Jamshedpur, (Jharkhand) [India] October 16, 2025: On October 11th, XLRI Jamshedpur once again became the epicenter for transformative ideas in the consulting industry with the successful completion of FULCRUM 5.0, themed “Reimagining Consulting: Innovation, AI, and Talent.” Organized by the XLRI PGDM (GM), the event exemplified XLRI’s commitment to bringing together visionary leaders, practitioners, and students for thought-provoking engagement and future-forward conversations.
FULCRUM 5.0 unfolded through an immersive sequence of panel discussions, each thoughtfully crafted to address the evolving priorities of the consulting world. The panels offered an open platform where global executives, sectoral experts, and academic leaders shared their perspectives, fostering a rich exchange between proven best practices and bold new strategies.
The first panel set the stage by exploring Start-Up Thinking in Big Firms: Intrapreneurship in Consulting. Esteemed leaders, including Prashant Mehra (Grant Thornton Bharat LLP), Utkalika Badu (Gartner), Soumala Sarkar (Accenture), Rajesh Narayan (LatentView Analytics), CA. Dipen Trivedi (BDO), Debashish Biswas (Deloitte), and Maneesha Gupta (Cognizant) illuminated how intrapreneurship is reshaping consulting from within. The conversion explored the interplay between strategy and culture, emphasizing that culture is not just a set of values on paper but must be lived, demonstrated, and co-created across all levels of an organization. Their insights showcased the power of challenging norms and championing entrepreneurial mindsets, all while harnessing process discipline and creative risk-taking to drive industry progress.
The event’s momentum continued with the second panel, Consulting Reimagined: Adapting to the GenAI Era, which welcomed experts such as Shamindra Basu (IBM), Vidhya Visweswarababu (Deloitte Digital), Karthikeyan Girijanandan (Ascendion), Shrikant Sarda (Accenture), Akhilesh Sahu (Alvarez & Marsal), and Dipanjan Bhattacharyya (Accenture). The discussion traced consulting’s evolution across four pivotal epochs—from ERP, to internet and mobile, through digital analytics, and now into systems of intelligence powered by GenAI. Panelists reflected on how frameworks must become adaptable, that GenAI should be seen as a catalyst, and that real consulting value arises when human talent and artificial intelligence collaborate. Operationalizing impactful ideas and maintaining empathy, precision, and purpose were lauded as the keys to navigating the future.
The third and final panel, Talent Advantage in Consulting: Building the Workforce of the Future, saw dialogue among Rohit Gambhir (Centric Consulting), Ravindra Yadav (The Knowledge Company), Disha Roy (Publicis Sapient), Rachna Nath (Intueri Consulting), Rayan Modi (BDO Executive Search), and Dr. Rupesh Kumar Singh (EY). The conversation focused on multi-skilled talent, change management, and the imperative of intentional disruption for the next 3–5 years. “Insights, Connections, and Change” reverberated as central themes, and the human edge—trust, empathy, and lifelong adaptability—was solidified as the enduring advantage. The session closed with a collective recognition that, in the age of AI, the true leader will be the one who can meaningfully navigate complexity and co-create value for the future.
FULCRUM 5.0 was not only an opportunity to reflect on consulting’s trajectory but also a platform for celebrating partnership, learning, and actionable insight. As the panels concluded, it was evident that XLRI remains at the forefront of assembling communities where technology, people, and business converge, fostering the very conversations that will shape consulting’s next chapter on a global stage.
FULCRUM 5.0 was efficiently organized & executed by Kautilya Consulting Club of PGDM GM cohort.
