Jamshedpur,
September 25 : XLRI Jamshedpur, India’s oldest B-school with a 75-year legacy of
management excellence, hosts Aurora 3.0, its annual flagship product management
conclave organized by the PGDM (General Management) batch of 2025–26. With the
theme “Designing What’s Next: Product Leadership for a Changing World”, the
conclave explored pressing issues in product leadership from the rise of
Agentic AI to building resilient strategies, ethical innovations and career
pivots in a dynamic marketplace.
XLRI’s
academic leadership opened the event with a traditional Lamp Lighting Ceremony including
Dr. Sanjay K. Patro (Dean Academics), Dr. P. C. Padhan (Associate Dean, GM
Programmes), Prof. Sunil Kumar Sarangi (Co-Convenor, Placements and CEO, XCEED)
and Dr. Giridhar Ramachandran (Associate Dean, XLRI Online Learning), alongside
industry leaders and distinguished speakers.
In
his opening remarks, Dr. Sanjay K. Patro emphasized that “Product management
today is at the heart of organizations, where strategic agility and fast-paced
decision-making define leadership.” Dr. Giridhar Ramachandran urged students to
embrace problem framing, quick turnarounds and managing stakeholder trade-offs
as key skills for the future.
The
day featured four high-impact panel discussions:
1.
The Agentic Future: Product Evolution in the Age of AI
Mr.
Sunil Mishra, Sr. Director of Product Management, Publicis Sapient
Mr.
Anoop Nair, VP Product, Ajio
Mr.
Sagar Gupta, Director of Product Management, Razorpay
Mr.
Shaju Nair, Product Leader, ServiceNow
Mr.
Venkat Subramanian, Product Manager, Google
Mr.
Saurabh Mishra, Global Director of Product, Optum
They
shared insights on responsible AI adoption, personalization, fraud detection
and inclusive technology.
2.
Leading Products When the Ground Shifts: Strategies for Resilience and
Relevance
Mr.
Sreeram Narayan, Director of Product Management, Pine Labs
Mr.
Gagandeep Arora, Head, Merchant Payments, Tata Digital
Ms.
Charu Gulhar, Director of Product Management at a tier 1 Consulting Firm
Mr.
Abhishek, Product Leader (Director), Expedia
Mr.
Deepak Padmanabha, Director of Product Management, SAP
Panellists
highlighted strategies to balance speed, adoption, and resilience during market
volatility.
3.
Product with Purpose: Ethical and Sustainable Technology for a Responsible
Future
Mr.
Ritesh Prakash (Founder, PMStack)
Mr.
Umar Ali Shaikh, CEO, Atos Solutions & Systems Pvt. Ltd.
Mr.
Ramesh Gupta, Director – Risk Management, FIS
Mr.
Sanjeev Kumar, Senior Manager – Product Management
Mr.
Adarsh Agrahari, Associate Director of Product at HROne
They
stressed aligning profitability with people and planet, advocating ethical
innovation and user-focused design.
4.
From Doing to Leading to Redefining: Career Pivots and Failures that
Future-Proof Product Leaders
Mr.
Bharat Lodha, Director of Product Management, Joveo
Ms.
Vidhya S.R, Director of Product Management, Amadeus
Mr.
Prakash Kumar, Director of Product Management, OpenText
Mr.
Shubham Verma, Head of Product – Ads and Ranking Intelligence,
Zomato
Panellists
shared inspiring stories of failure, resilience and reinvention.
The
Prodzion Committee concluded the conclave by delivering the Vote of Thanks guided
by Dr. Kanagaraj Ayyalusamy and Mr. Shownu Winstington. The committee expressed
gratitude to the distinguished panellists, XLRI leadership and the student
community for their active participation and conclave’s success.
Speaking
on the success of Aurora 3.0, XLRI leadership reiterated the institute’s
commitment to preparing leaders who blend innovation with responsibility,
staying true to its ethos of “For the Greater Good.”
