The Innovators and Disruptors Podcast

EP5: Air Conditioning to AI: Inside Carrier’s GCC Playbook Across India, China & Mexico

Nearly 9 in 10 American homes have AC. In Europe? Just 2 in 10. Then came the hottest summer in recorded history…Europe is burning through another brutal summer. Heatwaves. 40°C+ days. Rising cooling demand. Cities, homes, factories and supply chains all asking the same question: How do we cool a warming world - intelligently, sustainably and at scale? That is exactly why Episode 5 of our GCC Mini-Series on The Innovators & Disruptors Podcast feels so timely. Air Conditioning to AI: Inside Carrier’s GCC Playbook Across India, China & Mexico In this episode, I host Kamal Sharma, Leader Global Connected Hubs (India, China, Mexico) & CIO Climate Solutions AME at Carrier, one of the most iconic companies in the world of climate and cooling solutions as well as Subu Rao, Founder and CEO of Discover Dollar as a special guest in the last segment. Carrier is a company many of us associate with air conditioning. But the bigger story today is far more fascinating. It is about how a global climate-tech leader is building capability across India, China and Mexico across engineering, digital, AI, talent, culture, innovation and global execution. As European summers get hotter and cooling becomes more essential, the future of air conditioning will not just be about machines. It will be about intelligence. It will be about sustainability. It will be about global capability. It will be about AI. And a big part of that future may be built from GCCs. Watch the episode now. Sponsors: Title Sponsor: Recro Associate Sponsors: Lexstart, Stylumia, DiscoverDollar, Swirl #TheInnovatorsAndDisruptorsPodcast #GCC #Carrier #AirConditioning #AI #ClimateTech #GlobalCapabilityCenters #Innovation #IndiaGCC #EnterpriseInnovation #FutureOfWork #digitaltransformation

S2Ep12: Decoding New Age Aviation in India with Akasa ft. Belson Coutinho

Only 3-4% of Indians fly today.” Let that sink in for a moment. For a country of 1.4 billion people, that number isn't a limitation. It's an opportunity. Episode 12 of Season 2 of The Innovators and Disruptors Collective Podcast is now live: Decoding New Age Aviation in India with Akasa ft. Belson Coutinho Joined by Belson Coutinho, Co-Founder & COO of Akasa Air, for a fascinating conversation on the future of aviation in India and what it takes to build for the next generation of flyers. What I enjoyed most about this conversation was that it wasn't just about airlines. It was about understanding consumer behaviour, building trust at scale, creating memorable customer experiences, and spotting opportunities where others see constraints. We also discussed: → The evolution of Indian aviation → Building Akasa Air during unprecedented uncertainty → Customer obsession as a competitive advantage → AI and the future of travel → Why India's aviation growth story is still just getting started When only 3-4% of a country's population flies, you're not building for today's market. You're building for tomorrow's. Full episode out now. Link in comments. #AkasaAir #Aviation #FutureOfMobility #TravelTech #CustomerExperience #Innovation #AI #Leadership #BuildInIndia #TIDPodcast

Ep4: Digital Identity - Agents vs Humans ft. Rebecca Port, Okta

Your company has an org chart for humans. Does it have one for agents? That's the question sitting at the centre of this episode of The Innovators and Disruptors Collective Podcast, where I spoke with Dr. Rebecca Port, Chief People Officer of Okta, one of the most important voices on identity, trust, and the future of agentic workforces globally. We were also joined by Shubham, Founder of Recro, a company that's on the ground every day helping enterprises find, build, and retain the kind of talent that can actually navigate this shift. Having both of them in the same conversation gave this episode a rare dual lens: the global enterprise perspective meeting the startup-speed reality of how hiring and teams are actually changing in India right now. → By 2027, AI agent traffic will exceed human traffic on the internet → 50% of organizations that have deployed agents are already at risk of breaches → Okta saved 300,000 hours internally, not by cutting people, but by removing the work quietly draining them And Okta's India presence? She didn't call it a GCC. She called it a cockpit. There's a difference. Rebecca's definition of Okta, "Okta is the electricity. It's the layer you can't operate without, and you can't see it." This episode goes beyond cybersecurity. It's about the invisible architecture of trust and whether organizations are building it fast enough before the agents outnumber us. #AgenticAI #IdentitySecurity #TIDPodcast #TheInnovatorsAndDisruptorsPodcast #BuildInIndia

S2E11: The Next Big Indian Category: Elder Care ft. Ishaan Khanna

What happens when a country of 1.4 billion people starts ageing rapidly… before it is fully prepared for it? That’s the core theme of S2 Ep11 of The Innovators and Disruptors Podcast: The Next Big Indian Category: Elderly Care In this episode, I hosted Ishaan Khanna, CEO of Antara Assisted Care Services, Max India, for a fascinating conversation on elder care, longevity, caregiving, AI, and the future of ageing in India. A few things that really stayed with me from this episode: → India could have nearly 300 million seniors in the coming decades → Retirement-focused investments in India have grown 230% in the last 5 years → Entirely new categories like “AgeTech” are beginning to emerge in India But the biggest insight for me was this: “We are responding to an ageing population. We are not preparing for an ageing population.” We also spoke about why senior care is not just healthcare. It’s dignity, companionship, financial security, technology, and trust all coming together at once. This episode goes far beyond elder care. It’s about the future of how India will live and age. Do you think India is emotionally, financially, and infrastructurally prepared for an ageing population at scale? Drop your thoughts below. 👇 #SeniorCare #Healthcare #Longevity #Ageing #HealthcareInnovation #TID #TIDPodcast #BuildInIndia #TheInnovatorsAndDisruptorsPodcast

S2 Ep10: How to Learn with the New Rules of AI ft. Peeyush Ranjan

AI is transforming education. But is it making us smarter or just faster? In this episode of The Innovators and Disruptors Podcast, Abhay Tandon sits down with Peeyush Ranjan, Co-founder of Fermi.ai (with Mukesh Bansal), and former leader across Google, Flipkart, and Airbnb. Together, they break down the new rules of learning in the AI era. 🔑 Key Insights from the Episode: “If you want to learn math, giving you a calculator won’t help.” “We are all LLMs of sorts.” AI is democratizing answers… but killing deep thinking Learning doesn’t come from answers, it comes from struggle + process 🚀 Big Idea: Vinod Khosla believes: Aadhaar → enabled UPI AI → can enable personalized tutors for every Indian And those tutors could be better than humans. India’s edge? 📱 Smartphones 🗣️ Voice 🌐 Vernacular 🪪 Identity rails This could unlock a “Tutor API for India.” Please let us know what you think about Education in India and how will this evolve with AI playing a massive role?