Sustainability NOW: The Future of Luxury in India

Srimoyi Bhattacharya is the Founder of Peepul Consulting, a leading communications advisory firm in the luxury and lifestyle space with presence in New Delhi, Mumbai and Bengaluru. With about 25 years of communications expertise, she is passionate about helping brands build their image, support their growth through the creation and execution of strategic and creative marketing / communications programs. Born and brought up in Paris, Srimoyi worked in PR in Paris in corporate and new media for over 7 years before moving to the New York in 2002. Srimoyi started Peepul in 2006 and chose to move to India in 2006 where Peepul is now run along with her partners. She is currently writing a book on brand communications to be released by Penguin India before the end of the year.

Shoba Mohan is the Founder Partner of RARE India, a company that has been promoting conservation and community based tourism with sustainability as a keystone value for tourism and hospitality. She sits on board associations like RTSOI, TTC, IAHRC etc. and promotes the idea that sustainable travel is future ready and luxury has to be redefined around parameters that believe in protection and preservation of the planet. About RARE: RARE India is a collection of some of the finest boutique hotels with its heart set around conscious luxury travel - palace stays, wildlife life lodges, homestays and retreats of the sub-continent. We believe that ‘conscious luxury travel’ is future ready and our community is an inclusive list of experiential hotels and hospitality concepts with a quality and style quotient that appeal to the world traveller, believe in working with the community while being personal and high on service. Our hotels are often set away from the repetitive and regular routes, aspire to tread softly on the land they are set in and preserve the innocence of the destination. In short, you have a ‘RARE’ collection of hotels and concepts that offer the perfect immersive experience to the evolved traveller. Founded by Shoba Mohan, RARE India’s list comprises a unique collection of hotels spanning four countries – India, Nepal Sri Lanka & Bhutan, 17 States in India alone and over 75 hotel brands. www.rareindia.com

Vikram Ramchandani is the founder of United Coaltion (www.unitedcoalition.in) of which rewear is a part. United Coalition has investment positions in a few select brands that are managed and run through a collective ethos of bringing both, beauty and sense into the world. He has structured complex financial instruments for global investors, traded in commoditized goods with central Africa, sat on the USIBC summit for Nuclear exchange between Niger and India, was an advisor to India’s first pre-IPO fund, managed mining contracts between nations, setup India’s first broadcast design firm, established an accessories brand, and currently manages a clothing company. Born in Dubai and schooled in Toronto, his work in Barcelona and Bombay gives him an inimitable perspective on the nuances of not just the international protocols of commerce but also an insight in to the psychological disposition of various cultures.

Gayatri Rangachari Shah is a Mumbai based journalist, columnist and author. She is co-author of Changemakers: 20 Women Transforming Bollywood Behind the Scenes, published by Penguin Random House. Gayatri hosts her own podcast, called Uncommon Women, on RedFM India, which is also available on Spotify, JioSaavn, Itunes and Apple podcasts. Her writing has appeared in both national and international publications like The New York Times. She writes regularly for The Hindu, in which she also has a column. She is a contributing editor at Architectural Digest and Vogue and was India Head at New York based Tina Brown Live Media, which produced the globally renowned journalism summit Women in the World. She is the India ambassador for Interiors Academy, an online platform for the global interior and design community.