OUR TEAM

MD & CEO

Sanjay Sharma

Sanjay heads the organization and directly oversees its business strategy. As a co founder, he has led the company from a tech driven start up aspiring to deliver social impact, into an award winning financial services firm that is delivering social impact at scale along with robust financial returns.

He is an accomplished leader in Consumer Banking with over 34 years of experience. He pioneered direct banking channels in HSBC and HDFC Bank and was part of the leadership team that launched consumer lending business at ICICI in 1999. Led the Life Insurance Underwriting, Claims, Operations & Service teams at Max New York Life Insurance Co. Set up Tamweel PJSC and grew it into the largest housing finance company in UAE with over USD 3bn in assets. As its CEO-International, won the Best Mortgage Bank Award from Banker Middle East and 4th most admired Financial Institution in the Region Award from Gulf Business.

He is an alumnus of IIT-Bombay and IIM-Bangalore

INDEPENDENT DIRECTOR

G.R. Chintala

Appointed as Independent Director in September 2023.

Dr Govinda Rajulu Chintala is a financial services veteran with over 35 years of experience. He was the Chairman of National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) from 2020 to 2022. Prior to that he has served as the MD of NABFINS (NABARD Financial Services) and Chairman of NABARD Consultancy Services Ltd., NABVENTURE and NABFOUNDATION. His key initiatives include the digitizing the world’s largest microfinance program under project ‘e-Shakti’, creating a  “Roadmap for Amalgamation of Regional Rural Banks” and promoting and nurturing Farmer Producers Organizations (FPOs), Livelihood Enterprise Development Programs, Area Development Schemes and Alternative energy models.

He has been the Director of Bankers Institute of Rural Development (BIRD) and has also served on the Boards of Institute for Rural Management (IRMA), DICGC and on the Advisory Board of IIM-Ahmedabad.

He graduated from the Agriculture College, Bapatla, he did his Post Graduation in Seed Science and Technology from Indian Agricultural Research Institute, New Delhi.

INDEPENDENT DIRECTOR

Sanjaya Gupta

Appointed as Independent Director in September 2023.

Mr Sanjaya Gupta is a banking professional with over 35 years of extensive experience in leading high performing professional teams. His expertise lies in evaluating business opportunities, and developing strategic business plans. He served as the MD & CEO of PNB Housing Finance Limited from 2010 to 2020. Prior to that was the Co-founder and non-executive chairman of India Shelters.

As MD designate of a four-way joint venture between AIG Inc. National Housing Bank (regulator), International Finance Corporation (IFC) and Asian Development Bank (ADB) he conceptualized the first mortgage guaranty product in India.

He has been engaged with the RBI in drafting the regulations in 2007 in alignment with BASEL II regulations of the country. His Business Process Re-engineering (BPR) and change management work at PNB HFL was published as a turn-around story by Bloomsbury. He was awarded the “Economic Times Most Promising Business Leader Asia 2018-19”

Sanjaya is B.Com, and MBA, specializing in Finance and Marketing, from the University of Lucknow.

Independent Director

Kanika T. Bhal

Appointed as Independent Director in September 2023.

Prof. Bhal is the Modi Chair Professor at the Department of Management Studies at IIT Delhi. An expert in behavioural sciences in general and leadership in particular, she is a visiting fellow at Sloan School of Management, MIT. She has published over 100 articles in national and international journals and is on the editorial boards of national and international journals. She has authored books on leadership, culture and ethics. She has done sponsored research for several nationally and internationally funded (with Fordham University and Wharton Business School) projects. She has been a consultant to various government organizations and is often invited as an expert to serve on government committees.

She has been conferred with several awards and is given the honor of Professor Honorable by Tshwane Institute of Technology, South Africa.

Prof. Bhal is a Ph D from IIT Kanpur.

Elevation Capital

Vivek Mathur

Appointed as Nominee Director in June 2016.

He joined Elevation Capital (erstwhile SAIF) in 2011. He assists portfolio companies scale by working with them on matters such as finance, operations, compliance, and structuring. Prior to this, he was the Head of the India Contact Centres for Dell Inc. He has also served as the CFO for Standard Chartered India and the Wholesale Bank at ANZ Grindlays India.

Vivek holds a degree in Chemical Engineering from BITS Pilani and an MBA from the University of Iowa.

Alpha Wave

Navroz Darius Udwadia

Appointed as Nominee Director in March 2019.

He is the Chief Executive Officer, Co-Founder and Partner at Alpha Wave (erstwhile Falcon Edge Capital, LP). Prior to this he worked with Eton Park specializing in emerging markets. Before that he with  JP Morgan (private equity) and Goldman Sachs, in the Financial Institutions

He is a graduate from Columbia University (BA, English), has a law degree (MA, Law) at Oxford University and is an MBA from Harvard Business School.

Lightrock India

Kartik Srivatsa

Appointed as Nominee Director in February 2020

He is the Managing Partner India and Chief Strategy Officer of Lightrock.  He is the founding partner of Lightrock India, formerly Aspada. He also acts as the fund advisor for the SONG Fund through Aspada Capital Advisors. Formerly he was with Lightspeed Venture Partners, a global venture capital firm with over $2 billion under management. Prior to this Kartik was a Management Consultant with McKinsey and Company.

He is a graduate of the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Madras.

A91 Partners

Kaushik Anand

Appointed as Nominee Director in October 2020.

He is a Partner at A91 Partners, a venture capital focused on growth stage companies.  Previously, he was Head of India Investments at CapitalG (formerly Google Capital) where he focused on technology and financial services businesses. At CapitalG, he led investments in Aye Finance, Cardekho, Freshworks and Cuemath. He was previously at Sequoia Capital India and McKinsey & Co.

He is an alumnus of Harvard Business School and IIT Madras.