In the fourteenth episode of the IIMB Podcast Series, Prof. M S Sriram, Professor in the Public Policy area of IIM Bangalore, shares his insights on financial inclusion in India vis-a-vis the microfinance institutions and other institutions that deal with it in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Prof. Sriram talks about the resilience of the sector given its inherent nature of rising and standing up to these shocks, along with the implications of the COVID-19 pandemic on the future models of financial inclusion of the poor. The episode touches upon the advent of digital within the MFIs, newer business models for the financial inclusion agenda and the road forward for the sector. Additionally, the episode features insights on reverse migration and the entrepreneurial implications of the COVID-19 pandemic for rural India and how MFIs and other financial inclusion organizations stand to play a role in it.

In the thirteenth episode of the IIMB Podcast Series, Prof. Manaswini Bhalla from the Economics and Social Sciences area of IIM Bangalore shares her insights on the role of culture, social and informal networks, and connections on economic outcomes in the business context.

Prof. Bhalla explains how identities and social associations play a significant role in decision making and business deals like mergers and acquisitions, client or vendor selection, etc. The podcast also touches upon the impact of COVID-19 and the emergence of the gig economy on social associations as virtual working becomes the norm.

In the twelfth episode of the IIMB Podcast Series, Prof. Rakesh Godhwani, Founder, School of Meaningful Experiences, Communication Expert, Author and Adjunct Professor at IIM Bangalore, shares his insights on communication for leaders during a crisis.

Prof. Godhwani explains why communication is an essential attribute for managers and leaders, how leaders use effective communication in times of crisis, the pedagogic communication elements, and how one can develop effective communication skills. The podcast also touches on aspects of communication styles and how they are impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic imposed virtual working style.

In the eleventh episode of the IIMB Podcast Series, Prof. Vasanthi Srinivasan, Chair, Digital Learning, and Professor in the area of Organizational Behavior & Human Resource Management, shares her insights on people management in the virtual world.

Prof. Srinivasan talks about human resource and people management issues in the virtual world induced by the COVID-19 pandemic. She shares insights on how things have evolved and how individuals can collaborate effectively in virtual settings. The podcast touches on various aspects such as how sudden change in work culture has affected the wellbeing of employees and what can organizations do to steer this transition smoothly for their employees. The podcast also delves into various aspects such as virtual collaboration, permanent and temporary changes brought in the work environment by the pandemic to the future of the workforce and how should one prepare for it.

In the tenth episode of the IIMB Podcast Series, Prof. A Damodaran, from the Economics & Social Sciences area at IIMB, shares insights on the COVID-19 pandemic and its implications on international conventions and bodies.

Prof. Damodaran discusses how international bodies like the World Health Organization and pharmaceutical companies can tackle COVID-19 and leverage the proficiencies of organizations like GAVI for vaccine distribution. The podcast touches upon the topic of climate change, and the Paris Climate Agreement. It also delves into the subject of negotiations in a virtual world and how a global economic recovery can be made possible through multilateralism.

In the ninth episode of the IIMB Podcast Series, Prof. Rahul Dé, Professor in the Information Systems domain at IIM Bangalore, shares his insights on Artificial Intelligence, and its relevance and implications for businesses and managers.

Prof. Dé focuses on the building blocks of AI, i.e., hardware, data, and algorithms and explains how the simultaneous development of computational abilities, sophisticated algorithms and large volumes of data has led to broader scale applications of AI in numerous sectors. The podcast revolves around AI's managerial and business implications, AI's adoption in industry and policy-making, and the ethical and privacy concerns that emanate from the increasing use of AI in our daily lives.

In the eighth episode of the IIMB Podcast Series, Prof. Suresh Bhagavatula, Professor in the Entrepreneurship Area at IIM Bangalore, shares his insights on starting up in a virtual world amidst the changes induced by the pandemic for workforce and collaboration. Prof. Bhagavatula brings his insights from his work on entrepreneurial networks to educate on how collaboration, serendipitous encounters, and other startup characteristics stand changed in this COVID world. The podcast revolves around questions on various legs of starting up, such as finding problems to solve, ideation, team building, hiring and raising funds, and how they stand impacted because of the changes induced by COVID-19.

In the seventh episode of the IIMB Podcast Series, Praveen Krishnan, a PGP 2011 alumnus of IIM Bangalore and Head of Product at The Ken, shares his insights on the evolution of the media industry and how technological advancements and the COVID-19 pandemic are accelerating changes in this dynamic industry. Praveen discusses the crises currently impacting the media industry, the advent of new monetisation models which are moving away from traditional advertisements, how product thinking is slowly becoming a critical focus point for media companies, and where the media industry is headed in the coming years.

In the sixth episode of the IIMB Podcast Series, Prof. Hema Swaminathan, Associate Professor at the Centre for Public Policy at IIM Bangalore, shares her insights on how the COVID-19 pandemic has impacted India’s female workforce and deepened the gender imbalance in the Indian society. Prof. Swaminathan discusses various new challenges that India’s female workforce is facing due to the pandemic, and how business, government and society can help to reduce the adversities of this crisis and bridge the gender gap that has deepened as a result of the pandemic.

In the fifth episode of the IIMB Podcast Series, Prof. Rajendra K Bandi, Chair, Information Systems area, and Chair, Centre for Software & Information Technology Management at IIM Bangalore, talks about the issues surrounding data protection and privacy which have come to the forefront due to the on-going COVID-19 pandemic and the introduction of contact tracing apps like ‘Aarogya Setu’. Prof. Bandi discusses how open source code can help instil confidence and adoption among the public, how close is India to getting its own privacy protection law, and what is the right level of data that can be deemed shareable with companies providing services.