Leadership. Action. Results.

Himanshu Bajaj is Managing Director & Head with Alvarez & Marsal India and Global Capability Center (GCC). He specializes in driving large scale business transformations. His primary areas of concentration are accelerating business growth and enhancing profitability across verticals.

With more than 20 years of consulting and business experience, Mr. Bajaj brings expertise across industries and both strategic and operational facets. He has led multiple programs across operational transformations, end-to-end value enhancement and optimizing sales and marketing strategies, including go-to-market and trade efficiency improvements.

Prior to joining A&M, Mr. Bajaj spent two years as CEO Byju’s Tuition Centre, where he led the inception, launch and rapid expansion of BTC, propelling it to over 300 centres across 140 cities serving 80,000+ students. Within a short span of time, he expanded the BTC team to over 5,000 direct and 2,000 contracted employees. 

Previously, Mr. Bajaj was Senior Partner at Kearney and Asia Head of Consumer and Retail Practice. There, he led several complex transformation and value enhancement programs across countries, including France, the U.K., Switzerland, Singapore, South Africa and Dubai. He also helped conceptualize and set up the procurement Centre of Excellence.

Mr. Bajaj earned a bachelor’s degree in engineering from Delhi College of Engineering and an MBA from IIM Ahmedabad. He also earned a CFA from AIMR, CFA Institute, U.S., and is part of the Young Presidents’ Organization in Mumbai.

Amith Karan leads the Private Equity Performance Improvement (PEPI) practice in India. He brings 19 years of line operations, interim management and advisory experience.

Ashish Bansal is a Managing Director with Alvarez and Marsal’s Global Transaction Advisory Group in Delhi, and serves as the practice’s Co-Head in India.

Mr. Bansal brings more than 19 years of experience in transactions. His primary area of concentration is financial due diligence in an integrated approach with commercial, operational and ESG diligence.

Mr. Bansal has advised private equity funds and corporate buyers on buy- and sell-side and on domestic and cross-border transactions. He has worked across a range of sectors, including healthcare, life sciences, auto components and diversified industrials, consumer and retail.

Prior to joining A&M, Mr. Bansal was at KPMG India for over 19 years in their Deal Advisory practice, specializing in transaction services, where he most recently served as a Partner. He was also the sector head for healthcare and life sciences for Deal Advisory and in the past led their M&A Consulting team.

Mr. Bansal earned a bachelor’s degree in commerce from Delhi University. He is a member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India.

Bhavik Hathi is a Managing Director with Alvarez & Marsal's Global Transaction Advisory Group in Mumbai, and serves as the practice’s Co-Head in India. He brings 16 years of experience in advising clients in transactions and audit. His primary areas of concentration are financial, commercial and operational due diligence.

Mr. Hathi has worked with clients across a range of industries, including financial services, real estate, logistics, retail, consumer and aviation. He has been involved in numerous transactions providing for private equity clients in India as well as corporates in sectors such as NBFC, microfinance, housing finance, exchanges, brokerage, banking, logistics, retail and consumer.

Additionally, Mr. Hathi has led integrated due diligence teams providing financial, commercial and/or operational due diligence services to numerous clients such as TPG Capital, TPG Growth, Warburg Pincus, Blackstone, GIC, Temasek, Morgan Stanley, CDC and Olympus Capital.

Prior to joining A&M, Mr. Hathi spent 14 years with EY, where he most recently served as Director. At EY, he worked on numerous cross border and private equity transactions for clients such as KKR, Carlyle, Blackstone, Waburg Pincus, Apax Partners, Baring Asia, WL Ross, ICICI Ventures, IDFC Private Equity, L&T Finance, Reliance Capital, GE Capital, T Rowe Price, Axis Bank and Kotak Group.

Mr. Hathi earned a bachelor's degree in commerce and accounting from the University of Mumbai. He is qualified as a Chartered Accountant through the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India. An Indian national, Mr. Bhavik is fluent in English, Hindi and Gujarati.  

Dhruv Phophalia is a Managing Director with Alvarez & Marsal in Mumbai, and leads the firm's India Disputes and Investigations practice. He brings more than 25 years of experience advising organizations and investors across the globe on corporate governance, transaction advisory and diligence, disputes, bankruptcy, risk management, investigations, data analytics, digital forensics and regulatory matters.

Mr. Phophalia has advised clients across a range of industries, including consumer products, financial services, infrastructure, life sciences, manufacturing, media and entertainment, natural resources, telecom and technology. He brings deep expertise in conducting forensic investigation engagements for boards, audit committees and senior managements of multinational and domestic companies. This includes investigations covering regulatory matters, intellectual property and data theft, procurement frauds, revenue recognition and improper accounting practices, antitrust, embezzlement of funds, misuse of corporate assets and improper dealings with third parties.

Additionally, Mr. Phophalia’s experience in investment transaction situations includes enhanced due diligence, corporate governance and compliance programs, regulatory compliance and analytics-driven insights. He has also advised companies in their acquisitions of targets that were undergoing insolvency and bankruptcy proceedings in India and global investors on contentious matters involving portfolio companies and exits.

Mr. Phophalia has advised clients on several domestic and international litigation and arbitration matters involving expert witness engagements, buy-sell disputes, construction contracts, claim for damages and royalties and bankruptcy-related matters.

Prior to joining A&M, Mr. Phophalia served as Senior Director (Partner) with Deloitte. He spent more than 10 years in Deloitte's U.S. office, and was seconded to Mumbai to set up its forensic and dispute services practice in India.

Mr. Phophalia earned both bachelor and master of commerce in accounting degrees from the University of Mumbai and an MBA in finance from the University of Pittsburgh.

Manish Saigal is a Managing Director with Alvarez & Marsal in Mumbai and leads the firm’s Business Transformation Services practice in India. He advises on strategy, market entry, commercial and operational diligence, and post-merger integration offerings for A&M in India.

He brings more than 17 years of rich experience in strategy, operations, private equity (PE) and M&A consulting. He specializes in market entry strategy, business planning, commercial and operational diligence, integration and separation advisory and bid advisory for PPP projects.

Mr. Saigal has advised clients within leading global and Indian corporate, PE firms, government and public-sector companies on strategic, operational and policy-related matters. He also brings deep industry experience in transport and logistics, consumer and engineering sectors.

Before A&M, he spent 11 years with KPMG India, where he most recently served as Partner in their Transactions and Restructuring group. There, Mr. Saigal also led the Strategy and CDD practice. He served as the national leader for their transport and logistics sector.

Earlier, he served with KPMG’s business performance group and led some of the leading transactions and consulting assignments in India. Examples of these deals involved: a leading ethnic women's wear retail company, a diversified logistics company; an automotive company, a supply-chain integration for a pharmaceutical firm, a long-term strategy and business plan for Mumbai Port, and a balanced score-card design and implementation for a global oil and gas company.

Before that, Mr. Saigal worked with Arthur Andersen’s business consulting practice for almost four years, focusing on strategy and operations areas for clients in the auto, logistics, consumer products, power utilities and pharmaceutical sectors. He started his career with Asian Paints, a leading paint company in India as part of its supply chain and corporate planning team.

Mr. Saigal has also served on such high-profile industry committees as Dr. Rakesh Mohan’s national task force on integrated multimodal logistics framework, the steering committee for the CII National Logistics Summit, and the CII national committee for ports.

Mr. Saigal is a B.Tech and rank holder from Indian Institute of Technology – Kanpur in 1996 and completed an executive management program at IIM Ahmedabad. He has authored several thought leadership articles on emerging trends in transportation and logistics.

Nikhil Shah is a Managing Director with Alvarez & Marsal and leads the turnaround & restructuring practice in India. He has played an integral role in several high profile turnarounds, performance improvement, distressed M&A and financial restructuring projects and brings more than 15 years serving public and privately owned companies.

He has led several complex engagements across a range of industries including steel, power, infrastructure, transportation, telecom, financial services, consumer electronics, chemicals, technology and textiles across North America and Asia. He has also authored several white papers on the stressed asset market including Outlook for Stressed Asset Market in India and Asset Reconstruction Companies: Small Steps on a Long Road Ahead. Mr. Shah has also advised the Bankruptcy Law Reform Committee and Joint Parliamentary Committee on drafting of the Indian Insolvency & Bankruptcy Act of 2016. He is currently serving the Ministry of Corporate Affairs on implementation of the new insolvency & bankruptcy code.

At A&M, Mr. Shah has led a number of notable restructuring and interim management assignments: advised Jet Airways, one of India's leading airlines on a comprehensive turnaround; served as interim CRO at Bharati Shipyard, a leader in the ship building industry in India; served as interim CEO of one of India's largest owned fleet transportation companies to improve performance of their repair and maintenance facilities; advised one of the largest mobile handset providers in India on a finance function reorganization through improvements in cash flow management, working capital, reporting and internal controls; acted as the interim CFO for OCM India, a leading fabric manufacturer in India owned by large global private equity fund; and served as interim country manager for Lehman Brothers in India and Mauritius, managing over 15 Lehman entities with investments in India totaling $1.3 billion.

Prior to A&M, Mr. Shah was a founding director of Elbee Express, an express delivery company based in Mumbai with more than 130 branches and 1,500 employees across India. He began his professional career in investment banking with Jefferies & Co. in New York, completing distressed M&A and financial restructuring transactions totaling over $5 billion.

Mr. Shah earned a bachelor's degree from the Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania and is a graduate of Phillips Exeter Academy. A U.S. and U.K. national, he is fluent in English and Hindi.

Pankaj Bhagat is a Managing Director with Alvarez & Marsal Infrastructure & Capital Projects in New Delhi.

Mr. Bhagat specializes in advising clients in the infrastructure, engineering and construction, real estate and industrial equipment sectors. His primary areas of concentration include working with senior industry leaders on large scale performance improvement and digital transformation programs.

With more than 25 years of core industry and consulting experience, Mr. Bhagat brings proven success in the management and turnaround of large and complex capital projects, as well as in driving organization wide functional transformation for engineering and construction conglomerates.

Mr. Bhagat’s notable assignments include being part of mega capital project management programs for leading owners, developers and EPC contractors across industries. He has also had the opportunity to serve the Chief Executive Officers and boards of top three organizations in the EPC and construction sector in India. Mr. Bhagat has advised clients across various industries, including oil and gas, metals, power and urban infrastructure.

Prior to joining A&M, Mr. Bhagat spent over 12 years with Accenture Strategy & Consulting in India, where he most recently served as Managing Director. As part of the Supply Chain & Operations practice, he advised clients on mandates, including cost and productivity improvement, digital strategy and implementation, operating model design and change management.

Mr. Bhagat earned a bachelor’s degree in civil engineering from Nagpur University, a post graduate qualification in general management from IIM Kozhikode and a post graduate qualification in artificial intelligence from McCombs School of Business, University of Texas.

Vishal Hakani is a Managing Director with Alvarez & Marsal Tax in Mumbai. He also leads the Global Transaction Tax Private Equity team.

Mr. Hakani specializes in M&A tax and private equity. His primary areas of concentration are cross-border M&A, tax structuring, due diligence, transaction tax advisory, navigating complex tax negotiations, corporate structuring, and private equity transactions.

Mr. Hakani brings over two decades of expertise in transaction tax across sectors, including focus on technology, media, and telecommunications, financial services, consumer, and infrastructure.

Mr. Hakani has been involved in various high-profile tax diligences and inbound and outbound transactions, including advising on entry strategy, investments through tax-optimal jurisdictions and exit considerations, fund structuring, and carry and co-investment advisory.

Prior to joining A&M, Mr. Hakani spent over 16 years with Deloitte India’s M&A Tax department, where he most notably served as Partner. Mr. Hakani previously led Deloitte’s Private Equity Tax Initiative, where he played a pivotal role in high-profile transactions and worked very closely with the larger M&A team. His leadership and technical acumen have consistently added value to marquee clients and transactions.

Mr. Hakani earned a bachelor’s degree in commerce from Mumbai University. He is also a Chartered Accountant with the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI).