Aurora 3.0 at XLRI: Shaping Future-Ready Product Leaders with Purpose and Innovation

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.

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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.”

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