The Rai Perspective

From the lifelong student of capital, exploring how power, policy, and markets shape retail India

I have always believed that systems reveal more truth than stories, and institutions outlive individuals.

My journey began as a civil servant of India, inside the vast operating machinery of Indian Railways, one of the most complex logistical ecosystems ever built. As an Indian Railway Traffic Service officer, I spent over sixteen control rooms, junctions, crises, and coordination flights, regions that never sleep. Those years did not just educate me, it trained me. They taught me how nations function.

My academic years at Jawaharlal Nehru University shaped how I think. JNU did not just educate me — it trained me to question frameworks, examine incentives, and understand power structures beneath policies.

One of the defining chapters of my career was participating in Operation Parakram, the largest rail mobilisation in India's history. That moment revealed something fundamental: logistics is strategy, and infrastructure is national strength.

In 2008 I stepped away from government service and moved into entrepreneurship, co-founding institutions in educational infrastructure, logistics and freight terminals, and infrastructure-linked businesses. My work has consistently focused on long-term, systems-driven value creation.

Today I am building Agora Circle — an independent ecosystem centred on institutional thinking in markets and capital, long-term value over short-term speculation, and education, dialogue, and tools for everyone willing to learn.

After exiting my ventures I dove deep into the capital market ecosystem and discovered a striking vacuum: tools have improved, but mindsets have not. That realisation led me to build Agora Circle — dedicated to institutional thinking, long-term value creation, and financial literacy rooted in discipline rather than noise.