Our speakers

Sandipan Ghosh, AVP - Marketing, Ruchi Soya Group

Sandipan is the F&B Industry’s besotted brand booster. In love with this industry since time immemorial, Sandipan has been credited with boosting the brand equity and profitability of every single brand he has been associated with, over his last 18 brand boosting years across multinationals like Electrolux, Ruchi Soya, Tiffany Foods, Mother Dairy, TATA , MTR Foods amongst others spread across the world! A seasoned-pun intended- branding and marketing veteran with an inimitable background in marketing and finance, Sandipan is the industry’s go-to expert for building brands and boosting business-as he enables organizations to turn around ailing brands, boost profitable ones, make P&L sheets happier by drawing and implementing his invincible marketing wisdom and his innate cognizance of the adage that ‘Every brand’s journey to one’s heart is only via the common man’s stomach.’

A truly global marketing maverick, Sandipan synergizes his passion for all things food and branding in building billion dollar brands with a global food-print. As the Chief Marketing Machine behind the billion dollar Nutrela brand of the Ruchi Soya Industries Ltd, Sandipan has boosted the brand performance by clocking a 34% market growth within his first year at Ruchi. Under his brand stewardship, Nutrela has been the recipient of honors such as Master Brand and Power Brand Awards in 2013. Sandipan has also been accredited with spearheading the historical business transformation of branded food and edible oil business of Ruchi, by evolving the business strategy from commodity oriented modus operandi to a branded product format.

A laudable legacy which boasts of rich national and international lineage across brands like MTR Foods, Tata Chemicals, Mother Dairy, Dhara and Safal, Electrolux and Tiffany Foodsbefore returning to the Indian giant Ruchi Soya Industries Ltd. is what Sandipan calls his humble learning curve. Having spent close to two decades in strategic brand management, marketing and business management, it’s only befitting to have built an enviable portfolio of professional achievements globally acknowledged via international awards and recognition. Sandipan’s marketing genius has been celebrated by honouring him with over a dozen such accolades; some of which are the iconic Best Marketer Award 2004 by the Business Today Group, Brand Leader Award 2009,F.A.M.E. (Fabulous in Marketing Excellence) 2011 by Asian Leadership Awards, India’s Greatest Corporate Leader 2012, Marketing Professional of the Year by Golden Globe Tigers Award 2013 and has been recently hailed as one of the Top 50 CMOs in India by CMO Council in 2013.

Sandipan is often quoted in leading Indian business publications like The Economic Times,  Business Standard, Financial Times as well as popular marketing publications like IMPACT, AFAQS, Paul Writer, Exchange4Media etc. He also takes his brilliant marketing acumen to industry forums such as IMAI,  Exchange 4 Media, Afaqs, and now in Jury for Golden Envies, and also CMO Asia where he inspires the marketing fraternity with his tenacious dedication towards empowering profitable brands to become global power brands.

Sanjana Tiwari, Investment Manager, Private Equity Funds, F&C ASSET MANAGEMENT

Sanjana has 14 years investment / business development experience, including 7 years in private equity. She joined the Team in 2011. Sanjana's first involvement with alternative investments was with Citi in London from 2007 to 2011 doing private equity advisory and commodities investments. She has 7 years prior industry experience in the field of life sciences and technology, working in the US, UK, South Africa and India. She is a graduate of the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) and INSEAD.

Sanjay Agarwal, MD , Au Financiers Limited

Mr. Agarwal is a merit-holder Chartered Accountant by qualification and the Promoter of the Company. With over 17 years of experience, he’s the major driving force behind the success of the Au FINANCIERs. His role in Au FINANCIERs includes Strategizing Finance, Corporate Planning, and Risk Management. His areas of expertise are finance, credit and risk analysis. Over the years, he has built long-term relationships with Banks and people based on Trust, Integrity, and Conviction. Under his leadership and guidance, the Company has taken great strides in terms of disbursements, profitability and performance. He is also vice president of the Rajasthan Finance Companies Association.

Sanjay Arte, Partner, India Value Fund Advisors

Sanjay joined IVFA in 2001 as the first Business Management Partner and was instrumental in giving practical shape to the firm’s philosophy of ‘Building Businesses’.   Based in Mumbai, he works closely with IVFA companies in various sectors including healthcare, auto components, manufacturing and construction materials.

A Bachelor of Mechanical Engineering from IIT, Kanpur, and a Masters in Management from the University of Mumbai, Sanjay had over 17 years of experience prior to joining IVFA, including as President of Swiss firm Franke’s Indian subsidiary, Managing Director of Sekurit Saint-Gobain in India and stints with Johnson & Johnson and Grindwell Norton. 

Sanjay Bajaj, MD, Jones Lang LaSalle

Sanjay Bansal, Managing Director, Ambit Corporate Finance.

Sanjay Bansal Managing Director, Ambit Corporate Finance.

Sanjay is a founder member of Ambit Corporate Finance, an Indian Investment Bank. His professional background is that of a Chartered Accountant (AF Ferguson & Co.) with an Advanced Management Program from Kellogg School of Business, Northwestern University.

His privious work experience has been in Corporate Finance at KPMG and Arthur Andersen, and has been in the Corporate Finance business for over 18 years.

Sanjay Bansal, Founder and Managing Partner, Aurum Equity Partners LLP

An investment-banking veteran with a knack of concluding large, complex transactions. Sanjay has over 20 years of experience, with a deep and on-ground understanding and exposure of handling more than a 100 mid and large sized transactions, across multiple sectors.

Over the years, Sanjay has developed an expertise of concluding complex transactions that require a nuanced perspective of the client’s business, as well as, the macro environment impacting the client’s decisions. Sanjay is a passionate supporter and enabler of the entrepreneurial eco-system in India. He encourages aspiring and budding entrepreneurs through angel investments in early & concept stage companies. Sanjay is a charter member of The Indus Entrepreneurs (TiE) and the Indian Angel Network. He is also a Fellow Member of RICS (A global real estate body).

@sanban007

Sanjay Bhat, Enterprise Head, Ingram Micro

Sanjay Chaudhary, Partner, Tata Capital Growth Fund

Sanjay Chaudhary joined Tata Capital Private Equity in August 2010. Prior to joining the Tata Capital Growth Fund in April, 2015, he was with the Tata Capital Healthcare Fund where he led the investments in four companies and served on the board of 2 companies. He is experienced across private equity, transactions, and strategy consulting.

As a strategy consultant, he has extensively advised private equity funds and companies on transactions. Sanjay has led and supervised more than 30 transactions and related engagements that have included strategic and business due diligences, deal structuring, fund raising, negotiations, and monitoring of 100 day agenda, post transaction closure.

Prior to joining Tata Capital, Sanjay ran his own advisory practice focused on healthcare transactions and consulting. He was one of the founder members of the India practice of Strategic Decisions Group (SDG), a boutique strategy consulting firm based out of Palo Alto. He started the transactions and private equity practice of SDG in India.

Sanjay has around 20 years of experience and has an MBA from Columbia Business School, Columbia University, New York city and Asian Institute of Management, Manila. He has a Bachelor’s degree in Engineering from Indian Institute of Technology, Roorkee.

Sanjay Coutinho, CEO, Baskin Robbins

Sanjay started his career 2 decades ago with Ambassador Sky Chef (Flight Catering). Post this he moved to make his mark with the QSR Industry. Dominos Pizza, Baskin Robbins as COO, Barista Lavazza as CEO (South Asia and Middle East) and Om Pizzas and Eats (Master Franchisees for Papa John’s, Great Kebab Factory and Chili’s). He rejoined the Graviss Group as CEO for the QSR Division (Baskin Robbins, 6th Street Yogurt and Meats & More).

Sanjay is a Hotel Management graduate and an MBA in Marketing from Narsee Monjee Institute of Management Studies. He is passionate about F&B Retail and has led the group’s strategic initiatives in distribution expansion and new product and format development.