At the recently concluded Forbes India Leadership Awards, the executive chairman of Dixon Technologies along with other company heads spoke about leadership in times of disruption, and how technology 4.0 is here to stay
(L-R): Manu Balachandran, associate editor, Forbes India; Sashank Rishyasringa, co-founder and CEO of Axio; Rishi Das, CEO and co-founder of IndiQube; Sunil Vachani, executive chairman of Dixon Technologies. Image: Forbes India
In recent times, we have witnessed a raging pandemic, two wars, economic volatility, supply chain disruptions, and lately, the advent of artificial intelligence. And during such disruptions, what matters is exceptional leadership.
To discuss how leaders navigate these uncertainties and inspire their teams to overcome obstacles, Forbes India’s associate editor, Manu Balachandran, invited Sunil Vachani, executive chairman, of Dixon Technologies, along with Sashank Rishyasringa, co-founder and CEO of Axio, and Rishi Das, the CEO and co-founder of IndiQube, for a panel discussion during the 13th edition of the Forbes India Leadership Awards held on March 7, 2024.
The leaders started by shedding light on the biggest disruptions they’ve witnessed in their sectors. In the financial services or the fintech space, it is the growth of the digital public infrastructure, said Rishyasringa of Axio, a tech-first financial platform. “The public sector has changed the game by creating the best digital public infrastructure for financial services that we see anywhere in the world today.”
Vachani, on the other hand, recounted the time when Dixon Technologies was doing road shows ahead of its IPO and investors were wondering if the electronic manufacturing services sector is prone to disruptions.
“My honest answer then was that the technology in our sector—information and communication technologies (ICT)—has changed a lot. For instance, take LED televisions as a category. We moved from a CRT television to plasma television, then to an LED, and now to OLED, and maybe something new ahead. So, while technology changes, the manufacturing setup per se does not have to undergo a major transformation,” Vachani said. And he stressed, “What's going to change will be important for any leader to process and embrace is digital transformation. Industry 4.0 is here to stay.”