OUR TEAM

Manali is a Manager with the legal team of NIIF. She joined the firm in 2019 and is based out of the Mumbai office. She has an experience of over 6 years into private equity and mergers & acquisitions. At NIIF, she is responsible for overseeing the legal aspects pertaining to fund raising and investments and providing operational and compliance support

Prior to NIIF, Manali was associated with Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas for 5 years. During her stint with the firm, she worked on several critical engagements that involved advising on merger of 3 nationalized bank (Vijaya Bank and Dena Bank with Bank of Baroda), capital raise by Janalakshmi Financial Services Limited (JFS), investment by a venture capital fund in a startup, various schemes of restructuring for Hindustan Unilever Limited, Indian Hotels Company Limited,  demerger of Tata Teleservices’ consumer mobility business to Bharti Airtel Limited, represented Hotel Leela venture Limited to sell the Leela Goa group of hotel.

Manali has completed her Bachelor in Commerce and LLB (Hons.) from Gujarat National Law University, Gandhinagar. Manali is also a qualified Company Secretary and holds a certificate of merit for an All India Rank-15 in the Company Secretary Course.

Apoorv is an Analyst with the Fund of Funds team. He joined NIIF in September 2019 and is based out of the Mumbai office.

At NIIF, Apoorv is responsible for evaluating investment opportunities and monitoring existing portfolio commitments.

Apoorv started his career with KPMG India, initially with its Tax and Regulatory practice and most recently, was part of KPMG India’s Valuation practice. During his 6-year stint with KPMG India, Apoorv worked on diverse valuation engagements for both private and public entities, across sectors such as infrastructure, BFSI, industrials, start-ups, etc. He was also involved in advising clients on adopting transfer pricing policies.

Apoorv is a CFA Charter holder, holds an MBA from Indian School of Business, Hyderabad and is a former professional cricketer, having represented the Mumbai Cricket Team at the junior levels.

Ankit Soni is a Senior Associate at NIIF. Ankit joined the firm in August 2018 and is based out of Delhi office. At NIIF, he works with the Fund of Funds team and is responsible for evaluating new fund commitments and monitoring existing portfolio.

Prior to joining NIIF, Ankit has spent three and a half years with Moody’s Analytics Knowledge Services as a part of the investment banking vertical. Prior to Moody’s, Ankit worked with CDC in London where he was a part of South Asia Funds team and responsible for making new commitments in South Asia as well as overseeing existing portfolio of 60+ funds with commitments of over USD 2.4 billion across Asia.

Ankit started his career with Nomura, UK in 2010 and was based out of the London office as a part of their Industrial M&A team. At Nomura, Ankit was involved in several marque cross border M&A transactions, totaling up to over USD 1 billion. Ankit was also involved in varied origination activities ranging from acquisition financing to ECM and DCM offerings for Industrial clients across Europe.

Ankit holds a Master in Science in Management from Imperial College Business School, London, UK and a Bachelor in Mechanical Engineering from Manipal University, Manipal, India.

Sumit has an overall work experience of 10 years of which he has spent seven years in global investment banking. His areas of expertise include corporate finance, origination, business valuation, analytical modelling and strategic analysis.  Sumit joined NIIF in 2017 and is a part of the Master Fund team, based in Mumbai. His role includes originating and analysing investment opportunities across the core-infrastructure asset class and is responsible for portfolio management of investee companies.

Prior to joining NIIF, Sumit worked with HSBC’s Investment Banking Division, based in London and was responsible for providing M&A advisory, capital market, and project financing solutions to clients across EMEA and APAC markets. Prior to joining the HSBC London team, he was working at the HSBC India Investment Banking team for over two years.

Sumit started his career with HSBC Investment Banking team in India.

Sumit holds a Bachelor in Technology degree from NITK, Surathkal and has done his MBA from Indian Institute of Management, Shillong. He has represented India at the APAC finals of the Global Investment Research Challenge 2011, organized by CFA Institute, Virginia.

Puneet has over 10 years of investing and operating experience in energy and infrastructure sectors in growth markets. He joined NIIF in 2017 and in his current role, he is responsible for originating and managing investments in the energy and digital infrastructure sectors.

Before joining NIIF, Puneet spent over 5 years in multiple roles across different renewable energy businesses including ReNew Power, one of the largest renewable energy IPPs in India. At ReNew, he spearheaded the company’s effort on foreign currency financing and later contributed to the development of their distributed energy business.

Puneet also worked with International Finance Corporation (World Bank Group), where he was involved in South Asian equity and debt investments in the infrastructure space, with focus primarily on the power sector.

Puneet holds a BBS (Finance) from Shaheed Sukhdev College of Business Studies (Delhi University), and an MBA from Indian School of Business.

Devesh joined NIIF in Nov 2017 and is based out of the Mumbai office. At NIIF, he works with the Master Fund team and is responsible for evaluating direct investments.

Prior to joining NIIF, Devesh worked at Ambit, a mid-market Indian investment bank, as part of the infrastructure mergers & acquisitions team. During his two-year stint with the firm, he worked on some key buy and sell side transactions predominantly on road and power assets. Devesh started his career with Frapp, a pan-India student discount platform and was responsible for leading strategic alliances and operations.

He holds a Bachelor in Commerce degree from the University of Mumbai and is a member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India.

Padmanabh (Paddy) is a veteran of the Indian investing ecosystem with a proven track record of building out leading institutions and businesses in India. He has over 25 years of work experience, primarily in private equity investments since 2002, and also as an early tech entrepreneur in India. His investment experience spans across sectors including consumer, industrial, technology, business services , and financial services. He joined NIIF in 2021 as Executive Director and CIO – Private Equity and is based in Mumbai. At NIIF, he leads the private equity investment business and manages the Strategic Opportunities Fund, presently the largest India-focused private equity fund.

Prior to joining NIIF, he spent almost a decade with Tata Group’s flagship private equity fund, the Tata Opportunities Fund, as its Managing Partner and co-founder. He was instrumental in raising the fund successfully in 2013 at ~USD 600 million with investments from marquee global investors, making it the then largest India focused PE fund. In his long and prolific career span, he was elected as the Chairman of the Indian Private Equity and Venture Capital Association (IVCA) from 2018-2020. IVCA is the apex industry association with more than 100 VC and PE members of both Indian and global origin.

Paddy was the Managing Director – India for Temasek where he co-founded and co-led the India office during its successful build-out phase in India. In his stint with Temasek between 2004-2011, Paddy consummated investments over USD 1.5 billion in India, and additionally led large international projects, including Temasek’s entry into life insurance investments globally. Prior to Temasek, he was Vice President – Investments with ICICI Ventures.

Padmanabh was an early tech entrepreneur in India and was one of the founding members of eGurucool.com, an Ed-tech business focused on online and hybrid Test prep for Grade 9-12. He successfully raised significant capital for the business to invest into content & marketing from ChrysCapital, NewsCorp and IFC and eventually sold it to NIIT before starting his direct investing career. Paddy started his professional career journey with a JP Morgan-ICICI investment banking joint venture in 1995.

Padmanabh holds a Bachelor in Engineering degree in Computer Science from BITS, Pilani, and is an MBA from IIM, Calcutta. He completed an Executive Development Course in Late Stage Private Equity from Harvard Business School in 2003. He has held several board positions with organisations of repute such as Tata Sky, Varroc Engineering, Bharti Infratel, Tata Projects, Temasek Holdings Advisors (India), Arvind Brands to name a few.

Ami has over 17 years of diverse experience across the entire fund life cycle including investments, asset management, exits and fundraising. In her career span, she has led several complex transactions and has evaluated and invested in companies across sectors including transportation, logistics, power and renewables.

She joined the NIIF as a Partner with the NIIF Master Fund in 2021 and is based out of the Mumbai office. Prior to joining the NIIF, she spent 17 years with Morgan Stanley (MS) across businesses and geographies.

In her last position as Executive Director with Morgan Stanley India, she was responsible for originating and executing transactions across a range of sectors. She also held board positions in investee companies. Prior to this, she worked with Morgan Stanley Infrastructure Partners, a USD 4 billion global fund, focused on infrastructure investments. In this role, she eventually moved to India to set up Morgan Stanley Infrastructure’s operation in India and focus on India investments. She worked with Morgan Stanley’s New York office from (2006 – 2009) where she also had an opportunity to work on large initial public offerings, leveraged buyouts, mergers and acquisitions and financings through the Investment Banking division of Morgan Stanley. Ami started her career with Morgan Stanley’s offshore investment banking division in Mumbai in 2004.

Ami holds a Bachelor in Commerce degree from R. A. Podar College of Commerce and Economics, Mumbai and has done her MBA in Finance from Narsee Monjee Institute of Management Studies, Mumbai.

Krupa Shankar joined NIIF as a Principal in the Fund of Funds team in the Mumbai office in February 2021. At NIIF, he will be responsible for managing the private equity fund portfolio along with the FoF team.

Prior to joining NIIF, he was part of the Asia Equity team at DEG (the German Development Finance Institution), responsible for managing their private equity investments (Funds, Directs, and Co-investments) for South Asia. Krupa has also worked with MCap Fund Advisors – an India focused PE fund manager, and o3 Capital – a boutique advisory firm focused on M&A and Private Equity. He started his career in finance with YES Bank’s corporate banking division in the year 2007. Prior to his post-graduation, he worked as a programmer in HCL Technologies between 2003-05.

Krupa holds a Bachelor in Engineering (Electronics and Instrumentation) from BITS Pilani and has completed his Post Graduate Diploma in Management from IIM Lucknow. He is also a CFA Charterholder.

Krishna Kumar has over two decades of experience in the Indian financial services industry with investment expertise across sectors through Alternative Investment Funds. He joined NIIF in April 2020 and is currently responsible for managing the Strategic Opportunities Fund.

Prior to joining NIIF, he was the Chief Executive Officer of IL&FS Investment Managers Limited and has spent over 24 years with the business. During his stint, he was responsible for all aspects of the Alternative Investments business of IL&FS including opportunity mapping, conceptualising fund strategies, fund raising and investment management. During this period, Krishna Kumar also served as the Co-CEO of the Standard Chartered IL&FS Asia Infrastructure Growth Fund, a joint venture with Standard Chartered Bank, with assets under management of USD 0.7 Bn, having invested across infrastructure sectors in India, China and South East Asia.

In his career journey, he has been instrumental in spearheading several Alternative Investment Funds and initiatives in collaboration with global institutional investors such as AIG Inc., Lone Star Funds, Standard Chartered Bank and ORIX Corporation, who have been investing in India and Rest of Asia. He has led over 30 investments in his career journey which involved investing with leading multinational corporations, public sector undertakings and leading Indian corporate houses, along with being on the Boards of more than 20 companies.

Krishna Kumar started his career with a boutique financial services firm Synergy Credit Corporation Limited in 1992 in their Financial Accounting team, thereafter, moving on to being part of the Treasury team at Kotak Mahindra Group in 1994.

Krishna Kumar holds a Bachelor of Commerce degree from the University of Mumbai and has completed the Micro Masters Program in Business Management from IIM, Bangalore, offered in collaboration with edX.

Rohan joined NIIF as a Senior Associate in February 2021. He is a part of the Strategic Opportunities Fund team and is based out of the Mumbai office. Prior to joining NIIF, he was associated with Rabobank UA as a part of their M&A Advisory team. During his 5 year stint with Rabobank, he worked on sectors such as dairy, poultry, alcobev, etc. He has also worked with Credit Suisse, Deutsche Bank and Kotak IB as a part of their Corporate Finance/Investment Banking teams during his career. Rohan started his career with HDFC Bank as a Credit Manager. He has done his Bachelors of Commerce (Honors) from St. Xavier’s College, Calcutta. Additionally, he is a CFA US (charter-holder), Chartered Accountant and a qualified Company Secretary.

Monika has joined NIIF in December 2020 as an Assistant Manager in the Finance team and is currently bases out of the New Delhi Office. Prior to joining NIIF, she worked with Grant Thornton for two years in their Risk Advisory team. She has worked with clients in the ecommerce, media, credit rating, digital service and manufacturing industry and has conducted risk based internal audits for multiple processes like revenue assurance, finance and accounts to help clients in identifying design and operational gaps. She has also interned at the Reserve Bank of India for 3 months in the Department of Non-Banking Supervision where she researched on the non-banking financial sector.

Monika has completed her Post Graduate Diploma in Management (Finance) from Birla Institute of Management Technology.

Gordon is a Principal in the Strategic Opportunities Fund at NIIF. He joined NIIF in January 2021 and is based out of the Mumbai office. Prior to joining NIIF Gordon was an integral part of Investcorp’s private equity team in India for over 13 years. Over his investing career Gordon has participated in investments across various sectors which include consumer, technology, healthcare, education and industrials. Gordon’s investing experience spans across early stage, growth and buyouts and he has led multiple exits across public offerings, cross border M&A and secondaries.

Gordon started his investing career with IDFC Private Equity in 2007 (acquired by Investcorp in 2019). Prior to his management degree Gordon was part of the industrial engineering team at Siemens in India.

Gordon holds a Bachelors of Engineering degree in Mechanical from VJTI, Mumbai and received his Post Graduate Diploma in Business Management from Management Development Institute, Gurgaon.

Arindam is an Analyst with the Strategic Initiatives & Policy Advisory team at NIIF and is based in Mumbai. Prior to joining NIIF, Arindam worked with India Ratings & Research – A Fitch Group Company as a Senior Analyst with the Core Analytical Group. During his 3 year stint with India Ratings, he was responsible for identifying emerging risks across sectors, advising vulnerable credits for review, contributing to the development of credit policy and publishing several thought leadership pieces. He also authored several opinion columns in leading print and web-based dailies and was responsible for presenting the agency’s views at various webinars and closed door investor engagements. In addition, he was also a part of the Emerging Leadership Program, where he worked extensively to develop and implement an intelligent credit monitoring tool in order to facilitate timely and appropriate credit rating actions on issues under coverage.

Arindam started his career with SMERA Ratings Limited as an Analyst with the Large Corporates and Financial Institutions team. During his engagement with SMERA Ratings, he was responsible for assigning credit ratings to debt issuances by various large Non-Bank Finance Companies and Public Sector Enterprises. He also developed the organisation’s state governments’ credit rating framework besides authoring the Hybrid Debt Instruments’ rating criteria.

Arindam has completed his graduation from Shaheed Sukhdev College of Business Studies, Delhi University. He is a CFA Charter holder and a Certified Financial Risk Manager.

Aishwarya is an Analyst with the Strategic Opportunities Fund team. She joined NIIF’s Mumbai office in February 2021. Prior to joining NIIF, Aishwarya was associated with Avendus Capital as a part of the Investment Banking function. During her over 1.5 years at the firm she worked on multiple projects in the Financial Services and Consumer space. She started her career with Morgan Stanley in their Fund Services team where she worked for over a year and has completed her three year articleship from CVK & Associates, Chartered Accountants. Aishwarya is a Chartered Accountant, has done her graduation from Mumbai University and MBA from Indian Institute of Management Lucknow (IIM Lucknow).

Akhilesh has over 16 years of experience into areas of public policy, strategy formulation, and entrepreneurship. He is currently Principal – Strategic Initiatives and Policy Advisory at NIIF’s Mumbai office. In this role, Akhilesh is responsible for building research and a few strategic initiatives.

Prior to joining NIIF, Akhilesh was a part of the Axis Bank where he led strategy for the Axis group. He has served in a unique position of Officer on Special Duty with a Union Minister in New Delhi where he was closely involved in public policy formulation and implementation in the civil aviation sector. He has also worked with Kotak Institutional Equities and set up their thematic research unit. He co-founded Park Financial Advisors, a boutique wealth management and financial planning company. Akhilesh started his career with The Boston Consulting Group.

He is a prolific columnist and commentator in the business media and has been known for bringing his unique perspectives to his commentary on topical issues primarily through the lens of a Government officer, a thematic analyst, an investment banker, a consultant, and a personal financial advisor. His best-selling book, The Making of India – GameChanging Transitions, makes a case for converting the gaps in public services and economic fulfillment into opportunities for the private sector. His upcoming book, Through the Looking Glass, views the India story from the perspectives of the various arms of Government which he observed closely in his three-year stint in New Delhi with a Union Minister.

Akhilesh has done his Bachelors from St. Xavier’s College, Calcutta and holds a PGDBM from IIM Ahmedabad.

Anish has joined NIIF in November 2020 as a Manager in the Finance team and is based out of NIIF’s Mumbai office. Prior to joining NIIF, he was associated with KPMG India as a part of their Private Equity & M&A Tax team. During his 3 year stint with KPMG India, he worked on number of advisory and compliance projects advising various domestic and offshore Private Equity Funds on income-tax matters.

Anish started his career working with PwC India for 2.5 years as an Associate in their Financial Services Tax team.

Anish is a Chartered Accountant and a Commerce Graduate from Mumbai University.

Abdur is working as a Research Analyst for the Executive Committee of NIIF since June 2020, and is currently based out of the Mumbai Office. Prior to joining NIIF, he has interned as a Private Equity Analyst with Ascent Capital Advisors and with the consulting division of Deloitte. Abdur has a B.A. (Hons) in Economics and a Post-Graduate Diploma in Advanced Studies and Research from Ashoka University. During his time at Ashoka, he led the Finance Team of the Ashoka Business Conclave and was the founding member of the Ashoka Undergraduate Investment Club.

Anya joined as a Research Analyst in August 2020 and is based out of New Delhi. At NIIF, she works with the Strategy and Policy team and her role involves policy support and investment origination across multiple sectors for NIIF’s funds. Prior to joining NIIF, Anya worked with WeWork and started her career as a part of their Real Estate team in New York City. During her 1 year stint at WeWork, she worked on different projects aimed at asset management and portfolio restructuring for North American assets. Anya holds an undergraduate degree from Georgetown’s School of Foreign Service.

Guru joined NIIF as Vice President – Information Technology in April 2019. He has over two decades of rich experience in leading information technology verticals across Indian Telecom, Financial Services and IT sectors with indpeth experience into international offshore.

Prior to joining NIIF, Guru was responsible for heading Information Technology vertical for Industrial internet of Things (IIOT). His prior experience includes senior Information Technology roles in Reliance Technology Services, Merrill Lynch (now Bank of America), Tata Communications and his Initial carrier was with Hutchison Max (now Vodafone)

Guru is an Engineering graduate from Gulbarga University with an Advanced Diploma in Software Export Technologies.

Anand has over two decades of experience across India and Australia in areas such as investment management, finance and consulting, of which, 12+ years have been in investment management in India. Through his career, Anand has been involved in several direct and fund investments in sectors such as roads, power, healthcare, renewable energy and real estate.

He joined NIIF in 2018 and is currently the Managing Partner for NIIF’s Fund of Funds. At NIIF, he is responsible for developing and executing the strategy of the NIIF Fund of Funds, which is diversified fund investing into various sectors and strategies through third party fund managers.

Prior to joining NIIF in March 2018, Anand was a senior member of Macquarie Infrastructure and Real Assets (MIRA) team in India for about 10 years. He was part of the core team that established MIRA’s infrastructure funds management business in India in 2008. During his tenure with MIRA, in addition to his involvement with investments and his role on the Investment Committee of the India dedicated fund, Anand held many roles including head of finance, head of operations and an active role in fundraising for MIRA’s India fund and a broader Asia fund.

Before MIRA, Anand worked with KPMG for over seven years in India and Australia, in the audit and financial advisory services divisions. During this period, Anand primarily worked with large clients primarily in the consumer, industrials, pharma and media and entertainment sectors. In the early part of his career, Anand has also worked with Universal Music Group in Mumbai as their Finance Manager for the India business.

Anand holds a Bachelor of Commerce and is an Indian Chartered Accountant. He has also completed his Certified Public Accountancy (US).

Apurva joined NIIF in June 2020 as a part of the Human Resources team and is based in Mumbai. She has over 8 years of experience in HR across Financial Services and Travel sectors. Her areas of expertise include performance and talent management along with talent acquisition.

Prior to joining NIIF, Apurva was associated with Edelweiss Financial Services as a part of their Asset Reconstruction Company (ARC). During her 5-year stint with Edelweiss, she worked with the Wealth Management and ARC business teams on building and implementing their People Strategy. She has worked extensively on Talent Acquisition for build-out of high performing teams; their engagement, development and retention.

Prior to Edelweiss, she worked with VFS Global Services in their Corporate HR team and worked on HR Analytics, Organization Effectiveness and Global HR Projects.

Apurva started her career with Motilal Oswal Financial Services as a part of their Corporate HR team. She has done her Bachelors in Economics and Masters in Management Studies (Human Resources) from University of Mumbai.

Malika joined NIIF in Feb 2020 and is currently responsible for fund accounting management, fund administration and reporting.

Prior to joining NIIF, Malika was associated with Clix Capital Services Private Limited as a part of the FPnA team and the credit & risk team. During her three- year stint with Clix, she worked on different projects such as short-range and long-range budgeting models, risk analysis modelling and the automation of risk scorecards for different lending products in the retail space.

Malika holds a Bachelor in Commerce degree (Honours) from Shri Ram College of Commerce and Masters of Commerce from Delhi University. She is also a Chartered Accountant and a member of Institute of Chartered Accountants of India.

Swarup has over 10 years of experience in multiple practice areas of ESG. Prior to joining NIIF, he worked with ERM India Pvt Ltd where he spent about 3 years as a Senior Consultant working in ESG practice areas such as Transaction Advisory Services, Post Transaction Integration, Compliance Assurance, Management Systems, Risk assessment and Mitigation, Regulatory Permitting Support, Training & Capacity building, etc. He also worked with AECOM as a Project Consultant for over 4 years. As a consultant has served clients across sectors such as Aerospace, Asset Turnaround, Automotive, Cement & Refractories, Chemical & Pharmaceuticals, Energy, FMCG, Food Processing, General Manufacturing, Lenders and PE Funds, IT& ITES, Mining & Metallurgy, Oil & Gas, Paints & Dyes, and Transportation etc.

Swarup holds an M.Sc. in Environmental Studies from School of Environmental Studies, University of Delhi; a Post Graduate Diploma in Environmental Law from National Law School of India, Bangalore and a Bachelors in Zoology from Ravenshaw University, Cuttack. He is a trained lead Auditor for ISO 14001: 2015 Environmental Management System and ISO 45001: 2018 Occupational Health & Safety Management System. In addition to above Swarup is also member of the CFA Society India, i.e. India Association of Investment Professionals (IAIP).

Suchitra joined NIIF in July 2020 as Vice President, Investment Operations and is currently based out of NIIF’s Mumbai office. At NIIF, she is responsible for investor reporting and overseeing compliance with fund obligations and operational processes.

Prior to joining NIIF, she worked with Macquarie Infrastructure and Real Assets (MIRA) for a decade. At MIRA, she was responsible for fund operations, including investor communications, fund governance matters and overseeing compliance with fund operational processes and policies.

Prior to MIRA, Suchitra worked for 4 years in the assurance practice at EY. At EY, she was responsible for the execution of audit engagements, including developing audit plans and managing audit teams to ensure quality and timeliness of work.

Suchitra holds a Bachelor of Commerce degree from Mumbai University and is a member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India.

Vikash has over 7 years of experience in Finance & Accounts. Prior to joining NIIF, he has worked for Actis (a UK based PE Fund) for about 6 years.

Vikash is a Commerce Graduate and a CA Inter.

Manpreet Singh is an Assistant Manager, Finance with NIF and joined the firm’s Delhi office in 2018. At NIIF Manpreet is responsible for Accounting, Tax Compliances, Management reporting of NIIFL (Fund Manager).

Prior to joining NIIF, Manpreet Singh was associated with Grant Thornton (GT) as part of the Compliance and Outsourcing Team. During his 10 Years stint with GT he worked on different project such as accounting setup and compliances of Multinational Pharma Companies, leading brand of POS terminals, Hotel industry, Manufacturing units etc.

Manpreet has also worked in CAS Engineers Private Limited a manufacturing unit of Air conditioners as part of their Finance team. He started his career with CAS Engineers in 2006 as part of their Finance team.

Manpreet has done his MBA Finance and Executive diploma in HR from IMT.

Amal has over 11 years of experience across various financial services institutions. Prior to joining NIIF, Amal worked as General Manager – Finance with India Mortgage Guarantee Corporation.

Amal has previously worked with Barclays Bank, Price Waterhouse Coopers & Religare Capital Markets in varied roles of Financial controllership, strategic planning, consulting and audit.

Amal is a commerce graduate and is a member of Institute of Chartered Accountant of India.

Pratik joined NIIF in December 2019 as a part of the Finance team and is based in New Delhi. Prior to joining NIIF, he was associated with ICICI Venture, an India focused private equity fund house, as a part of their Finance team. During his nine-year stint with ICICI Venture, he was responsible for administration of various private equity funds across different stages of fund life cycle. During this period, he has also worked as finance controller for the Investment Manager.

Prior to ICICI Venture, he has worked for 3 years with United Spirits Limited, an FMCG company, as Manager-Finance and Accounts at their head office.

Pratik started his career with Infosys as a part of their BFS outsourcing vertical. Pratik is a Commerce Graduate from Devi Ahilya University, Indore and a Chartered Accountant.

Ekta has over 15 years of experience across the entire spectrum of corporate affairs, corporate governance, compliance, legal, contracts and litigation and is based in NIIF’s New Delhi office.

She joined NIIF in Sep 2018 and as the Company Secretary for the firm, she is responsible for secretarial, compliance and governance related matters.

Prior to joining NIIF, she was associated with Hitachi Rail, India as the Company Secretary, General Counsel & Compliance Head. During her seven-year stint with the firm, she worked extensively with global stakeholders and was responsible for corporate and legal business affairs matters in the Indian sub-continent. She has also worked on several legal matters related to Indian Railways, Delhi Metro, Kolkata Metro, Bangladesh Railways etc.

Prior to Hitachi Rail, Ekta was associated with Fox Mandal & Associates, India’s oldest and a leading law firm. During her four-year stint with the organization’s corporate and commercial vertical, she handled several assignments in areas such as joint ventures, M&A, India entry opportunities and regulatory matters. She started her career with Ghari Detergents in 2004 in the secretarial and legal department.

Ekta is qualified company secretary from Institute of Company Secretaries of India and a chartered secretary from Institute of Chartered Secretaries & Administrators, London. She is a a qualified lawyer from CSJM University, Kanpur and is a gold medalist in PG Diploma in Financial Management from IGNOU.

Ritika has over 12 years of experience across leading financial services firms with extensive exposure in organizational capability building, transformation management and leadership development. Prior to joining NIIF, Ritika spent over 7 years as a senior member of the Human Resources team at Avendus Capital. She has also spent time with ICICI Prudential AMC & ICICI Securities.

Ritika holds an MBA from International School of Business and Media, Pune (HR), and a Bachelors in Computer Application from Birla Institute of Technology, Mesra.

Subhasree has over 12 years of Corporate Law experience in Private Equity, Mergers & Acquisitions and Corporate Finance. She joined NIIF in May 2017 and is currently the Deputy General Counsel of the firm. At NIIF, she is responsible for overseeing the legal aspects pertaining to fund raising and investments and providing operational and compliance support.

Prior to joining NIIF, she worked with Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas (previously known as Amarchand Mangaldas) as a part of the M&A/Privat Equity team based in Mumbai. During her nine-year stint with the firm, she worked in different teams including private equity and mergers & acquisitions transactions. Some of the key engagements that Subhasree has worked on include the financing and refinancing of Tata Motors acquisition of JLR, acquisition by Natixis Global Asset Management of a minority stake in IDFC Mutual Fund, acquisition of Standard Chartered Mutual Fund by IDFC, acquisition by Warburg Pincus of a stake in Au Financier Limited along with co-investment by IFC, the setting up by Doha Bank of its banking operations in India.

Subhasree has also worked Warburg Pincus/Carlyle during her career journey as a part of their General Corporate team. She started her career with Amarchand Mangaldas in 2006.

Subhasree has done LLB from Nalsar University, Hyderabad and holds a LLM degree from Harvard Law School.

Saumya is an Associate and works a Special Assistant to CEO at NIIF. She joined the firm in February 2017 and is based out of the Mumbai office. At NIIF, Saumya is responsible for assisting the CEO on all organization wide business priorities. A typical day in her job includes managing the daily workflow for the CEO, ensuring appropriate follow through on actions, decisions, and commitments made by the CEO and providing substantive input and recommendations on issues brought to the CEO’s attention either for information or for action.

Saumya started her career with IDBI Capital Markets & Securities in 2013 and was as a part of the investment banking team. During her 4 years stint with IDBI Capital, she worked on different corporate advisory assignments including business consultancy, financial appraisal, syndication, and debt restructuring in the infrastructure sector and other.

Saumya is a commerce graduate, and member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India.

Ashok leads the NIIF’s approach to investing responsibly for impact while working closely with investment colleagues and company management to assess and manage ESG risks and opportunities and helping build “NIIF-way of business”. He has extensive experience in areas spanning project and private equity, consulting and research involving environment and social considerations.

Before joining NIIF in 2018, he was the Director & Head ESG at Global Infrastructure Partners (GIP). Prior to this, Ashok led IDFC Alternatives ESG practice, working with multiple stakeholders including investors, investee companies, sustainability forums and communities. During his ~17 years stint with the IDFC and its subsidiaries, apart from other key initiatives he was responsible for managing a USD 3.8 billion alternatives portfolio in project equity, private and real estate asset class and has gained practical hands-on experience in implementing the IFC Performance Standards / ESG requirements. He started his career with ERM India in 1997 with the Natural Resource Management & Social Development group.

Ashok is member of the ESG working group at Global Infrastructure Investors Association (GIIA).

Ashok is a recipient of the prestigious Chevening Scholarship from the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) of UK Government for pursuing environmental management and sustainable development at University of Wales, Bangor. He holds M.Phil. degree in Applied Economics from Centre for Development Studies Jawaharlal Nehru University, a rank holder with distinction in MSc Environmental Sciences from Andhra University and a BSc Biological Sciences from University of Delhi.

Radhika has over 10 years of experience into various gamut of communication including marketing, media relations, internal communications, crisis and reputation management.

She is currently associated with NIIF as AVP – Communications and is based in Mumbai. At NIIF, she is responsible for driving media relations, communications – online and offline and internal employee engagement initiatives.

Prior to joining NIIF, Radhika worked with Avendus Capital as Vice President, Corporate Communications and Marketing. During her two- and half-year stint, she was instrumental in setting up communication channels and outreach objectives for the organization including digital strategy, media & communication strategy and in building the CSR pillar for the firm. She is also the Internal Communications Lead for the organization and a core member of the crisis communication committee for the overall Group.

Before Avendus, Radhika has worked with PwC India and CRISIL, a S&P company as a part of their markets and investor outreach team respectively.

Radhika holds a Bachelor in Engineering degree from VTU University and has done her MBA from IILM, Gurgaon.

Simran Khanna joined NIIF in March 2020 and works as a Research Analyst with the Investor Relations team, based in Mumbai. In her current role at NIIF, she works on fundraising initiatives and investor interactions.

Prior to joining NIIF, Simran was associated with KPMG India for over a year. At KPMG, she was a part of the Mergers & Acquisitions Consulting vertical and has worked on various commercial due diligences for clients in the financial services, consumer, media and telecom sectors.

Simran holds a Bachelor of Business Administration degree from FLAME University, Pune.

Sonam is an Associate with the Investor Relations team of NIIF and is based out of Mumbai. She has an overall experience of over six year in strategy, investor relations, business finance and audit across diverse sectors.

Prior to joining NIIF in Feb 2020, she was associated with the Mahindra Group as part of their management development program and was deputed to Mahindra First Choice Wheels Limited as Senior Manager – Strategy. During her three-year stint with the organization, she worked on different projects such as fund raising, acquisition of a startup in the digital automotive space etc. She has also worked with Mahindra Lifespace Developers Limited as part of their investor relations team.

Sonam holds a Bachelor in Commerce from Shri Ram College of Commerce, Delhi University and holds an MBA from S. P. Jain Institute of Management and Research.

Karthik has more than 8 years of experience in infrastructure including underwriting large ticket debt financing and thermal power project implementation. He currently works with NIIF’s.

Prior to joining NIIF, Karthik was part of the Project Finance division at L&T Financial Services providing debt solutions to clients across renewable energy, roads, transmission and ports. Karthik has also worked in the Corporate Finance team of Yes Bank focusing on roads sector. Earlier, he has also worked in thermal power project construction as part of Reliance Infrastructure Ltd.

Karthik holds a Bachelor in Technology degree in Civil Engineering from NIT, Bhopal and has done his  MBA in Finance from NITIE, Mumbai.

Saurabh has over 16 years of experience across 12 countries in Asia and Africa. His experience includes work in the areas of public private partnerships, regional infrastructure planning, developing and advising on policies and regulations related to infrastructure, contract management and negotiations, feasibility assessments, risk analysis, investment strategy, bid and transaction advisory, and capacity building.

He joined NIIF in 2018 and is a part of the Strategic Initiatives and Policy Advisory team. At NIIF, Saurabh’s role spans across developing investment themes for large projects, closely working with several stakeholders to explore joint initiatives and contributing to infrastructure finance related policy matters. Saurabh also works with NIIF’s portfolio companies for business expansion initiatives.

Prior to joining NIIF, Saurabh worked as a Director of the PPP Unit at the Ministry of Finance in Namibia. During his three-year stint with the Ministry, he coordinated PPP policy and regulatory actions in the country and the efficient review and approval of PPP projects. He extensively engaged with multiple government ministries and other public bodies to assist in bringing credible PPP projects to market.

Saurabh started his career with CRISIL’s Infrastructure Advisory vertical in 2004 and worked with the firm for 11 years. During this period, he led consulting assignments in a range of infrastructure sectors, including transport & logistics, energy, urban/municipal development, tourism, industrial zones and mining; and advised both private and public sector clients.

Saurabh holds a Bachelor’s in Business Management from Shaheed Sukhdev College of Business Studies (Delhi University), and an MBA from T. A. Pai Management Institute (TAPMI).

Kishore has over 15 years of diverse professional experience across management consulting, operational execution and policy making. He joined NIIF in 2019 and is a part of the Strategic Initiatives and Policy Advisory team. At NIIF, he is responsible for leading strategic initiatives that translate to investment pipeline for NIIF’s funds and providing advisory inputs to the Government for catalysing investments in the economy.

Prior to joining NIIF, Kishore worked as an Officer on Special Duty in the Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister of India (EAC-PM). In this role, he was responsible for identifying and recommending policy interventions for facilitating the development agenda of the Government. During his 3 years stint at the EAC-PM, he also co-edited 2 books – the first volume titled “On the Trail of the Black” traces the cross-sectoral prevalence of corruption & black money and was published by Rupa (2018) while the second volume titled “Making of New India” presented an analytical account of the impact of various reforms initiative by the current government in its first term. Besides, he has also written extensively on topical issues in leading national newspapers, periodicals and books.

Prior to EAC-PM, Kishore worked with GE – Transportation and with consulting entities like KPMG, Deloitte and PwC. Kishore started his career in 2005 as a consultant in the Government and Infrastructure advisory business of PwC.

Kishore holds a Bachelor in Technology degree from IIT Bombay and has done his  MBA from IIM Lucknow.

Saurabh has over two decades of rich experience across diverse sectors such as Private Equity, Healthcare, Consumer Durables and Consulting. His area of expertise includes P&L management, budgeting, forecasting, long term business strategy planning, financial controllership, tax restructuring and valuations.

He is currently the Chief Financial Officer of NIIF. At NIIF, he is responsible for managing financial operations of NIIF Funds and the Fund Manager,  treasury,  internal controls, compliances under Indian Tax Laws & AIF regulations, business planning, budget and forecasting and structuring of funds and investments, working with investment teams in establishing strong governance standards in portfolio companies.   Saurabh sits on the valuation committee of NIIF Funds and heads the NIIF Delhi office.

Prior to NIIF, Saurabh spent 10 years with Actis, a leading private equity firm with presence across different continents. At Actis, he worked as the Group Chief Financial Officer in the firm’s UK and India offices. During his stint with Actis, he worked on Finance, Accounting and Internal Controls, fund raising, treasury management, business planning and forecasting and structuring of funds and investments from tax and regulatory perspective to name a few. He managed a team of 30 professionals and worked on some key projects such as implementation of vertical (asset class) wise P&L across business, setting up a carry and co-investment structures, setting up a centralised finance function for the firm in India and implementation of globally recognised financial ERPs. He joined Actis in 2007 as a Senior Manager – Finance and eventually rose to the position of being the first non-UK CFO for the group in a span of 10 years.

Saurabh has also worked with Max India Limited and LG during his career managing accounting and financial operations, business planning, cost rationalization and management of statutory compliances, product pricing to name a few. He started his career in Jan 2000 with EY’s Audit and Business Services vertical.

Saurabh is a Chartered Accountant from Institute of Chartered Accountants of India and holds a Bachelor in Commerce degree from Delhi University and has done his Master in Business Administration (Executive Program) from Indian School of Business.

Vinod has over 18 years of   experience across investments, strategy and management consulting and project finance. Vinod has made investments across varied sectors across early stage, growth stage and platform deals. He is amongst the few investment professionals in the Indian private equity infrastructure investments landscape with full investment cycle experience.

He joined NIIF in early 2017 and is currently the Managing Partner for NIIF Master Fund. In his current role, Vinod is responsible for the overall investment strategy including setting up sectoral platforms and forging relationships with strategic operators, portfolio management and stakeholder management.

Prior to NIIF, Vinod spent 13 years with IDFC Alternatives. During his tenure, he evaluated and invested in companies across sectors including oil and gas value chain, transportation value chain, logistics, real estate, education, consumption and agri value chain. Some of the marquee deals he handled include Gujarat State Petronet Limited (GSPL), L&T Infrastructure Development Projects Limited (L&TIDPL), Gujarat Pipavav Port Limited (GPPL) and few city gas distribution companies. At IDFC, Vinod served on Boards of investee companies, helping with interventions in strategic directions, strengthening management team, assisting investee companies with access to regulators, business development and others. Vinod was also instrumental in consummating exits of investee companies through various routes – IPO, sale to strategic investors, sale to financial investors and promoter buybacks.

Prior to joining the IDFC Alternatives, Vinod worked with the infrastructure advisory vertical of Credit Analysis & Research Limited (CARE), a credit rating agency. At CARE, Vinod was involved with various advisory assignments for Ministry of Power, Disinvestment Commission (Department of Disinvestment) and various central/state PSUs including Concor, Gas Authority of India Limited (GAIL), Gujarat State Petroleum Corporation (GSPC) Group, Power Finance Corporation (PFC) and Rural Electrification Corporation (REC).

Prior to CARE, Vinod had a short stint with Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI), in their project finance division.

Vinod holds a Bachelor in Mechanical Engineering degree from Sardar Patel College of Engineering (SPCE), Mumbai and has done his Post Graduate Diploma in Management from the Narsee Monjee Institute of Management Studies (NMIMS), Mumbai.

Saloni has over two decades of experience in private equity, mergers and acquisitions, corporate finance, and strategy, having worked in the US and India. In her career, she has successfully negotiated, executed and closed several cross-border and domestic transactions involving mergers, acquisitions, joint ventures, private equity funding and entry-strategy assignments across sectors.

Currently based in Mumbai, she joined NIIF in its early days as the Chief of Staff and was instrumental in building several pillars of the institution. She has played a pivotal role in establishing NIIF’s offices, drafting the Governance Framework and Policies and Procedures for all the verticals of the firm, strategising for fund raising, chalking out the recruitment plan among others

She currently heads Investor Relations and Partnerships at NIIF and is responsible for fund raising for all three funds as well as building strong relationships with global investors, key stakeholders including Government of India representatives, global business leaders and Embassies and Consulates around the world. At NIIF, she has been responsible for successfully fundraising from several large, credible and reputed international and domestic investors.

Prior to joining NIIF, she was a Partner at SKP Business Consulting where she led a team of 15 in their M&A and Consulting practice. Saloni has also worked with KPMG India and HDFC Private equity. She started her career with Praxair in 1999, based out of their USA office.

Saloni holds a Bachelor’s in Commerce and Master’s in Commerce degree from Sydenham College of Commerce and Economics and an MBA from the Pennsylvania State University.

Prasad Gadkari has over two decades of experience in areas of private equity, principal investments, joint ventures, project finance, and corporate & policy advisory. He is currently the Chief Strategy Officer at NIIF and is responsible for the Strategic Initiatives & Policy Advisory function.

Prior to joining NIIF in 2017, Prasad was the Managing Director at TVS Capital, based in Mumbai. During his stint at TVS, he was responsible for driving the PE business with a specific focus on select consumer/industrial deals and finalisation of investment and fund-raise strategy of TVS – Fund 3.

Prior to TVS, Prasad was a Partner with IDFC Private Equity, focussed on investments in core infrastructure and social sectors. Over his almost decade long stint with IDFC PE, he handled several important deals including India’s first infrastructure holding company, an oncology care chain, largest airport privatisation deal, a water management business and India’s first student living solutions company.

Prasad has also worked with General Electric (GE), where he was responsible for infrastructure investing and joint ventures in South Asia, Middle East and North Africa region.

Prior to GE, Prasad was with IDFC Ltd in their project finance group, where he handled some of the earliest project financing transactions in the country. He was also a key member of the team that provided policy level inputs to the Govt of India (e.g. NHAI, JNPT) for their initial privatisation transactions.

Prasad started his career in 1996 with Larsen & Toubro’s infrastructure finance business, just around the time India started experimenting with infrastructure privatisation.

Prasad has a Bachelor’s in Commerce from Bombay University and a Master of Management Studies (MMS) from NMIMS, Mumbai. He is also a CFA Charter holder.

Ambalika is a seasoned professional with over three decades of experience in private equity funds management, equity investment, debt financing, structuring & restructuring advisory in India and across Asia. She joined NIIF in March 2020 as Executive Director – Direct Investments. At NIIF, she oversees all direct investments made by the funds managed by NIIF.

Prior to joining NIIF, she was the CEO & CIO of Neev Fund, managed by SBI Cap Ventures Ltd. At NEEV, she completed final fund negotiations with DFID, UK the majority sponsor, recruited and lead the Fund team and committed a third of the corpus in diverse investments in the renewables & social infrastructure space.

Prior to Neev, Ambalika had spent about 8 years with Macquarie Capital. She started her stint with Macquarie in Singapore and eventually rose to become the Managing Director of Macquarie SBI Infrastructure Fund. She was instrumental in conceptualising the fund, bringing in the sponsors, and raising the corpus of one of the largest India dedicated equity funds at the time, while also , setting up a team of high quality professionals  and originating & committing a substantial portion of the funds corpus in marquee transactions in the airports and telecom infrastructure space.

She has worked with several other reputed organizations such as Dresdner Bank AG and Barclays Capital with pan Asian and Indian coverage, across several products from equity investing, PPP, debt advisory and restructuring.

Ambalika started her career with SBI and spent 10 years with the organization managing several large corporate customers of the Bank, their working capital and project financing needs as well as some restructurings.

She has done her Bachelor of Science (Microbiology major) from Mumbai University and holds a Masters in Financial Management from Jamnalal Bajaj Institute of Management Studies.

Rajiv has over three decades of rich experience across multiple sectors, including Financial Services, Telecom, Oil & Gas (upstream and downstream), Construction, and Real Estate, spanning across several countries. With an excellent track record of demonstrated leadership in Corporate Finance, Strategic Planning, M&A, cost control, risk management, tax, restructuring and governance segments, he has led several successful capital raising assignments (project recourse and general corporate purposes) and has excellent relationships with leading banks and multilateral finance agencies across the globe.

Rajiv joined NIIF in September 2017 and is currently the Executive Director and Chief Operating Officer based in Mumbai. At NIIF, Rajiv is responsible for managing the company’s operations, governance, and compliance verticals and a part of the investment committee.

Before joining NIIF, Rajiv served as an Executive Director with Omzest Group, one of the most diversified and respected Group, based out of Oman. At Omzest, Rajiv was responsible for managing strategy and finance functions for the holding company and was on the Board and Committees of crucial portfolio companies of the Group. During his nine-year stint, he worked on several key projects, managing at Joint Venture/Investment opportunities, formulating the business strategy for the Group, and implementing business sustainability models to address challenges related to growth and profitability. He led the merger of HSBC ME with Oman International Bank. He also led investments in new technologies in such as enhanced oil recovery in the Oil and Gas sector, water, technology, and industrial products.

Before Omzest, Rajiv worked with the TATA Group for 15 years with different entities across varied roles. Rajiv joined TATA Group in 1994 with Tata Petrodyne engaged in Oil and Gas exploration business. He was transferred to Bombay House, Tata Group’s HQ, in 1999, where he joined Tata Industries Limited (TIL).  At TIL, Rajiv was responsible for Tata Groups’ investments in technology and sunrise industries and managing relationships with JV partners. His role also included implementing a long-term strategy to address opportunities in new and rising sectors post-liberalisation.  From TIL, he grew to become the CFO and Management Committee member of Tata Communications, one of the leading telecom and technology companies. Some of his core responsibilities in this role included managing business & financial planning, managing enterprise risk, internal audits, treasury, taxation, accounting, financial controllership, investor relations, procurement, to name a few. Rajiv led a 250-member global team with seven direct reports.

Rajiv has also worked with Roto Pumps and Ansal Group in the early days of his career, helping him build an in-depth perspective on Manufacturing and Real Estate business.

Rajiv holds a Bachelor in Commerce with Honours from Delhi University and is a member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India. He has also completed his Executive Development Program from Wharton Business School and Leadership Management Program at Harvard Business School.

Prakash is a seasoned professional with 35 years of rich experience in the financial services sector. His areas of expertise include corporate finance, project finance, infrastructure lending, infrastructure investments, credit risk management, strategy and building new businesses.

He joined NIIF in early 2016 and being one of the first employees of the firm, he has been instrumental in setting the foundation pillars of NIIF.  Some of his key contributions include developing the business strategy for NIIF, setting up systems and processes, creating policies, leading the initial fund raise in Middle East and Singapore, building the ESG practice, setting up of the NIIF Fund of Funds to name a few. In the initial stages of NIIF, Prakash led the HR, finance, accounts, compliance and administration functions. He has played a pivotal role in the acquisition of IDFC’s IDF arm and setting up of Aseem Infrastructure Finance Limited, the NBFC platform of NIIF.

Prior to joining NIIF, Prakash spent over three decades with State Bank of India (SBI) and has led several key positions during his tenure with SBI.  He started his career with SBI in 1982 as a Probationary Officer and worked on different roles including as Head of SBI’s Western Canada Operations, where he led the Bank’s foray into commercial operations in Canada. He was Deputy General Manager of North Bengal and Sikkim, General Manager in charge of the state of Punjab and Chandigarh, Deputy CEO of SBI Macquarie Infrastructure Fund, a USD 1.2 billion fund, a Joint Venture with Macquarie group of Australia.  He then rose to become the Head of Private Equity, Infrastructure and Venture Capital Funds in State Bank of India and was instrumental in setting up SBI’s own Private Equity arm SBICap Ventures.

In his last position at SBI, Prakash was the Chief General Manager in Charge of Tamil Nadu and Pondicherry operations, where he lead a team of 20,000 employees managing a balance sheet of USD 30 billion spread across 1100 branches.

Prakash holds a Bachelor’s degree in Commerce from Andhra University and is a member of Institute of Cost and Works Accountants of India and holds a Diploma in Business Finance. He has participated in many executive education programmes from Harvard Business School, Duke University, Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad, Indian School of Business and Indian Institute of Management, Calcutta.

Sanchit is an Analyst with the Strategic Opportunities Fund team. He joined NIIF in July 2020 and is based out of NIIF’s Delhi office. In his current role, Sanchit is responsible for evaluating investment opportunities and monitoring existing portfolio commitments for NIIF’s Strategic Opportunities Fund.

Prior to NIIF, Sanchit worked with EY as a Consultant in their Performance Improvement practice. During his three-year stint at EY, he worked on multiple business transformation engagements in the Agrochemicals and Industrials sector. Additionally, his role and responsibilities included executing initiatives to improve business processes, reduce lead times, and deliver tangible results on productivity & cost metrics.

Sanchit holds a Bachelor in Technology degree from IIT Delhi and an MBA degree from IIM Lucknow.

Sona joined NIIF’s Mumbai office in 2018 and is a Senior Associate with the firm. She has an overall experience of over 9 years and has diverse experience across various forms of fund raise, acquisitions, tax & regulatory advisory and audit.

At NIIF, she currently works with the Strategic Opportunities Fund team and is responsible for evaluation of investment opportunities and portfolio management.

Prior to NIIF, Sona worked with a CA firm and her role included tax and business advisory. Prior to this, Sona worked with Mytrah Energy, a renewable power developer as a part of the Corporate Finance team. At Mytrah, she was a key part of the team that was responsible for efforts on private equity fundraise, mezzanine fundraise and planning an IPO. Sona also worked with ReNew Power as part of the Corporate Finance team during her career. At ReNew, she worked on different projects such as private equity fundraise, joint venture financing, acquisitions as well as debt financing. Some of her marquee engagements include playing a strategic role in JV financing projects and a fundraise round from a leading institutional investor, their first direct investment in India.

Sona started her career journey in 2010 with KPMG’s tax and regulatory team and was involved in tax structuring projects for inbound investments into India, regulatory advisory projects on FEMA (Foreign Exchange Management Act). She did her Articleship with Kumbhat & Co and Ernst and Young’ statutory audit team.

Sona is a Chartered Accountant and holds a Bachelor in Commerce degree from Osmania University and an MBA from Indian School of Business.

Nilesh has over two decades of experience across private equity, debt investments, banking and portfolio management. During his career, he has worked on several investments across South Asia as well as East Asia and Africa.

He joined NIIF in Dec 2019 and is currently the Partner of Strategic Opportunities Fund at the firm. In this role, he is responsible for working across investments, portfolio and fund raising.

Prior to NIIF, Nilesh spent 14 years with International Finance Corporation (IFC), the private sector investing arm of World Bank Group. He started his journey with IFC in the financial institutions group where he led investments in India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh. He then moved to be the Portfolio Manager for IFC where he was responsible for leading the financial sector investments portfolio of over USD 4 billion in the South Asia market. Some of the key assignments with IFC included working on large scale transformations of microfinance companies into small finance banks, early forays in affordable housing finance and working with infrastructure finance companies. He has worked on investments across early stage and mature banks, NBFCs and other financial institutions during his tenure at IFC.

Prior to joining IFC in 2005, Nilesh worked with HSBC, India in different roles including in corporate and retail banking. He started his career with Tata Consultancy Services in 1996.

Nilesh holds a Bachelor in Engineering degree from Lucknow University and has done his MBA from IIM, Kolkata.

Aashish is an Analyst with the Master Fund team of NIIF and is based in Mumbai. Prior to joining NIIF, he was interned with Gaja Capital’s investments team. As a part of his internship, he worked on assignments including acquisition of preschool chains, exit for a sports management company and analysis of the logistic sector in India.

Prior to Gaja, Aashish worked with Goldman Sachs as a Senior Analyst with the fund accounting team for 2 years. His key responsibilities included preparation of fund financials, investor statements, cash and forex management for PE funds.

Aashish holds a Bachelor in Commerce from St. Xavier’s College, Calcutta and is an MBA graduate from IIM Calcutta. He is also a qualified Chartered Accountant, Company Secretary and an FRM Charter holder. Additionally, he has successfully completed all three levels of the CFA programme.

Adhira joined NIIF in April, 2020 and works as an Analyst in the Master Fund team, based in Mumbai. In her role, she is responsible for evaluating opportunities in the renewable energy sector along with managing NIIF’s investment in their renewable energy platform, Ayana Renewables.

Prior to joining NIIF, Adhira has worked with L&T Infra Finance for two years in the capacity of a manager with the advisory services team. During her stint with the firm, she worked extensively on M&A transactions in the Infra space with special focus on Roads and Renewable Energy sectors.

Adhira holds an MBA degree from Symbiosis International University, Pune and a BBA degree from Auro University, Surat. She is also certified in Investment Foundations by CFA institute, USA.

Rohit is an analyst with the Master Fund team of NIIF. He joined the firm in (year) and is based out of the Mumbai office.

Prior to joining NIIF, Rohit worked for over two years with Deutsche Bank as an M&A analyst. He has worked extensively on origination and execution mandates for clients in infrastructure, technology, media and telecom sectors.

Rohit holds a Bachelor in Chemistry degree from Sathya Sai University, Bangalore and has done his MBA from Indian Institute of Management, Indore.

Pratik has an overall experience of around 8 years. Pratik joined NIIF as an Analyst in Jan 2019 and is currently an Associate with Master Fund team of NIIF based out of Mumbai. At NIIF, he is responsible for evaluating investment opportunity in Clean Energy and Transportation sector.

Prior to joining NIIF, Pratik was associated with Yes Securities as part of their Investment Banking team in Mumbai. During his stint with the firm, he worked on Infrastructure sector with primary focus on Roads

Prior to Yes Securities, Pratik was associated with SBI Capital Markets’ Project Advisory and Structured Finance division in Mumbai. During his stint at SBI Capital Markets, he worked across sectors including Energy (Thermal & Renewables) and Transportation. Prior to SBI Capital Markets, Pratik started his post MBA career with PwC India in Gurgaon with Management consulting team focusing on clean energy domain.

Prior to MBA, Pratik was associated with Reliance Power for a stint of almost 3 years as an Engineer. During his stint with the firm, he has worked on execution of greenfield renewable energy project.

Pratik holds a Bachelor in Technology degree in Civil Engineering from Sardar Vallabhbhai National Institute of Technology, Surat and MBA from Management Development Institute, Gurgaon.

Sidharth is an Associate with the Master Fund team at NIIF. He joined the team in April 2019 and is based out of NIIF’s Mumbai office. At NIIF, Sidharth is responsible for helping with direct investment opportunities across the infrastructure sub-sectors, with a focus on Oil & Gas and Digital Infrastructure.

Prior to joining NIIF, Sidharth was with Barclays Plc as a part of the leveraged finance team. During his five-year stint with the firm, Sidharth worked on various transactions in the Oil & Gas and Chemicals sectors. His role and responsibilities included assisting in origination, structuring and execution of high-yield bond and leveraged loan transactions.

Sidharth started his career with WH Trading LLC, a proprietary trading firm, in 2009 and was a Software Engineer on their high-frequency algorithmic trading team, developing trading infrastructure and strategies for their equity arbitrage and options market-making desk.

He holds a Bachelor of Science in Engineering (Computer Science) and an MBA (Distinction) from the University of Michigan’s Ross School of Business.

Tejas has a total experience of over ten years involving underwriting closures of INR 50 Bn+. He joined NIIF in Feb 2019 as a member of the Master Fund team at NIIF and is responsible for direct investments coverage across Ports, Logistics and Renewables.

Prior to joining NIIF, Tejas worked with the Investment Banking Group at HDFC Bank, where he led pan-India coverage for Ports, Logistics, Warehousing and Shipping sectors. His product mandate included Project Finance, Structured Debt and Corporate Finance Advisory. His earlier assignments included Roads, Airports, LNG & LPG, Agri-warehousing and allied Transportation sectors. Prior to HDFC Bank, Tejas worked for YES Bank with roles across Infrastructure Finance and Strategy.

Tejas started his career at Infosys Technologies as a SAP-ERP technical consultant, prior to MBA from the National Institute of Industrial Engineering (NITIE). He also holds a degree in Computer Engineering from Mumbai University and has completed all three levels of the CFA programme administered by the CFA Institute, USA.

Sheetal is a Senior Associate with NIIF’s Master Fund team and joined the firm in Jan 2018, based in Mumbai. At NIIF, she is part of the direct investments team and have been working extensively on roads sector over last 2.5 years.

Prior to joining NIIF, Sheetal was associated with HDFC Bank as a part of the Investment Banking team. During her 1 year 3 months’ stint with HDFC, she worked on debt financing transactions of over c. USD 1 billion and closed c. USD 650 million, primarily in the roads sector. Owing to her track record, she was a recipient of Gold Star award for her contribution to the organisation.

Sheetal has also worked with SBI Capital Markets and Reliance Infrastructure as a part of their Project Advisory and Structured Finance Team and Project Finance team respectively.

Post Masters, she started her career with Reliance Infrastructure in 2011 as a part of the Project Finance team.

Sheetal has done Bachelor in Commerce from Sydenham College of Commerce & Economics and Masters in Management Studies from Mumbai University.

Pawan joined NIIF in July 2018. He has over 14 years of experience of which he has spent a decade in deal development, negotiations, structuring, analysis and equity investments in Indian infrastructure sector. At NIIF, he is a part of the Master Fund team and is responsible for deal origination, analysis and negotiating investment opportunities across the core-infrastructure asset class and portfolio management of investee companies. He has rich experience in sectors like roads & highways, urban transportation, airports and ropeways.

Prior to joining NIIF, Pawan worked with Tata Realty and Infrastructure Limited (TRIL) as part of its Corporate Finance team and during his 10-year stint, he was involved in all aspects of deal origination, mergers & acquisition, business strategy, project bidding and investment management. Pawan was involved in closing deals aggregating USD 1 billion of enterprise value and evaluated deals aggregating to $10 billion. Some of the marquee assignments that Pawan has been a part of include Navi Mumbai Airport, Pune Metro, Mumbai Metro Line 2, Mumbai Trans-Harbour Link and Colombo Port.

Prior to TRIL, Pawan worked with Adventity Global Services and Gati during his career.

Pawan is an MBA from ICFAI Business School, Hyderabad and a Chartered Financial Analyst from ICFAI.

Karthikeyan has rich blend of investment and operating experience across the transportation sectors – Roads, Metro rail and Airports. In his overall professional experience of over 17 years, he has covered the entire life cycle of an infrastructure PPP asset by handling the roles of developer, investment banker, investor and operator through his career, and has contributed to policy and regulatory framework in transportation sectors. He has been part of transactions in Water, Wastewater, Oil and Gas, Conventional and Renewable energy.  During his career journey, he has executed several transactions, worth USD 800 million in Indian infrastructure.

He joined NIIF in Jan 2017 and is part of the initial team that set up the firm and its building blocks on investments, fund raise and policies. As an integral part of Master Fund team, he covers transportation sector. He has set up Athaang Infrastructure (Roads platform for NIIF) and has lead partnership for several transactions with global and domestic institutions.

Prior to joining NIIF, he was the Chief Investment Officer for Uniquest Infra, infrastructure platform for Khazanah /UEM Group (Malaysia), in JV with IDFC, India. He led acquisitions and bidding of toll roads. Prior to Uniquest Infra, he worked with KPMG’s Infrastructure Advisory practice as Associate Director in Transaction & Restructuring and Corporate Finance, covering transactions in Transportation and Urban infrastructure space. Before KPMG, he worked at L&T IDPL as Assistant General Manager and worked on bidding and investments in projects across many sectors in infrastructure.

Karthikeyan graduated as a gold medalist with a Bachelor in Engineering degree from Govt. College of Technology, Coimbatore and has done his management in Finance and Strategy from XLRI, Jamshedpur.

Parag has 24 years of experience across private equity investing and fund management, as well as operating experience in project finance, management audit and commercial control. Prior to NIIF, he spent 15 years with IL&FS Investment Managers, where he led PE transactions across sectors such as Power, Roads, Logistics, City Gas Distribution, Waste Management etc, and was instrumental in crafting exits by way of IPO, strategic sale and sale to global PE players. He started his journey with IL&FS Investment Manager as a Manager and eventually rose to the position of Senior Vice President, heading the Infrastructure Private Equity vertical at the firm.

Parag also gained over 5 years of operating experience with Schoolnet India, an education technology company. Prior that, Parag started his career in 1996 with the Mardia Group, a manufacturing focused conglomerate.

Parag is a rank holder Science Graduate from University of Delhi and holds an MBA from University of Indore.

Ishita joined NIIF in April 2020 and has experience into valuation and corporate finance segments.

Prior to joining NIIF, Ishita worked with Duff and Phelps in the Portfolio Valuations Department for close to 11 months and with Trestvista Financial Services’ private equity practice for almost a year. At both the organizations, Ishita was amongst the youngest employees to be front leading comprehensive post transaction valuations. In her two- experience, she has significant experience in working across multiple geographies, including the US and UK.

Ishita holds a Bachelor in Business Administration in Finance from NMIMS and an MBA in Finance and Strategy from the Indian School of Business.

Tamanna joined NIIF as an Associate with the Fund of Funds investments team in May 2020. Based in Mumbai, she is responsible for evaluating investment opportunities and underwriting underlying portfolio investments for the Fund.

Prior to joining NIIF, Tamanna was associated with J.P. Morgan as a part of the Private Equity & Private Real Assets Investment due diligence team. During her nine-year stint with the firm, she conducted research and diligence on funds based in USA, Emerging Markets and Asia across various strategies including Buyout, Growth, Secondaries, Fund of Funds, Impact, Real Estate and Infrastructure sectors. She started her career journey with J.P. Morgan in March 2011 as an Investment Portfolio Specialist with the Fixed Income products and strategies team.

Tamanna holds a Bachelor in Management Studies (BMS) from Mumbai University and is an MBA from IBS (ICFAI Business School), Mumbai. She is also a CFA Level III candidate.

Surabhi is an analyst with the Investor Relations team of NIIF, based in Mumbai. She joined the firm in Sep 2019 and is responsible for fundraising and partnerships. Her key areas of work profile include covered financial and economic research, regulatory reporting and operations.

Prior to NIIF, she worked with Moody’s Analytics for over a year and during her stint, she worked on statutory and performance reporting of exchange traded funds and macroeconomic research.

Surabhi started her career with Goldman Sachs in the Tax Operations division in 2014 and during her two years at Goldman, she supported withholding tax related functions for Japan, Hong Kong and EMEA regions.

She holds a Bachelor in Business Management from Christ University, Bengaluru and an MSc. in Economics from Singapore Management University.

Prior to joining NIIF, Naveen interned at Temasek with the India investments team. Before his internship, Naveen worked at PwC as Senior Associate in the accounting advisory team where he worked with clients from diverse industries including power, insurance and FMCG.

Naveen holds an MBA from IIM Ahmedabad and is a member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India.

Sanket is part of the finance team and looks after financial accounting at NIIF. Prior to joining NIIF Limited, he has earlier worked with Grant Thornton and KPMG in the audit and assurance department and financial reporting and advisory services.

Sanket is a qualified Chartered Accountant from The Institute of Chartered Accountants of India and is IFRS certificate holder from Association of Certified Chartered Accountants, UK. He holds Bachelor’s degree in finance from CSJM University.

Ayushi has 6 years of experience in business development, policymaking, investment, and operations in renewable energy space. Before joining NIIF, Ayushi was Chief of Staff for SunEdison Asia-Pacific & Africa, headquartered in Chennai, India. She led the coordination of various aspects of the business across projects and countries. She ran key operational reviews, along with managing the recruitment for leadership roles, and the Investment Committee process. Ayushi also worked as a management consultant with Takshashila Consulting.

Ayushi has a MS in Statistics from the London School of Economics, and a BSc (Honors) in Statistics from Lady Shriram College, Delhi University.

Abhijit has over 18 years of experience in investor relations, fund raising, product development, communication and investment analysis across the financial services space. Prior to joining NIIF, he was the Director and Head of Investor Relations and Communication at India Ratings, the Indian subsidiary of Fitch Ratings. Previously, he was leading fund raising and investor relations at True North (earlier known as India Value Fund).

Abhijit has also worked with Fidelity Mutual Fund, AIG Investments, Tata Mutual Fund and Reliance Industries earlier in research, products and marketing & communication roles.

Abhijit has a Bachelor of Engineering from University of Calcutta and a Masters in Management from University of Mumbai.

Ria has over two years of experience working with the Deal Advisory team at KPMG India. While at KPMG, her role mainly involved transaction advisory and financial diligence (buy-side and vendor support), for clients in the infrastructure space encompassing highways and renewable power. She was also part of the team that led the due diligence for the acquisition of Welspun Renewable Energy by Tata Power in 2016.

Ria was the Mumbai University Gold Medalist in the Bachelors of Financial Markets stream at Jai Hind College, Mumbai. She has also completed all three levels of the Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) program.

Nitin has overall work experience of 13 years, of which 7.5 years has been in private equity spread across buy-side investments and sell-side advisory with leading Indian financial institutions. He has led transaction closures across equity and debt for USD 2+ billion at SBI Capital Markets.

Prior to joining NIIF, Nitin played an instrumental role at SBICAP Ventures in setting up and managing an infrastructure fund in collaboration with a prominent UK-based investor.

Nitin holds an MBA from the Indian Institute of Management, Calcutta. He completed both his Bachelors and Masters of Technology in Mechanical Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology, Madras.