GIFT Your Investment a Global Edge | GIFT City, Gandhinagar

Dr. Dipesh Shah has over 23 years of professional experience in International Business, Project
Development, Corporate Affairs, Corporate Law & Policy matters. His most prominent achievement includes setting up and operationalizing India’s 1st Smart City and International Financial Services Centre (IFSC). He has been associated with the development of GIFT City since its inception – 2008. In his last 16 years, tenure at GIFT City, City made substantial progress in getting recognition as India’s model Smart City, starting India’s first Multi Services SEZ and only approved International Financial Services Centre. He brought in the regulatory and business changes in the GIFT IFSC to bring in Banks (now transacting more than US$ 50 Billion), International Exchanges, inaugurated by Hon’ble Prime Minister of India and Insurance & re-insurance companies for undertaking offshore transactions. He is the Executive Director and heads the Development and International Relations at IFSCA. He is responsible for overall development of IFSC in India.
Dr. Shah holds Doctorate (Ph.D.) In International Financial Services Centre (IFSC) – India’s first
research on subject. PGDM in International Business & Finance (MBA) , Nirma University, India,
Chartered Secretary, Institute of Company Secretaries of India (ICSI), India & Institute of Chartered
Secretaries & Administrators, UK.

Krishna is currently the CEO of Unifi Investment Management LLP, GIFT City. He has played an integral role within the Unifi Capital Group since 2015. His contributions span client advisory and business development across regions, including Tamil Nadu, East India, and International Markets. With over 20 years of experience in Financial Services, Capital Markets, and Wealth Management, Krishna brings a wealth of expertise to his role. His career journey includes diverse roles in prominent institutions such as Trust Plutus Wealth Managers, ASK, Standard Chartered Bank, and HDFC Bank. Prior to joining Unifi in 2015, he led the Advisory function for East and South India at Trust Plutus Wealth Managers. Krishna holds a master’s in Management from ICFAI and is a Certified Financial Planner (CFP).

R. Leelavathi Naidu is a Partner with IC Universal Legal and oversees the Asset Management and Regulatory practice at its Mumbai office. She has advised various domestic fund managers on formation and registration of alternative investment funds (including private equity funds, hedge funds, venture capital funds, debt funds and so on), and drafting, and negotiation of associated documentation. She also assists in structuring of the India focused offshore funds including funds in GIFT City and other jurisdictions. She also has wide experience in advising investment advisers, portfolio managers, mutual funds on registrations, reporting and documentation. She is also very active on advocacy for various regulatory matters and works along side various associations and intermediaries. She works along side regulators in various regulatory initiatives for industry. She was recognized as one of the ‘Top 40 under 40’ Alternative Investment Professionals in India by the Association of International Wealth Management of India (2020). She was also recognized as ’40 under 40’ compliance professionals at Compliance 10/10 (2020) and as one of  ‘Top Women in Finance’ in 2023. 

Manas Kumar is the Head of Products and Business Development – International Business at HDFC AMC. Manas joined HDFC AMC in March 2023 and has over 20 years of experience in areas like business development, strategy, products, institutional client servicing and investment advisory. Prior to HDFC AMC, he was Head – International Business at Edelweiss AML and has previously worked with SBI Funds Management, Kotak Mahindra AMC and associated companies. He has a Bachelor in Technology from IIT Bombay and a Post Graduate Diploma in Management from IIM Lucknow

Mihir Shirgaonkar heads the Alternative Investments division at Phillip Ventures IFSC, GIFT City. He is the fund manager for the Global PMS strategies and manages the Global Advisory business of Phillip Ventures IFSC. Mihir has over 9 years of experience in the asset management industry in areas like portfolio management, fund administration, operations and projects. Previously he has worked with DSP Investment Managers (erstwhile DSP BlackRock) and HDFC AMC. He is an MBA (PGPX) from IIM Ahmedabad. He is a Chartered Accountant and a CFA charterholder. He is also a volunteer with the CFA Society India.

Nehal Sampat is a member of the Institute of Chartered Accountant of India. He has over 22 years of experience in advising clients on varied tax and regulatory related issues. He is a Partner at Price Waterhouse & Co LLP. At PwC, Nehal has been focusing on Financial Services clients, especially in Asset and Wealth Management sectors. He has extensive experience in advising clients on tax and regulatory issues with respect to: 1) Structuring of domestic and offshore Funds; 2) Investment by offshore investors in Indian capital markets through onshore and offshore structures; 3) Management of offshore Funds from India; and 4) Structuring of investments in and divestments from portfolio companies. He has assisted clients and Asset Management industry associations in representing their issues at different forums before policy-makers. He is based out of the GIFT City office of PWC. 

Pankit leads the efforts for Fund Raise for ARGA Investment Managers for India, Middle East, and Thailand B2B market. He has over 16 years of experience in Products, Business Strategy & Management, Sales and Distribution. Prior to joining ARGA, Pankit has played leadership roles across Domestic and International Business Development, Sales and Distribution at White Oak Capital and Motilal Oswal AMC. Pankit also has a Product and Research Background as he worked with Axis Bank (which acquired Enam Securities) where he was heading Alternate Products and did Sell Side Equity Research and Mutual Fund Research in the past stints at Enam.

Pankit holds a B Com degree from NM College of Commerce and Economics and he is also a CA and an All India CWA Rank Holder.

CS Pradeep Ramakrishnan is a graduate in Commerce and a Fellow member of ICSI. He worked in the secretarial department of Madras Fertilizers Limited, Chennai during 1999-2000 and as the Company Secretary of Kothari Petrochemicals Limited, Chennai (Listed Company) during 2000-2002. 

 He joined SEBI, Head Office, Mumbai in February 2002 and initially starting off with the Primary Market Department. He worked at the Southern Regional Office of SEBI from 2008 to 2015 after which he commenced his second stint at the Head Office. He was working in the Corporation Finance Department at SEBI in-charge of issue, listing, compliance, and monitoring functions from 2015 to 2020. In SEBI he handled issue and listing of corporate bonds at the Department of Debt and Hybrid Securities. He took over as Executive Director in IFSCA in February 2024. He handles the Capital market Department. He also handles Corporate Finance, Equity, Hybrid and related products, division of sustainable finance, Market infrastructure institutions - Regulation and Supervision, Investment Funds, Division of supervision of Intermediaries.

Pratik Ajmera joined Kedaara Capital in 2022. Prior to joining Kedaara Capital, Pratik worked as Associate Director – Deals in PwC (Mumbai). He has over a decade of experience, primarily in the tax and regulatory domain with a focus on fund structuring, transaction advice, deal structuring and tax due diligence. At Kedaara Capital, Pratik is involved in fund raising, fund structuring, due diligence, investment and exit-related transaction structuring and post investment monitoring activities. Pratik is a Chartered Accountant and holds a Bachelor of Commerce from Mumbai University.

Mr. Ritesh Kumar is having Master Degree in Finance with over 16 years of experience in capital markets, He is presently working as AGM – Business Development at India International Exchange, the first and leading Exchange in GIFT IFSC. His responsibilities include business development, marketing & promotion. Over and above the core work area of business development, he is also responsible for new product development at the Exchange and works very closely with regulators and market intermediaries to fulfil the vision of IFSCA in making GIFT CITY the financial hub. Since 2008 he is working with BSE Ltd.

Mr. Sandip Shah is Head of IFSC Dept. at Gujarat International Finance Tec – City Co. Ltd (GIFT City). GIFT City is developing an International Financial Services hub in Gandhinagar, Gujarat. Mr. Shah has over 13 years of professional experience in Project Development, Policy Matters, International Financial services regulations and Securities market. Mr. Sandip Shah is a Bachelor of Commerce and Master of Business Administration with specialization in International Finance. He has also done Diploma in Foreign Exchange and Risk Management and Company Secretary – Intermediate from Institute of Company Secretaries of India. He has been involved from the beginning of International Financial Services Centre at GIFT City. He has been leading various initiatives with IFSC Authority, Ministry of Finance, RBI, SEBI and IRDAI to develop and promote IFSC globally. He is also instrumental in preparing key regulatory proposals for IFSC institutions. Mr. Shah works closely with IFSC Authority for developing new lines of business such as Aircraft leasing, International Bullion Exchange, Offshore Fund management etc. Currently, he is the Head of IFSC Department at GIFT City and has been instrumental in bringing domestic and international financial institutions in GIFT City. Mr. Shah has played key role for signing cooperation for GIFT City with Bloomberg, Refinitiv and educational institutes like Gujarat National Law University, Nirma University, ICFAI Business School and National Institute of Financial Management (NIFM).
Mr. Shah has worked extensively in various Committees formed by Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Commerce, Ministry of Civil Aviation in the areas of international financial services. Currently, Mr. Shah is a Member of Steering Committee set up by Ministry of Finance for promoting export of financial services in India and a Member of Fintech Evaluation Committee set up by IFSC Authority. Mr. Shah has worked extensively for brining new business activities in the areas of Fintech, bullion trading, Ship leasing and foreign universities in GIFT IFSC. He has previously worked with HSBC in the Securities Market vertical and National Securities Depository Ltd (NSDL) at Mumbai between 2010 to 2015. He has in his earlier assignment worked for operationalizing India’s first Insurance Repository.

Shamit oversees ~USD 2.6 billion of assets advised across various funds and institutional mandates of global clients. He has over 14 years of experience manager selection, investments, research advisory, products, asset raising, institutional client services and global strategic partnerships. Shamit had set up and managed several India-focused equity and FI funds across Asia (incl Japan) and Europe, selected global managers, raised assets and crafted AM  partnerships with large financial groups. He has previously worked at Reliance-Nippon Life Asset Management in Mumbai and Nippon Life Insurance / Nissay in Tokyo, leading the AM Joint Venture, and strategic partnerships across Asia and Europe; He has also gained equity research and fund advisory experience with firms in New York, Boston and Mumbai. Shamit holds an MBA from Boston College, Masters and Bachelor of Commerce degrees from University of Mumbai. He is a CFA Charter holder and a member on the board of CFA Society India leading its professional learning initiatives.  

Utsav Shah has recently joined Nuvama Private as Head – International Solutions. In this capacity, he will be instrumental in establishing and shaping the company’s International Business vertical. Before joining Nuvama, he served as Principal Officer & Head of GIFT IFSC at Aditya Birla Sun Life Asset Management Company (ABSLAMC). There, he played a key role in establishing their presence at GIFT City, India's first international financial hub. He spearheaded the launch of several groundbreaking initiatives at GIFT City. Recently recognized as a top talent by Equalifi (Top 40 under 40 Alternative Investment Professional in India). Utsav's expertise is wide-ranging with over 15 years in fixed income trading, global products, and crafting innovative investment structures. Prior to ABSLAMC, he served at Morgan Stanley Investment Management, where he managed risk in global portfolios by collaborating closely with fund managers. Utsav holds a bachelor's degree in commerce from S.I.E.S. College of Arts, Science and Commerce (University of Mumbai) and holds Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) and Diploma in Business Finance (DBF)  from ICFAI University and Associate Professional Risk Manager from PRMIA University. 

Mr. V. Balasubramaniam (Bala) is the MD & CEO of NSE International Exchange (NSE IX), a wholly owned subsidiary of NSE. He played instrumental role in operationalizing the liquidity switch from SGX to NSE IX with a daily peak National volume of USD 22.88 Billion Dollars . With a career in the Capital Market Industry spanning over three decades, he had played a key role in the development of Indian Capital Markets.  He was a part of the core team involved in setting up the National Stock Exchange of India in 1993. He was instrumental in creating the Capital Market segment for NSE, Nifty Index creation, conceptualizing of NCFM, setup of NSCCL as the first clearing corporation in India, NCFM certification and the Futures and Options segment inter-alia. 

Prior to NSE IX, he was Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of India International Exchange (IFSC) Limited (INDIA INX).  Before joining INDIA INX, he was Chief Business Officer of Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) heading the business development encompassing multi assets segment.  Additionally, he was also responsible for the listings and data business of BSE and managing the entire trading operations and membership operations. He also co-founded BSE Technologies Pvt Ltd (acquired by BSE). Mr. Bala has also worked with Reliance Group as Vice President. Mr. Bala is an independent advisory committee expert in IFSCA’s Exchange Traded Currency Derivatives, REITs and InvITs in IFSC, Transition Finance, Development of NRI Business and Ease of Registration and served in Direct Equity Listing, Sustainable Finance, Investment Funds and on positioning IFSC as a hub for offshore trading in INR. He has master’s in commerce from the University of Mumbai, Rank holder from the Institute of Cost Accountants of India, Diploma from Institute of Chartered Financial Analysts of India and is a Certified Information Systems Auditor.