The D&O Diary continued its Asia Pacific tour with a very brief stop in Mumbai, India’s financial capital.

The primary purpose of my visit was to participate as a keynote speaker at the 2023 Bima Gyaan Symposium. Bima Gyaan is an Indian insurance education association. As in past years, the Bima Gyaan event was cosponsored by the Professional Liability Underwriting Society (PLUS). I would to thank the Bima Gyann leadership, PLUS, and the event planning committee for inviting me to be a part of this event again this year. I would especially like to thank Dr. N. Raveendran, Suresh Balakrishnan, and Uttara Vaid for all of their work in organizing this event and for being such gracious hosts while I was in Mumbai. This year’s version of the Bima Gyaan event attracted a larger audience than in any prior year, and the dedicated audience members stayed until the session’s very end, late in the day on a Friday afternoon.

Here’s a view of the audience from the stage. The room was absolutely packed. I appreciated the opportunity to meet so many members of the Indian professional liability insurance community, including a surprisingly large number of enthusiastic readers of The D&O Diary.
Here’s a group shot of the event speakers. All of the sessions were excellent.
A group picture of the speakers and moderators from the portion of the program that included my keynote address. From left to right: Suresh Balakrishnan of TransAsia Risk Advisors; Harley Morlet of Storm Guidance; me; and Unnati Bajpai of Allianz.

One of the people I was particularly happy to meet at the event was Prachi Vaid, the daughter of Uttara Vaid. Prachi has joined her mother at Uttara Vaid Advisory Services. Uttara was one of the principal organizers of the event as well as a panel moderator and speaker.
One of the many things I enjoyed at the Bima Gyaan event was the chance to meet so many young members of the Indian professional liability insurance community. I particularly enjoyed meeting and talking to these individuals. From left to right: Sakshi Devi; Jyotika Aggarwal; and Pankaj Kumar. All three were law school class mates and now work together as well.
With Mrinal Ojha of Solaris Legal in Delhi. Mrinal led an interesting session on mediation. I had an enjoyable conversation with Mrinal at the speakers’ dinner the night before the conference.
One of the great things that happened after my presentation is that a number of the audience members approached me to introduce themselves, which afforded great photo opportunities. Here I am with Harsh Tewari; Hamangi Jhaveri; and Shreya Dave.
With Mahesh Chainani of Howden. Mahesh is anindustry veteran and we had a very enjoyable conversation about the D&O insurance market and D&O liability issues.
This is another group of young industry professionals who introduced themselves to me after my presentation. I really enjoyed meeting all of the industry professionals I met at the event. From left to right: Kamlesh Chobibla; Pooja Kumari; Rinni Prasau; me; Aditi Jain; and Shreya Mukherji. I am so sorry, I am missing the name for the last person on the right side of the picture, I would be very grateful if someone could please provide me with her name. My apologies for failing to record her name correctly.
With Kamini Shahani of Marsh McLennan. Kamini and I had an interesting conversation about American and Indian politics.
With Archana Vaze and Divya George. Archana is a professor of insurance at the College of Insurance at the Insurance Institute of India.
One of the great traditions of the Bima Gyaan event is that the night before the conference all of the speakers go out to dinner together, to talk and to get to know one another ahead of the sessions. The dinner was great fun, and the food was terrific as well.

My time in Mumbai was far too short. The morning after the conference, I was up early and on my way to my next destination. It was a shame that my brief visit allowed almost no opportunity to enjoy being in Mumbai. Next visit, more time to see Mumbai — and the rest of India.