Our speakers

Ashwin Ramanathan, Partner, AZB & Partners

Ashwin Ramanthan is a partner at AZB & Partners, Mumbai. He graduated with a B.A. LLB. (Hons.) degree from the National Law School of India University, Bangalore in 2000. He is registered as an advocate with the Bar Council of Maharashtra & Goa.

He began his career with ICICI Limited (the development finance institution that later merged into ICICI Bank) and joined AZB & Partners in 2004. He has been a partner at the Firm since 2007. Although he initial focus at the Firm was on banking and finance and structured finance transactions, his practice areas now include mergers and acquisitions, fund formation and private equity transactions as well. He is also active in the derivatives and aviation finance space. In recent times, he has advised Fairfax in its acquisition of Thomas Cook in India, The Royal Bank of Scotland in its sale of its mortgage and credit card businesses to Ratnakar Bank and PSP (the Canadian pension fund) in its acquisition of hydro power assets from the Jaypee Group, besides acting on a number of private equity growth investments in both publicly listed and privately held companies. He is also a part of the regulatory advisory practice at the Firm and regularly advises clients on banking and securities laws and regulations.

He has been recognized as a leading individual by Asia Pacific Legal 500 for Banking & Finance  since 2012, by Chambers & Partners for Aviation since 2013 and Banking & Finance since 2014 and by Who’s Who Legal for Mergers & Acquisitions since 2013.

Ashwini Asokan, Founder and CEO, Mad Street Den

Ashwini Kumar, Chief Operating Officer, Nitesh Estates Ltd

Mr. Ashwini Kumar, joined the Company on 2nd November, 2009 as the Chief Operating Officer and is responsible for the business operations of the Company. He was elevated to Board as Executive Director and Chief Operating officer effective April 19, 2012.

Most recently, prior to joining Nitesh Estates Limited, he was the Managing Director of Lineage Power India Pvt. Ltd. a leading US based MNC in the area of Power Electronics and responsible for their business in India and South East Asia. Prior to this he worked as Director with Tyco Electronics and Lucent Technologies and was responsible for their telecom power electronics business in India.

In all he has an experience of 29 years starting with functional roles, in sales, project management, manufacturing, performance improvement and culminating in business leadership roles.

He is a Mechanical Engineer from NIT, Rourkela (1981) and post graduate in Business Management from XLRI, Jamshedpur (1983).

Ashwini Vittalachar, Partner, Samvad Partners

Ashwini Vittalachar is a Partner at Samv?d: Partners, and has been instrumental in the establishment of the New Delhi office of the Firm. Ashwini works extensively on private equity and venture capital transactions; as well as M&A and joint ventures. Recently, she has advised on several transactions in the e-commerce sector; the clients being both investors / VC funds, as well as the target companies / promoters. Her expertise extends not just to deal negotiations, but also to general corporate / commercial and advisory matters as well as employment law. The breadth of her expertise helps her provide a full range of services to her clients, and tackle complex issues with a holistic perspective.

Ashwini completed BA-LLB in Bangalore, India and obtained a masters in law (LL.M), at the Law School, University of Chicago, USA. She has authored articles on several topics at national and international fora, including on private equity and employment laws. In addition to being a partner at Samv?d: Partners, she has taught elective courses on ‘Private Equity & Venture Capital Transactions in India’, at the O.P. Jindal Global Law School. ‘Ashwini is singled out by clients for her "communication skills, quick understanding of key business issues, and negotiating ability." She has acted on several mandates for clients in the automotive and pharmaceutical sectors of late.’ (Chambers 2014 and 2015).

Ashwyn Misra, Partner, Trilegal

Ashwyn Misra is a Partner at Trilegal, and is a part of the corporate practice group. He primarily focusses on entry strategies, mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures, corporate restructuring, private equity and fund formations.

Ashwyn has a wide experience in transactions in various sectors in India and advises clients on all aspects, including structuring advice from an Indian legal and regulatory perspective impacting entry and exit strategies, due diligence, documentation and negotiations, partnerships, inbound and outbound investments, both strategic cross-border as well as financial, mergers and joint ventures.

Ashwyn has advised multinational corporates like Macquarie Group, Publicis Groupe, Engie, JP Morgan, Sumitomo Metal Industries, Standard Chartered Bank, Bando Chemical Industries Ltd, Credit Suisse, Bank of America, Jardine Lloyd Thompson Group, Assa Abloy Group, Citibank, Goldman Sachs., M3 Inc., Groupe PSA, Daido Steel, Stripe Inc., Asahi Tec Corporation, Vesuvius, Tadano Ltd., Olympus Capital Asia Credit, Tree Line Investment Management and Hitachi.

Some of the domestic companies he has advised include Godrej Industries, Reliance Energy, National Investment and Infrastructure Fund, JSW Steel, Crompton Greaves, Rare Enterprises, Reliance Capital, Shriram Group, Raheja Group, Future Group, Faering Capital, Emaar MGF, Wadhwa Group, Paysense, Alchemy Capital Management, PhillipCapital, Artha Property (part of Bennett & Coleman Group) and Sun Area Property Partners.

Ashwyn is an alumnus of Government Law College, Mumbai. He is a member of the Bar Council of Maharashtra and Goa, India.

Asif Merchant, MD, Catwalk Worldwide

Asif Merchant is the Managing Director of Catwalk Worldwide since inception. With focus on product design and development he anchors retail & strategic planning for the business. With 30 years of experience in Indian footwear industry he governs designing, developing & implementing of all strategic plans for the organisation.

Asim Dalal, Managing Director, The Bombay Store

Asit B. Shah, Founder & President, Metro Wireless Engineering

Asit B Shah has done his MBA with Master of Information Technology and Telecommunication from the University of South Australia, Adelaide, Australia. He also possesses Bachelor Degree in Electronics and Communication from DDIT, Gujarat University.

Prior to launching of a Global telecom company Mr. Shah had been associated with Singapore Telecom where he has held various challenging positions for 10 years. His excellent management skills have given him various opportunities in to Telecom field. He has also worked with Telstra to start his career in Wireless field.

Asit Kumar, CHRO, Lendingkart

Asit Oberoi, Group President & Chief Operating Officer, YES BANK

Asit Oberoi is the Group President & Chief Operating Officer at YES BANK. He is responsible for overall operations and service delivery including policy framework for the Corporate Bank and Financial Markets products across all channels - including Branch Service Delivery and National Operating Centers. Asit is responsible for the management of the Policy framework and its related matters, operational risk and bank-wide Quality Assurance. Asit also leads Cash Management Sales and Product at Yes Bank.

At YES BANK, Asit is involved in creating the significantly important total Service proposition at the branch level, and works closely with all the Business Heads, to provide the necessary touch points and enhance and offer a superior customer experience at YES BANK.

Asit is a Bachelor of Commerce from the University of Mumbai and a Chartered Accountant. He brings with him over 20 years of experience in Banking & Financial services industry spanning across Fidelity International, Standard Chartered Bank, ANZ Grindlays Bank & Bank of America. He has General management experience which includes leading teams in a range of Finance & Operations functions. He also has experience in new business set ups.