Mr. Ameet Desai

Independent Director

Mr. Ameet Desai is the Founder of Anubhuti Value Trust; a SEBI registered AIF Fund with a unique investing methodology for Public Equities. The investors in the fund comprise some Premier Family Offices. Prior to Anubhuti, he has had a very rich and diverse experience of 34 years of corporate India. Mr. Desai was also a member of the CII Corporate Governance Council; a member of CII National Committee on Financial Markets and the Convenor of the Working Group on Risk Capital.

At Adani Group, Mr. Desai was the Executive Director and Group CFO and led the Listing of 4 out of the 6 listed entities. He has been a member of the Board of 3 of the listed entities. During his fifteen year stint at Adani, he successfully led 2 IPOs and a QIP raising over US$ 2 bn, and mobilized over US$ 350 mn in private equity. He also raised over US$ 10 bn domestic and international loans and bonds.

During this period, he also built organizations and teams at corporate as well as business unit levels for Finance, Legal & Compliance, IT and Services and Investor Relations across the Group. He was also responsible for relationships with Board Members across the Group.

Mr. Desai also set-up and ran the Family Office and the real estate business (which remains private). As a member of the leadership team `APEX’, he was responsible for strategy and policy at the Group Level.

Prior to his stint at Adani Group, Mr. Desai was Global Head of M&A and Business Planning for Ranbaxy Laboratories Ltd., the largest Indian pharmaceutical company (US$ 1 bn in revenue, US$ 4 bn in Market Cap with Operations in India, USA, EU, Africa, SE Asia) where he led cross border acquisitions in Japan, Germany, US and France besides leading divestment of Allied Business to PE as Management buy-out. He also completed a prestigious out-licensing transaction with a Global Pharma Company. He also had P&L responsibility for Allied Business (USD 40 mn, 350 + people). As a member of EXCOM (Executive Committee), he had responsibility for Strategic Planning and Policy Framework.

In the previous role at Core Healthcare, Mr. Desai built-up the organization as CFO with distinction to have done GDR issuance at the age of 30. He also ran Operations (US$ 100 mn, 1800 employees), implemented complex manufacturing projects and was responsible for critical regulatory compliance for Indian and International health regulations.

Mr. Desai holds a BBA (Sardar Patel University) and an MBA from University School of Management, Ahmedabad. During his career, he has attended several executive programs; inter alia; at the Wharton Business School, the Harvard Business School and the Indian School of Business. He has spoken at several national and international forums and conferences. He has also lectured at several educational institutes, including at IIM-A for PGP and EDP students.

Mr. Desai lives in India with his wife, Dipalee, who is a Dietetic & Nutrition Practitioner and a Vastu Counsellor. His older son, Harsh, completed his MBA at MIT Sloan in May 2020 and has since joined Bank of America in New York. His Daughter-in-law, Tvisha, is an LLM Graduate from Columbia Law School. His younger son, Kush, graduated from the Questrom School of Business at Boston University in May 2019 and has founded Gaming start-up, called Twelfth Man. In his spare time, Mr. Desai enjoys Reading, Music and Fitness.