Satyananda Mishra

Former Chief Information Commissioner Government of India

Mr. Satyananda Mishra is the former Chief Information Commissioner of India (December 2010 to September 2013). He has a diverse and exemplary career of more than 40 years in the Indian Administrative Services (batch of 1973). He was the Chairman and Non-Executive Independent Director of the Multi Commodity Exchange of India Limited from November 2013 till November 2016. He served as the Director of the Small Industries Development Bank of India until 2018 and as a Development Commissioner for Small Scale Industries in the Government of India. Additionally, he has also held the position of Former Secretary for various government departments like the Department of Personnel & Training (DoPT), Public Works Department (PWD), and Department of Culture (MP Government).

Shachindra-Nath

Founder & Managing Director

Mr. Nath took on the role of an entrepreneur by acquiring control of a listed NBFC called Chokhani Securities Limited in 2018 and is now the Vice Chairman & Managing Director of UGRO Capital, a tech enabled small business lending platform. Prior to embarking on his entrepreneurial journey at UGRO Capital, Mr Nath has been influential in setting up Insurance Companies, Global Asset Management Businesses, Capital Market and Lending Institutions. Throughout his illustrious career, he has been instrumental in building two insurance companies, a large asset management company and an NBFC. Some of his biggest achievements include establishing new business verticals alongside foraying successful joint ventures and partnerships for the group. He is a qualified lawyer and a University Rank Holder from the Banaras Hindu University (India).

S Karuppasamy

Former Executive Director - Reserve Bank of India

Mr. Karuppasamy has served as the Executive Director of Reserve Bank of India and as the RBI Nominee Director at Indian Bank. He continues to be associated with a number of high-profile working groups in certain areas, such as High-Power Committee on Urban Cooperative Banks, Rating Framework for Urban Cooperative Banks, Cross Border Supervision and Integrated System of Alert. This also includes serving as an Independent Director at Asset Reconstruction Company (India) Limited. He is a postgraduate in Economics, a Certified Associate of Indian Institute of Bankers, with a Post Graduate Diploma in Bank Management (NIBM).

Karnam Sekar

Former Managing Director & CEO - Indian Overseas Bank

Mr. Karnam Sekar is a professional banker with rich experience in all the facets of Indian Banking at a very senior level. He joined as a Probationary Officer with State Bank of India in 1983 and rose to the level of Deputy Managing Director. Selected as Managing Director of Public Sector Bank and has the rare distinction of heading two public Sector Banks during very critical juncture of their history. As the Dy MD of SBI, he contributed during the Board level deliberations of the Nation’s Largest Commercial Bank for more than four years. Presently he is on the Board of Incred Financial Services Ltd. and National Asset Construction Company Ltd.

Hemant Bhargava

Former Chairman In charge & Managing Director - Life Insurance Corporation

Mr. Hemant Bhargava is a Master’s in economics. Mr. Bhargava joined LIC as a direct recruit officer in 1981 and retired as its Managing Director in July 2019. During his long tenure of 38 years, he worked across diverse set of roles both in India and abroad, building multi-dimensional experience in different capacities, especially in Marketing, Internal Operations, and new ventures. He was the first chief of LIC International Operations SBU, besides being instrumental in setting up LIC Cards Services Limited. His tenure as Managing Director (and also as Chairman in charge from January to March 2019) was marked by his creative leadership with new ideas enriched by the extensive experience gained in overseeing several functions including Marketing, Finance, Personnel, Investments, Alternative Channel, etc. Presently he is on the Board of Larsen and Toubro and Tata Power Company Limited and ITC.

RAJEEV K. AGARWAL

Former Whole Time Member of Securities and Exchange Board of India

Mr. Agarwal has nearly three decades of experience in the Indian financial services sector. He was worked with some highly reputed organizations such as the Securities and Exchange Board of India, Forward Markets Commission, and Indian Revenue Service. He has a knack of building and maintaining relationships and community with ease. Rajeev Agarwal finished his term on November 2016 from the post of Whole Time Member at SEBI. Before joining SEBI, he served as the Member of the Forward Markets Commission (FMC) and was responsible for the framing of regulations for the Commodities Markets which had been liberalized just then. He is an alumnus of The Indian Revenue Service (Batch of 1983) and the Indian Institute of Technology, Roorkee with a bachelor’s in technology.

CHETAN GUPTA

Managing Director - Samena Capital Investments

Mr. Gupta is the Managing Director of Samena Capital Investments Limited in Dubai, focusing on investments within the Special Situations Funds. He is a member of the Board of Directors and Executive Committee at RAK Logistics as well as an Investment Committee member of the Samena Special Situations Funds. His insightful thinking is vested towards balancing the interests of the company, shareholders, and other stakeholders by ensuring long-term growth that is both sustainable and profitable. Prior to Samena Capital, he was an Equity Research Analyst at Tricolour India Fund and a part of the General Electric Financial Management Leadership Program, focusing on financial planning and analysis. He is a Chartered Financial Analyst (AIMR) as well as a Chartered Alternative Investment Analyst. He holds a Master’s in Management (Finance) from the University of Mumbai.

MANOJ SEHRAWAT

Partner at ADV Partners

Mr. Sehrawat currently serves as a Partner at ADV Partners, after moving on from the role of Managing Director at the firm. With 22 years of experience in financial services across private equity, distress debt acquisition & resolution, corporate and financial restructurings in India, He has a strong ability to build and sustain new business relationships as well as adapt to diverse environments. Prior to ADV, Manoj Sehrawat was the Vice President with JPMorgan’s Asia Special Situations Group. He has also worked at ARCIL where he was responsible for acquisition of NPLs from banks & FIs. He is a Chartered Accountant from Institute of Chartered Accountants of India and has a bachelor’s degree in Commerce from Delhi University.

ROHIT GOYAL

Vice President at IFU

Mr. Rohit Goyal is currently working as a Vice President within the global financial services team at IFU, a Danish DFI, working to invest in financial services institutions across emerging markets.

Mr. Goyal has a cumulative experience of 20 years, of which 15 years has been within the financial services sector. Mr. Goyal is a B-Tech in mechanical engineering from IIT Delhi and is also a CFA charter holder.

Tabassum Inamdar

Independent Director

Ms. Tabassum Inamdar is a highly seasoned and respected Chartered Accountant, with over 25 years of extensive experience in research and analysis in the banking, insurance, and financial sector in India and Asia. As a pioneer in the impact sector, she founded Tameel, a research initiative specialising in impact strategy research in 2019. Her groundbreaking 7-point framework for successful CSR has been recognized as a foundation for impactful initiatives, and she has applied this framework to analyse companies like Mahindra & Mahindra and ITC.

As a member of a committee set up by the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India, Ms. Inamdar played a key role in developing a concept paper on standalone micro-insurance companies. She has also held key positions in various organizations, notably, as the Head of State Reform Team at Central Square Foundation, Managing Director and Co-head of the India Research team and Asia Financials team at Goldman Sachs Securities India Private Ltd, and other influential roles at UBS Securities and Kotak Securities etc.

Her expertise includes serving on multiple boards as an Independent Director, including those of Equitas Small Finance Bank and Zipsure, along with current appointments at Franklin Templeton AMC India, Pure Earth Blacksmith Institute, Indifi Technologies Pvt. Ltd., and its 100% subsidiary, Indifi Capital Pvt. Ltd. With her impressive track record, expertise, and commitment to creating a positive impact, she is poised to be an invaluable addition to the board of UGRO Capital Limited.

AMIT MANDE

Chief Revenue Officer

22+ Years of Experience

Previous Organisation: m capital I RattanIndia Finance Private Limited.

Amit is the Chief Revenue Officer at UGRO Capital. Leveraging his prior experience of building profitable businesses across asset products, diverse distribution models, and his passion for technology and speed, he endeavours to build a multi-product and omnichannel MSME lending franchise on the back of digitization and data analytics. Amit shoulders the responsibility of scaling the asset side of the business. Business and Operations teams across all product verticals report to him. Amit brings a rich career experience spanning over 22 years with organizations like Standard Chartered Bank, ABN Amro Bank, Barclays Bank, Capital First, Rattan India Finance, Mswipe Technologies. Amit is an alumnus of Jamnalal Bajaj Institute of Management Studies and a Mechanical engineer from V.J.T.I., Mumbai.

ANUJ PANDEY

Chief Risk Officer

20+ years of Experience

Previous Organisation: Religare Finvest Limited I Barclays Bank

Anuj is a founding team member of UGRO Capital. His passion is to use analytics & technology to create pragmatic risk models that help create new products/programmes which in turn helps simplify the credit access experiences for SME’s. Anuj brings 20+ years of experience from leading companies such as Barclays Bank, ABN AMRO Bank, GSK Consumer & Religare Finvest. Anuj holds a Bachelor’s degree in Engineering (Mechanical) from Thapar University & PGDM from IIM Lucknow.

KISHORE LODHA

Chief Financial Officer

20+ years of Experience

Previous Organisation: Hinduja Leyland Finance Limited I Srei Infrastructure Finance Limited.

Kishore is a qualified Chartered Accountant by profession. He brings with him 20+ years of experience and has been associated with organisations like Future Group and SREI Infrastructure. He joins us from Hinduja Leyland Finance where he worked as the Chief Financial Officer. He has held various offices in the finance domain ranging from managing accounting, taxation, financial controller, RBI Compliances and Treasury function.

RAJNI KHURANA

Chief People Officer

20+ years of Experience

Previous Organisation: IndoSpace, CRISIL, Birla Sunlife Insurance, HDFC Bank, WNS.

Rajni Khurana, our Chief People's Officer, brings over 20 years of Global Human Resources Management and Strategic Business Advisory experience to UGRO. Specializing in Financial Services, she excels in crafting platforms for organizational growth. A foundational member of UGRO Capital, Rajni played a pivotal role in scaling the people function and shaping the organization's people-centric culture and values. Her strategic acumen has been instrumental in the evolution of UGRO, fostering a workplace culture that aligns with the company's vision and values. With a rich background that includes contributions to IndoSpace, CRISIL, Birla Sunlife Insurance, HDFC Bank, and WNS, Rajni brings a diverse wealth of experience to her impactful leadership role.

SUNIL LOTKE

Chief Legal & Compliance Officer

20+ years of Experience

Previous Organisation: InCred I Star Agri Finance

Sunil is the Chief Officer – Legal, Compliance & Secretarial at UGRO Capital and is the primary interface with the Regulators. He brings about 20 years of rich experience in the field of Legal, Compliance and Corporate Secretarial with specializations in Financial Services Legislations, Capital Market transactions, Corporate Restructuring, and Securities Regulations. Sunil joins us from InCred Financial Services, where he was responsible for Legal & Compliance function. Before joining InCred, he has worked with the Reliance Group, Future Capital Holdings, IIFL Group & StarAgri Finance. Sunil is a member of the Institute of Company Secretaries of India, and a law graduate from Mumbai University.

J. SATHIAYAN

Chief Business Officer, Micro Enterprises

21 Years of Experience

Previous Organisation: Religare Finvest Limited (SME Loans)

Sathiayan is a finance and banking professional who brings over two decades of experience in the domains of SME & Business Finance, Retail Liabilities and Assets, Third Party Products Distribution and other financial services at multiple levels in corporates of high disposition, to the company. His versatile vision and tenacity to create successful growth plans have led him to propel the UGRO foot-print across India. As a Chief Business Officer, he is responsible for making UGRO come alive to our various partners and customers. His past high profile roles include being the Vice President of ABN Amro Bank N.V. and being a director of Religare Finvest Limited. J. Sathiayan is an alumnus of the Sastra University with a degree in B.E.

Sharad Agarwal

Chief Operating and Technology Officer

20+ years of experience

Previous Organisation: Religare | CitiFinancial | Max New York Life Insurance

Sharad Agarwal, brings over 26 years of extensive experience in Business, Startups, Fintech, and Operations within the Banking, Financial Services, and Insurance Sector. He has excelled in establishing and leading high-performing functions, steering them to achieve substantial portfolios in dynamic business environments. Sharad's core competencies include setting up Fintech organizations, managing startups, designing Enterprise IT and Operations Strategies, and driving digitization initiatives. He has a proven track record of scaling businesses from startup to growth phase.

Sharad has received prestigious awards, including the NBFC Leadership Award and Best Tech-Driven NBFC of the Year. His achievements reflect excellence in customer experience, mobility initiatives, creativity, and innovation. As a former member of the Gartner Research Forum and a CAPSTONE-certified professional, Sharad brings valuable insights and expertise to our team.