior Fellow, South and Central Asian Defence, Strategy and Diplomacy, IIS.

Prof Selva Pankaj from Regent Group, Raja Ganapathy (Founding Partner, Spring Marketing Capital), Anish Gawande (National Spokesperson, Nationalist Congress Party (Sharadchandra Pawar)) and others discussed where India’s economic growth over the next ten years would come from. While India continues to be the fastest growing major economy in the world, real risks are emerging in the wake of the recent conflict in the Middle East, there are real risks emerging. Reuters said in April this year that Reliance Industries’ latest financials offered the clearest signal yet on how the Iran war, was rippling through the real economy.

Mukesh Ambani, CEO of India’s biggest company by market value, flagged an “unprecedented dislocation in global ​supply chains.” At the same time, India faces US tariff and trade deal belligerence, AI is impacting jobs in India, manufacturing as a proportion of GDP has stay flat for the last decade and private sector investment remains lacklustre.

Our session on Indian founders making it big included Mitesh Sheth MBE (Interim CEO, Dharma Endowment Fund), who is spearheading an initiative to use negative screens offered by dharmic values to create a dharma-compliant investment fund. Lakshyaraj Singh Mewar, the 77th custodian of the House of Mewar princedom, joined former actress Raageshwari Loomba to discuss India’s soft power.

That evening saw a blockbuster Black-tie Dinner, with support from Indian-origin entrepreneur Sukhpal Ahluwalia, who said: “India Week plays an important role in strengthening the relationship between the UK and India, not just commercially, but culturally and entrepreneurially too. There is still far more both countries can do together, and I want to play an active role in helping to drive that forward. As I spend more time on the ground in India over the coming years, supporting stronger cross-border relationships, businesses and opportunities will become an even bigger focus for me”.

The exclusive featured over 250 guests and honoured businessman Manish Tiwari from Here&Now 365 with the Achievement in Business award, bhangra star H Dhami for Achievement in Entertainment, and Poonam Sharma from Barclays Eagle Labs for her work bringing British South Asian entrepreneurs together, with the Achievement in Community Service award.

India Week® concluded the next day with blockbuster sessions with some of India’s leading journalists, assembled for the first time in London, at private members’ club The Conduit. Organised by one of India Week’s partners Talk Journalism, it featured India Today’s Rajdeep Sardesai, ANI’s Smita Prakash, The Hindu’s Suhashini Haider, Indian Express’ Saurabh Dwivedi and India Today’s Kamlesh Singh in a series of candid, full-house sessions on how the evolving Indian media landscape.

India Week saw more than 1,600 people from nearly a dozen countries attend nine sold-out events across London, with leading policy, journalism, business and film figures attending. This year’s series of events included several new initiatives this year, including in Track 2 diplomacy, facilitating global franchises to come to India in conjunction with Franchise India, and enabling export-orientated Indian businesses to find UK distributors.

Several Indian-origin film makers from around the world attended the first event of the week, the Film Conclave, to raise finances for their upcoming feature film projects, in what is the UK’s only dedicated film co-production market.

LCCI CEO Karim Fatehi said at a joint reception that India Week was “the leading platform for UK-India trade and investment.”

Partners of India Week included global education provider with a large footprint in India Regent Group, blindness charity Operation Eyesight Universal and the Federation of Indian Exporting Organisations, which is part of India’s Ministry of Commerce.

Curator of India Week Pratik Dattani said: “In a difficult geopolitical reality, the role of India on the global stage is changing. India Week is the leading such European non-politically aligned series of events, to bring India to the world. Our conversations extend across film, literature, journalism, business and public policy.”

Click here for more and photos