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Managed by Gaja Capital
Private equity, private credit and real-estate funds that don't employ leverage except for operating needs. The largest AIF category.
Gaja Capital partners with entrepreneurs to build leading businesses in India's mid-market. With extensive experience, the firm has developed a differentiated alpha-oriented strategy focused on high-growth sectors such as digital technology, consumer, financial services and education. Incorporated in 1999, Gaja Capital aligns its interests with investors and partner entrepreneurs by investing significant capital alongside them.

Upendra Kumar Sinha
Non-executive Chairman
Upendra Kumar Sinha is a leading authority on Indian capital markets and corporate governance in India. In his recent role, he headed the RBI Expert Committee on Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs). Prior to this, he was the Chairman of the SEBI, having served two consecutive three-year terms, starting in 2011. He was also the Chairman and Managing Director of UTI Mutual Fund. Prior to this, he served as the Joint Secretary in the Department of Economic Affairs at the Ministry of Finance and Joint Secretary in the banking division of the Ministry of Finance dealing with financial institutions.

Ranjit Jayant Shah
Executive Vice-chairman
Ranjit co-founded Gaja Capital and has been a managing partner since 2005. Ranjit has led several of the firm's investments across clusters. Ranjit has 39 years of India based experience in multiple sectors including private equity, telecom, technology, luxury goods, financial services and consulting. He has held CXO level positions in significant Indian businesses. He has also been an entrepreneur building an asset financing company which he later took public and sold to a strategic investor. Ranjit holds an MBA from the Ross School of Business, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor and is a graduate in electrical engineering from IIT Bombay.

Imran Jafar
Executive Director
Imran is a founding member of the Gaja Capital team and has over 22 years of experience in private equity, pharmaceuticals and technology services. Imran has co-led investments in the education, consumer and software clusters. Imran also contributes to team formation and development and strengthening Gaja Capital's proprietary deal development capabilities. He holds an MBA from IIM Bangalore and a master's degree in software engineering from BITS-Pilani.

Arindam Kumar Bhattacharya
Independent Director
Arindam Bhattacharya is an Independent Director of several public companies, advisory board member of not-for-profits and academic institutes, angel investor in and mentor to start-ups, and Senior Advisor and Emeritus Partner of Boston Consulting Group. He currently serves as an Independent Director on boards of Bajaj Finance, Bajaj Holdings and Investments Ltd, Bajaj Housing Finance Ltd, InfoEdge Ltd., and Lemon Tree Hotels. He also chairs the advisory board of Indian School of Development Management, and is a member of the advisory boards of WISH Foundation, Oxford India Center of Sustainable Development at Oxford University, School of Global Policy and Strategy at University of California San Diego, and Munjal School for Global Manufacturing at the Indian School of Business. He has over 35 years of experience in industry, consulting and as a university researcher. He has co-authored two books: Globality (2008) and Beyond Great (2020).
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Shailesh Vishnubhai Haribhakti
Independent Director
Shailesh is an experienced accountant and an independent board member of a number of leading Indian companies. He is also the Chairman of DHC (Desai Haribhakti) one of India's leading accountancy and advisory firms. He is actively involved with several prominent financial institutions in India, including the NSE, CII, IMC and ASSOCHAM. Shailesh is a CPA.

Shital Mehra
Independent Director
Shital Mehra is an independent director of our Company. She holds a bachelor's degree in arts from the University of Bombay, Maharashtra, and a diploma in hotel management from National Council for Hotel Management and Catering Technology, New Delhi. She has authored two books on leadership and business etiquettes. She is also a director on the board of International School of Corporate Etiquette & Protocol Private Limited, Masas Consultants International Private Limited, Human Capital for Third Sector, Hunt Consulting Services Private Limited, and Barefoot International Private Limited. She has 20 years of experience as a corporate trainer and executive presence coach.

Manish Sabharwal
Non-executive Director
Manish Sabharwal is a non-executive director of our Company. He holds a master's degree in business administration from the Wharton School, Pennsylvania, United States. He is also the Executive Vice-chairman and co-founder of Teamlease Services Limited, a member of the Advisory Board of the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG), and the managing trustee of the New India Foundation. He was a member on the Board of the Reserve Bank of India. He has over 25 years of experience in the human resource industry.

Prithvi Pal Singh Haldea
Non-executive Director
Prithvi Pal Singh Haldea is a non-executive director of our Company. He holds a master's degree in business administration from Birla Institute of Technology & Science, Pilani. He is the chairman and whole time director of Praxis Consulting and Information Services Private Limited (creator of Prime Database and watchoutinvestors.org). He has served as a member/special invitee on various boards/committees constituted by the Ministry of Finance, SEBI, BSE, Postal Life Insurance and the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India. Previously, he has been on the board of directors of Central Depository Services (India) Limited, Multi Commodity Exchange of India Limited, Nucleus Software Exports Limited and UTI Asset Management Company Limited.

Sushane Chopra
Partner
Sushane Chopra is a partner of our Company and has been associated with our Company since 2011. He is responsible for the Company's work in consumer, technology and EEE sectors. He holds a bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering from IIT Madras and a post graduate diploma in management from IIM Calcutta, where he secured the twentieth rank in order of merit. He is also a certified financial risk manager from the Global Association of Risk Professionals. Prior to joining our Company, he was associated with Grail Research India Private Limited (Monitor Group) as an analyst. He has over 16 years of experience across private equity and consulting.

Dheeraj Prasad Devata
Partner
Dheeraj has 14 years of experience in private equity and investment management in India. At Gaja Capital, Dheeraj focuses on enterprise software/SaaS, banking & financial services and education sectors. He worked with WestBridge Capital where he focused on growth PE investing in both public and private markets. He started his career in the buyside investment team of ICICI Prudential Asset Management. Dheeraj holds an MBA from Columbia Business School where he graduated with Dean's honors and has a Bachelor's degree in Commerce from the University of Mumbai. He is also a Chartered Accountant, a CFA charterholder and a FRM charterholder.

Himanshu Shah
Operating Partner
Himanshu has 25 years of senior operations experience in private equity, real estate and financial services. At Gaja Capital, Himanshu is responsible for providing his expertise in reporting, corporate governance and MIS functions to the portfolio companies to improve their finance function. Himanshu is a qualified Chartered Accountant and a Cost Accountant.

Vinit Barve
Director
Vinit has over 17 years of experience across operating, strategy and corporate finance roles. He most recently led Corporate Development and Revenue Operations at Cashfree Payments, and prior to that, headed strategy at an NBFC. He also led the fintech practice at Investec India, with earlier roles at Ernst & Young, and Larsen & Toubro. Vinit holds an MBA from IIM Ahmedabad and a B.E. in Electronics from Mumbai University.

Viplove Bhargava
Senior Manager – Investor Relations
Viplove brings over seven years of experience in transaction advisory and private equity, spanning multiple sectors and geographies. At Gaja Capital, he is responsible for investor relations. He began his career in the advisory/diligence domain with PwC, subsequently moving to the investment front office at HCL Technologies. Viplove then joined the investment team at the Scottish National Investment Bank in Scotland. Viplove is a Chartered Accountant and holds an MBA from the Indian School of Business, Hyderabad.

Ishu Jain
Company Secretary & Compliance Officer
Ishu has over 10 years of experience in secretarial compliance. She holds a bachelor’s degree in commerce and law from ,University of Rajasthan. She is a Fellow member of the Institute of Company Secretaries of India. Prior to joining Gaja Capital, she was associated with Birla Precision Technologies Limited as the company secretary and compliance officer, and Universal Autofoundry Limited as the company secretary and compliance officer, and Road Infrastructure Development Company of Rajasthan Limited as the manager in CS functions.

Kaustubh Kumar
Senior Principal
Kaustubh has six years of buy-side investment experience, including 3 years of private equity experience focusing on Technology, IT Services and Allied sectors. Prior to joining Gaja Capital, Kaustubh worked at Creador Advisors and Goldman Sachs Asset Management. He has completed his MBA from Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad and graduated with a Bachelor in Science, Mathematics from University College London.

Shivam Jindal
Principal
Shivam has six years of experience in private equity and financial services. At Gaja Capital, Shivam focuses on enterprise software, financial services, education, and consumer sectors. He started his career with Citi, where he worked with Markets and Ventures businesses. He has been engaging deeply with the start-up ecosystem through his content and community initiatives and then building an early-stage venture for Indian retail investors. Shivam holds an MBA from IIM Calcutta and MiM from CEMS. He is a Chemical Engineer from IIT Bombay and has completed two levels of the CFA program.

Mukund Kothari
Senior Associate
Mukund has four years of experience in leading product design and development of cutting-edge software products. He started his career at Microsoft as a Software Engineer, guiding and delivering features within Microsoft PowerPoint and Office 365 Mobile that gained widespread global adoption. He holds an MBA in Finance and Strategy from the Indian School of Business and a B.E. in Computer Science from BITS Pilani.

Rajat Chaturvedi
Senior Associate
Rajat has four years of experience in technology and financial services. He started his career at Adobe as a software developer. After completing his MBA, he joined Axis Capital in the Investment Banking division, where he looked at ECM, PE and M&A Advisory for the Indian Automotive and Education sectors. He holds an MBA from IIM Ahmedabad and has completed the CFA Program. He is a Software Engineer from IIT Bombay.

Faiz Bhanji
Senior Associate
Faiz brings over five years of experience across M&A, venture capital, and private equity. He began his career in Deloitte's Corporate Finance team, working on M&A and PE advisory mandates. He later joined the investment team at WaterBridge Ventures, where he focused on early-stage investments across consumer and financial services sectors. Faiz graduated from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, has completed the CFA program, and holds an MBA from INSEAD.

Arijit Mukherjee
Associate
Arijit has three years of experience in technology and financial services. He started his career at EXL Analytics as a tech consultant. From there, he joined HSBC Markets, working with the FICC teams in the US and Europe on strategies around Fed rate hikes on instruments like T-Bills, TIPs, and FRNs. He holds an MBA from IIM Calcutta and has completed both the CFA and FRM programs. He is a chemical engineer from IIT Roorkee.

Siddharth Gupta
Associate
Siddharth has over three years of experience in finance and investments across venture-backed companies. He previously led three venture debt investments at Blacksoil Capital and was also a founding member of a venture-backed startup. He holds an MBA from IIM Ahmedabad and has finished the CFA program. He also has a BBA from NMIMS, Mumbai.

Aseem Chandra
Operating Advisor
Aseem is an experienced technology leader with experience across business strategy, sales & marketing, product development, and M&A, based in Silicon Valley. He is currently CEO at Immersa, which he co-founded to bring data intelligence to every user in their flow of work. Earlier, Aseem was Senior Vice President at Adobe responsible for leading go-to-market strategy for a US$3 billion SaaS business. Prior to Adobe, he spent more than a decade at Oracle, leading business planning, M&A, and post-merger integration of Siebel, PeopleSoft, and Agile Software. He holds a bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering from IIT Delhi and a master's degree in manufacturing systems from the University of Texas, Austin.

David Levin
Operating Advisor
David is Chairman of SparkBeyond, an innovative AI-based research engine, and University Entrepreneur in Residence at Arizona State University. David has spent 20 years as the CEO of four companies across tech and media sectors. As CEO of McGraw-Hill Education (2014-17) he led the development of digital offerings. As CEO of UBM plc (2005-14) he built its global events and exhibitions business with a presence across India, ASEAN, China and the USA. As CEO of Symbian Ltd (2002-05) he led the development of the first smartphone OS. Before his CEO roles, David spent 4 years as CFO and COO of Euromoney Institutional Investor plc, 4 years with the private equity group Apax, and 5 years with Bain & Company.

Ayon Banerjee
Operating Advisor
Ayon Banerjee is a seasoned business leader and former Managing Director & Partner at Boston Consulting Group (BCG), where he led the firm's Transformation (TURN) practice in India and was a core leader of the Technology, Media, and Telecom (TMT) practice. Ayon has served as Chief Strategy and Growth Officer at Persistent Systems and President at ANSR. With nearly three decades of operational and advisory experience, Ayon has incubated and scaled global businesses across the US, Europe, and Asia. Before BCG, Ayon held senior executive roles at Tech Mahindra, Motricity, and Nokia Siemens Networks, as well as leadership positions at HP and Cisco Systems in the US. He holds a B.E. in Mechanical Engineering from the National Institute of Technology, Durgapur, and an MBA from The Ohio State University Fisher College of Business.

Sanjay Patel
Strategic Advisor
Mr Patel is Chairman International and Senior Partner of Private Equity at Apollo Management, with responsibility for helping to build and develop Apollo's international businesses. He was formerly Head of Europe and Managing Partner of Apollo European Principal Finance based in London, and joined Apollo Management in 2010 as Head of International Private Equity. Previously, he was a partner at Goldman, Sachs & Co. and co-head of European and Indian private equity for the Principal Investment Area (PIA). He started his career at Goldman Sachs in 1983 and spent 17 years in PIA in New York and London, and was President of Greenwich Street Capital from 1998-2003. He serves on the Board of Overseers for Harvard University and the Stanford Graduate School of Business Advisory Council. He received his AB and SM engineering degrees magna cum laude from Harvard College and his MBA from Stanford Graduate School of Business, where he was an Arjay Miller Scholar.

Gopal Jain
Managing Director & Chief Executive Officer
Gopal co-founded Gaja Capital in 2004 and is a managing partner at the Firm. He has led several of the Firm's investments in sectors including education and financial services. Gopal has been investing in Indian equities since the age of thirteen and has been a professional investor in the Indian capital markets for 26 years. He is one of the more experienced private equity investors in India having led or co-led over 25 private equity investments since 1995. He is a graduate in electrical engineering from IIT Delhi.

Abhinav Jain
Contact Person / Investments
Abhinav Jain is the Chief Financial Officer of our Company and has been associated with our Company since 2008. He is responsible for investor relations, deals execution and overall portfolio management in the Company. He holds a master's degree in management from the Indian School of Business, Hyderabad. He is an associate of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India, and is a company secretary. Prior to joining our Company, he was associated with ICICI Bank. He has over 16 years of experience in private equity.
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