Category: In focus

Vidur Gupta – Senior Director: Portfolio Management

• 18+ years of experience in investment and asset management.
• Previously held leadership roles with AGP Sustainable Real Assets, Equis Funds Group and Global Infrastructure Partners India

Navin Gupta CFA – Senior Director

• 18+ years of experience in Equity Research, Corporate Finance & Consulting
• Goldman Sachs, UBS
• MBA from IIM Bangalore

Rahul Taneja – Managing Director: Human Capital

• Former Director and Group Chief Human Resources at JSPL Group; Chief People Officer and member of Executive Committee at Jet Airways
• BE Mech Eng from NIT, Bhopal and MBA from Xavier Institute of Management

Sunil Jain – Operating partner

• Former CEO & ED at Hero Future Energies
• Currently Chairman, Energy Council, at Indo-American Chamber of Commerce and Chairman of Indian Renewable Energy Alliance

Richard Heald OBE – MD: Public Policy and Government Relations

• Exec. Chair of UK India Business Council
• Non-Exec. Director at TVS SCS
• Previously, 16 years at Rothschild in a variety of senior roles
• MA Law from Oxford, with 45 years experience

BC Tripathi – Advisor

• Ex Chairman and Managing Director of Gas Auth. Of India (GAIL) for 10+ years
• Board Member of Deepak Fertilisers and IIT Gandhinagar
• Mechanical engineer with 38+ years experience in energy & infrastructure

Viral Gathani – Senior MD: Strategy, M&A and Finance

• Ex Head of Group Corporate Finance & Strategy at Vedanta Resources
• Previous roles at RBS, Citi, CS and Warburg Pincus
• MA Econ and MPhil Int’l Relations from Cambridge, with 30+ years experience

Tony Fountain – Managing Partner

• Previously CEO of Nuclear Decommissioning Authority and CEO Refinery & Marketing, Reliance Industries
• 25 years at BP in various senior roles
• BSc Econ. from Warwick and MPhil Econ from Oxford with 35+ years experience

Prashant Ruia – Chief Executive Officer

• Over three decades of entrepreneurial & leadership experience at Essar
• Drove over $40bn of asset monetization and proactive focus on championing decarbonisation & green ventures

Jatinder Mehra

Vice Chairman & Operating Partner, Metals & Mining

Jatinder Mehra is the Vice Chairman & Operating Partner of Essar Capital. With more than 50 years of experience, he guides Essar through transformations, manages operating functions and leads complex projects.

Mr Mehra is involved in various Essar initiatives in areas of Business Strategy, Investments, Corporate Governance, Risk Management and Sustainability.

Prior to joining Essar Capital, he lead several reputed public sector and private steel companies, including Steel Authority of India Limited and Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Limited as their Chairman and Managing Director.

Vikash Saraf

Vikash Saraf is the non-executive director of Essar Capital.  He has over 25 years of work experience in the field of M&A and Transactions.

He joined Essar in early 2000 and has played a key role on strategic investments of Essar in core economy and infrastructure sectors. Vikash is also a member of the Management Committee of Essar Capital.

Prior to joining Essar Capital, Vikash was an Executive Director and CEO of SSKI Corporate Finance Ltd, a boutique investment bank specialising in infrastructure financing and advisory.

Dhanpat Nahata

Dhanpat Nahata is the General Partner, Strategy and Risk, at Essar Capital. With over 20 years of experience in the field of M&A and transactions, he leads all the M&A structuring on complex transactions globally for Essar Capital. He is a part of the Management Committee of Essar Capital.

Prior to joining Essar, he was associated with EY as a Partner for 11 years.

Haseeb Drabu

Haseeb Drabu is an economist with over 30 years of experience with diverse skill-sets and wide-ranging experience as a lawmaker, policy planner, banker and an economic commentator.

He has worked as an Economic Advisor, and the principal economic policy maker at the state level for seven years. He was chairman and chief executive of J&K Bank for five years. In his avatar as editor of a business daily, he also made his mark as a widely respected and incisive columnist on macroeconomics, fiscal and monetary policy.

Badrinath Durvasula

Managing Director, Legal, Energy

Badrinath Durvasula joined Essar as the Managing Director, Legal, and oversees and advises the legal function for the Energy, Services & Technology sectors.

Badrinath is a seasoned legal professional with over 29 years of core experience in implementing legal policies for corporates in the manufacturing, oil & gas and services sectors. He has a strong professional record in streamlining litigation, M&A, turnkey contract management, IPR, project financing, international arbitration and compliance support. Prior to joining Essar, he was the Vice President and General Counsel at Hindustan Construction Company Ltd. He has held several leadership positions at Adani Group, Larson & Toubro Ltd, Binani Industries Ltd. amongst others.

Thangapandian Srinivasalu

Advisor. Energy

Thangapandian Srinivasalu currently serves as the Advisor for investments in the Energy sector at Essar Capital. He was the Chief Executive Officer and Board Member at Essar Oil UK Limited.  Previously Group Director at Gulf Petrochem, he is an oil and gas professional with around 35 years of experience in sales, marketing and trading of petroleum products in India, the Middle East and Nigeria with Public Sector Undertakings, Multi-National Companies and private sector companies.  He also worked at Essar Oil Limited, India, as CEO – Marketing & IST, and was responsible for Retail Sales, Direct Sales, Retail Network Expansion, Sourcing Crude, Trading of Petroleum Products and Supply & Distribution in India and Kenya.  He established PetroFina in India and was part of the team that launched Gulf Oil in India post opening up of the market.  Having started his career with HPCL, he worked with National Oil Nigeria, Reliance Industries Ltd., TotalFinaELF and Gulf Oil India.

Sanjay Palve

Sr. Managing Director, Finance, Infra, Tech & Retail

Sanjay Palve is the Sr. Managing Director, Finance, Infra, Tech & Retail, at Essar Capital. He is responsible for capital raising, financial performance improvement, risk monitoring and corporate banking. Sanjay is a seasoned professional with more than 22 years of stellar experience in building and leading large financial businesses across wholesale and retail segments.

Prior to joining Essar, he was the CEO of Religare Finvest Limited (RFL) and the Managing Director of Religare Housing Development Finance Corporation (RHDCL). He has held key leadership positions at YES Bank Ltd. and ICICI Bank Ltd. Recently, he was also awarded ‘Business Leader of the Year’ in the NBFC segment by ET Now.

Raj Varma

Advisor

Raj Varma is an Advisor, at Essar Capital. He joined Burmah Shell in 1957, also known as Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd after it was nationalised, and retired from it as director marketing. He also served as a member on the Boards of Bharat Shell, and was the managing director of Bharat Oman Refineries Ltd. After a brief stint with Reliance Industries as its advisor, Varma joined Essar Oil as its CEO, Marketing, in 1999.

Rajiv Agarwal

Operating Parter, Infrastructure & MD & CEO, Essar Ports

Rajiv Agarwal is the Operating Partner, Infrastructure, at Essar Capital and Managing Director, Essar Ports.He has over 30 years of experience and has held leadership positions in sectors such as Ports, Shipping, Telecom, Retail and Business Processing Outsourcing.

He was appointed as MD & CEO of Essar Shipping, Ports & Logistics Limited in 2010.

He Joined Essar in 1997 as COO in Essar Telecom and was the Executive Director of Essar Shipping Limited from 1998-2002. He has been a key member of several industry committees like Confederation of Indian Industries, Federation of Indian Commerce Industries, The Associated Chamber of Commerce & Industry of India and SUPERBRANDS for several years.

Rakesh Kankanala

Managing Director, M&A, Infrastructure

Rakesh Kankanala is the Managing Director, Managing Director, M&A, Infrastructure, of Essar Capital. An MBA from IIM Lucknow, Rakesh is a qualified Engineer from NIT, and brings with him 13 years of experience. Prior to being the Managing Director at Essar Capital, Rakesh has been at leadership positions in Essar Ports. Earlier on he has worked with TCS in the beginning of his career.

Deepak Sogani

Managing Director, Finance, Metals & Mining

Mr Deepak Sogani joined ESSAR in August 2020 as Managing Director – Finance, Essar Capital, the investment manager for Essar Global Fund Limited (‘EGFL’). He is responsible for capital raising, financial performance improvement, risk monitoring and corporate banking for Infrastructure. Mr Sogani helps manage Essar Capital investments in the portfolio companies of metals & mining sector.

Mr Sogani, who was the Group CFO of Jindal Steel & Power Limited, has over 25 years of experience specialising in areas of business and financial management with special focus on strategy, M&A, business/corporate development, business restructuring, corporate finance, capital markets, investor relationship, governance and operations. He has significant experience of managing strategic transactions, acquisitions and raising capital across industries including Financial Services, Information Technology and Manufacturing (Cement, Sugar, Refractories, Power, Renewable Energy, Steel & Healthcare).

Education Qualification:

• PGDBM, IIM A
• CFA
• IIT Delhi

Firdose Coovadia

Advisor, Metals & Mining

Firdose Coovadia is an Advisor, Metals & Mining, at Essar Capital. He has over 28 years of experience in investment banking, private equity, audit and investment in a variety of institutions including KPMG and UBS Warburg.

Firdose has extensive experience in emerging markets, having been involved in advising governments, parastatals and companies in Africa, India, Europe and the Middle East. He has played an integral role in many landmark private equity transactions and has also managed many regional and global private equity funds.

Leveraging his extensive business network, Firdhose has also played an active role in assisting portfolio companies with business development and cross-border transactions or business relationships across Africa, the Middle East and Asia. His experience spans several sectors including mining and natural resources, telecommunications, business process outsourcing, infrastructure, healthcare and manufacturing.

Madhu Vuppuluri

Operating Partner, Metals & Mining

Madhu Vuppuluri is the Operating Partner, Metals & Mining, Essar Capital. With over 27 years of work experience in diverse industries ranging from Manufacturing (Metals, Mining & Power Generation) to Services sectors (Commercial Airline and Technology, inclusive of Business Process Outsourcing sectors), he provides strategic direction to the management of the Mesabi Portfolio. Madhu’s expertise lies in the area of mergers & acquisition, fund raising, investor relations, and operations management, and leads future capital investment recommendations to Essar Capital’s Board of Directors.

Naushad Ansari

Managing Director, Business Development, Metals & Mining

Mr Naushad Ansari is Managing Director, Business Development, at Essar Capital. He would be responsible for advising and leading the company with regards all investments and opportunities in the metals & mining sector.

He is an experienced professional and an industry veteran, with 33 years’ experience with Tata Steel and 11 years with Jindal Steel & Power. He is a strong business development professional with a Mechanical Engineering Degree from Aligarh Muslim University.

Toker Ozcan

Operating Partner, Metals & Mining

Toker Özcan is as an Operating Partner, Metals & Mining. Toker forms part of the senior leadership team at Essar Capital and is responsible for critical decisions and strategic directions with regards its investments in the Metals & Mining sector.

He has over 28 years of experience in Metals, Mining and Energy sectors and was responsible for Turkey’s first investment in Protection and Armor Steel Production. He has also led production and operations hub in 7 countries (Turkey, USA, China, Brazil, Austria, United Kingdom, Australia). In his last assignment with Oyak Mining and Metallurgy Group, he managed 9.3 million tons of liquid steel production.

Toker has held key leadership positions at SASA Poly. San, İSDEMİR. He is on the Board of Miilux OY, Akdeniz Kimya and OYAK Mining and Metallurgy Group.

Srinivasan Vaidyanathan

Operating Partner, Technology & Retail

Srinivasan Vaidyanathan is the Operating Partner, Technology & Retail, at Essar Capital. With over 30 years of experience in operational leadership, investment management and business growth across diverse sectors, Srinivasan provides critical evaluation on current and future capital investments.

His strength lies in leading new business development opportunities and conducting preliminary due diligence and analysis of emergent companies and partners.

Prior to Essar, he has worked with Archean Group as Group President, and with SIVA group as CEO for about 15 years.

Alok Gupta

Operating Partner, Technology & Retail

Alok Gupta is the Operating Partner, Technology & Retail, at Essar Capital. With over 32 years of work experience in the technological sector, Alok leads all new capital investment recommendations to the company’s board.

He joined Essar as CEO Retail in the year 2010. Subsequently he took responsibility as President – Global Markets & Strategy since 2012 where he was responsible for sales, pricing strategy, marketing, and product & category management for the Steel business.

Prior to joining Essar, he has worked with Café Coffee Day and UB Spirits.

Kailash Daultani

Managing Director, Treasury and Finance

Kailash Daultani currently serves as the Managing Director, Treasury and Finance, at Essar Capital. With 18 years of experience, he has also served as the Senior Vice President, International Projects and Corporate Finance, with Essar Services. A qualified chartered accountant, Kailash joined Essar in 2003 after working with Chaturvedi & Shah and Dewani & Co.

Adithya Bhat

Managing Director, Risk

Adithya Bhat, with over 27 years of experience in Governance, Risk and Compliance (GRC), is the Chief Risk Officer at Essar Capital. He is responsible for investigation, analysis and assessment of risk, and accordingly design and implement strategies and processes which mitigate these threats. He also ensures the successful delivery of the organisation’s corporate and business plans and desired outcomes.

Prior to this, he was a partner with KPMG’s risk consulting practice focusing on enterprise and compliance risk management, partnering with leading multinational companies in areas of GRC in India, North America and Middle East.

He has also led digitalisation initiative in GRC space and was instrumental in running technology-based solution around enterprise risk, compliance risk, license management and document repository systems.  In addition, in an honorary capacity, Adithya is currently the Senior Vice President at the India Chapter of Institute of Internal Auditors Inc, USA and President elect for 2021 – 22.

Priya Chakravarty

Priya Chakravarty is the Senior Director, HR, at Essar Capital. She has more than 23 years of experience in Human Resources, having worked across industries like Manufacturing, Pharma, IT and Retail. In her last assignment as Chief People Officer – Hometown & Ezone, Priya was responsible for driving a transformational HR agenda that focused on organisational culture, building a talent pipeline, and initiating & aligning all people practices to business achievement. She has earlier worked with Cipla as Head HR – International Business, and has also volunteered with the Akanksha Foundation. In her earlier stint with Essar, Priya has worked at Senior Management roles, initially with Essar Oil and then as Head – International HR (Corporate HR).

ANDREW WRIGHT

Managing Director, Legal, Energy

Andrew Wright is the Managing Director, Legal, at Essar Capital. He is responsible to advise and represent the company for all the legal matters concerning the Energy sector investments and portfolio businesses.

Having completed his law degree from the University of Leeds, United Kingdom, Andrew has over 25 years of rich experience.

Anshuman Ruia

Anshuman Ruia is part of the second generation of the Ruia family that founded Essar. Essar was founded in 1969 by his father, Shashi Ruia, and uncle Ravi Ruia.

Anshuman is known for his financial expertise and project execution skills. He has overseen Essar’s BPO and Power businesses, and was instrumental in creating Aegis, the BPO arm of Essar. The Aegis business was monetised at a value of almost 20 times the investments made.

He is also responsible for the expansion and diversification of the Power business into new renewable energy sources, and its entry into the transmission and distribution segment.
Mr Ruia is a member of the Young Presidents Organisation, and is a connoisseur of music and a keen table tennis player.

Rewant Ruia

Rewant is a member of the second generation of the Ruia Family that is the founding family of Essar. Rewant’s global exposure, fresh perspectives and arc of activities have contributed to Essar’s strategy and operations in the mining, steel and retail sectors, both in India and abroad. He holds an MBA from Stanford Graduate School of Business.

Frequently traveling between New York, London and Mumbai, he drives the strategy of Essar’s Oil and Gas Business in the United Kingdom, the Metals & Mining operations in the US, and the Power business in Canada.

He works closely with the asset acquisition team that helped forge strategic integration across the raw material-to-steel value spectrum, and now assists the management teams in maximising the value of their business. He played an active role in Essar’s entry into emerging modern retail.

Rewant concentrates on evolving the organisational design for Essar’s next phase of growth. He focuses on streamlining work flows, people systems and processes through the use of planning and technology.

Rajiv Gujjalu

Mr Rajiv Gujjalu serves as Director – Essar Global Fund Limited (EGFL). He plays a key role in managing strategic functions of EGFL.

Acting as director of several client companies, Rajiv is a Fellow member of the Mauritius Institute of Directors since 2012. He has held several senior management positions within the financial services industry over the past twenty-two years with experience in stockbroking, investment and treasury management, corporate and fund administration and insurance mainly in Mauritius and Canada. Currently, he heads the country operations of Afrocentric Group in Mauritius and is the Managing Director of Medscheme International. Additionally, he has held leadership positions at IAA Healthcare, Metropolitan Insurance, CIM Global Business, CIM Asset Management, Ireland Blyth Limited and HSBC respectively.

Rajiv was awarded the designation of Canadian Investment Manager by the Canadian Securities Institute in 2006. He holds a BA (Hons) in Economics and a Masters in Investment and Finance.