The D&O Diary is on assignment in Asia this week, with a first stop in Mumbai, India’s financial capital. My stay in Mumbai was relatively short, just long enough to once again experience the city’s rich mixture of sights and sounds and sometimes almost overwhelming energy.

The primary purpose for my Mumbai visit was to participate as a speaker at this year’s annual conference of BimaGyaan, the premier organization in India for professional liability insurance industry education and networking. (“Bima Gyaan” means “insurance knowledge” in Hindi.) It was a pleasure to be a part of this excellent event again and to see so many of my Indian friends. I would like to thank the event committee and the event sponsors for inviting me to participate again in this event. I would particularly like to thank Suresh Balakrishnan and his colleagues for arranging the details of my presence and participation in the event and for being such good hosts while I was in Mumbai.

Here’s a view of the audience at the event, taken from the dais. One of the things I like about this event is that it is not only reliably well-attended but that so many of the attendees are young and relatively new to the industry.
I gave an hour-long afternoon keynote address entitled “Hot Topics in D&O.” It seemed like it went pretty well — the audience seemed fully engaged, particularly the part where I was talking about the potential impact of the White House’s tariffs (which are a very big deal in India).

One thing I particularly enjoyed about being a part of this event and meeting so many attendees is finding out how many enthusiastic readers of The D&O Diary there are in India. It never ceases to amaze me. I sit in Ohio and type up my posts and send them out to the Internet, and somehow people all over the world are reading them and also feeling connected to me. It was particularly fun for me to meet so many younger Indian insurance professionals who tell me they are regular readers of the blog. It is also so interesting that even though we are in different countries and working in different economies we share so many overlapping interests and professional experiences.

Here I am with Ritika Singhal, Ramya Ravikumar, and Sreeranjana, all of AON and all relatively new to the industry. All three enthusiastic readers of The D&O Diary.
With Mrinal Ojha and Trinath Tadakamalla of Solaris Legal in Delhi. I had a very pleasant conversation with Mrinal at the speakers’ dinner the night before the event.
More enthusiastic readers of The D&O Diary! From left to right: Nandini Menon, Khushbu Thakkar, Ruchira Koyande, and Pooja Kumari, all of Markel.
With Vedant Dhore and Srindindhi Jupudi, both of Mahindra Insurance.
With Soumya Skukla of Elpee Co. Soumya is an attorney and we had a good discussion about collecting and analyzing claims data.
This is Roshni Chandar, who is just about to start with a new company, but who wasn’t quite ready to go public with the new company’s name. Roshni is another enthusiastic reader of the blog.
With Girish Sawhney of AON.

It was so great just to meet so many nice people at this event. With Neja Samji and Deepthi Chilamkuri, both of Tata AIG.
Here’s an attempted selfie with Mitisha Virani and Aamir Khan of Consortia Legal.
With Malika Bajpai of AON.
With Manoj Rane of Alliant Insurance Brokers. Manoj said he was going to invite me back to Mumbai — right, Manoj?
Here’s another attempted selfie taken with Raveendran Iyengar. I would like to thank Raveendran for his friendship and for his indispensable assistance helping me get my Indian visa sorted out.

One of the particularly nice side-benefits of participating in this event was having the opportunity the night before to join several of the other speakers for a very nice dinner. Great company and really excellent Indian food.

In addition to the BimaGyaan event, I also had the privilege and honor to participate as a speaker at a conference sponsored by the Institute of Directors at the National Stock Exchange in Mumbai. (The NSE is India’s largest stock exchange.) The overall topic of the conference was “Boardroom Finance and the Role of Independent Directors.” I delivered a keynote address in the morning discussing the potential liabilities of corporate directors and the ways to protect them through indemnification and insurance.

It was an honor to be a part of the Institute of Directors event and to have the opportunity to address a large group of individuals who serve as independent directors on corporate boards for a wide variety of Indian companies.
One thing about the Institute of Directors event was having the opportunity in the morning before the first sessions to meet with the other speakers and panelists. This kind of thing is one of the reasons it is so great having the opportunity to travel and to participate in events like — that is, having the chance to meet with so many interesting individuals and to learn from them. I really enjoyed having the chance to meet with so many distinguished individuals.
I want to end this post by reiterating my thanks to my good friend Suresh Balakrishnan of Novo Insurance Broking Services, not only for being such a good host while I was in Mumbai, but also for inviting me to be a part of the BimaGyaan event and to be a part of the Institute of Directors event as well. Suresh is one of the truly superlative individuals in the professional liability insurance industry.