by Surya Bhushan from DMI, Patna.

In a podcast episode of "Sustaining Business," host Akash Bhagat and Economics Professor Surya Bhushan discuss strategies for building resilient companies in Bihar by emphasizing localized, data-driven growth over rapid scaling. They highlight the state's low operational costs and high-retention talent as key advantages for startups, while connecting these business strategies to Bihar's broader economic shifts, including advancements in AI and improved ease-of-doing-business policies.

Akash Bhagat welcomed Nikhil Sharma, Global Head for Financial Crime Compliance at E-Clerx, to discuss fintech and innovation, focusing specifically on Financial Crime Compliance (FCC), which manages transactions after the initial AML/KYC process and addresses the immense scale of money laundering, estimated at $3 to $4 trillion annually. Nikhil Sharma detailed their nearly two-decade career, the critical impact of global events like the 9/11 attacks, the 2007 financial crisis, and the Panama Papers on compliance, and E-Clerx use of AI and products like "Compliance Manager" to manage complex global regulatory requirements and enhance operational excellence. Both Akash Bhagat and Nikhil Sharma reflected on the value of the Emerging Leader Program in shifting their problem-solving perspectives, and Nikhil Sharma advised that future success in the financial ecosystem requires mastering one domain while being technology-literate due to the increasing complexity of fraud and virtual asset service providers.

Akash Bhagat welcomed Sandeep Singh to the sixth season of the “Ethical AI” series, focusing on generative AI and multi-modal agents. Sandeep Singh, a senior director at Bayon Company, emphasized that generative AI will significantly impact all knowledge workers and technology roles, urging individuals to adopt AI tools like Python and understand foundational models, fine-tuning, and context engineering. Sandeep Singh also discussed the emergence of small language models, dynamic planning agents, and multimodality, stressing the crucial importance of ethics in AI and the implementation of multi-agentic AI with human oversight for responsible deployment.

Book reference in podcast for ethics - Weapons of Mass Destruction by Robert Hutchinson