Driving Value in a 
Rapidly Evolving Industrial Landscape

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.

Sameer Amte is a Managing Director with Alvarez & Marsal Business Transformation Services in Mumbai. He brings more than 20 years of consulting experience in EBITDA improvement programs, strategy and operating model design and digital transformation initiatives across industrial, retail and life sciences clients.

Mr. Amte has successfully led digital commerce and omni-channel transformations that involved enhancing customer experience, optimizing marketing investments, driving hyper-personalization and streamlining supply chain operations to strengthen market position. He has also advised industrial and automotive manufacturers, leading retailers, and life sciences clients on growth strategies, redesigning operating models, and executing digital and analytics-driven EBITDA improvement programs.

Prior to joining A&M, Mr. Amte spent 18 years with Accenture Strategy and Consulting, serving most recently as a Senior Managing Director responsible for growing their strategy and consulting practices as well as their SONG business.

Previously, Mr. Amte led the Retail and Life Sciences practice for Accenture India and was responsible for managing their large accounts. He was a chosen leader for their People Advocacy Network and inclusivity and diversity initiatives.

Mr. Amte earned a master’s degree in chemical engineering from Texas A&M University and an MBA in strategy management from the University of Houston.

Akhilesh Sahu is a Managing Director with Alvarez & Marsal in New Delhi. With over 16 years of experience, he has a proven track record of driving profitable growth in the industrial and consumer goods sectors. Mr. Sahu has worked with clients in building materials, cement, electricals, consumer durables, small domestic appliances, commercial and passenger vehicles, two-wheelers, packaged foods amongst others.

Mr. Sahu helps mid- to large-sized organizations aim for breakout growth by focusing on growth strategy, consumer insights, product innovation, new business development, go-to-market acceleration, customer experience enhancement and digital transformations.

Mr. Sahu has helped multiple companies leverage data and analytics digitize front-end operations. He has also helped clients get closer to customers by developing products based on deep consumer insights. He is passionate about helping clients leverage emerging trends early for competitive advantage.

Prior to joining A&M, Mr. Sahu was a Partner with the Boston Consulting Group in the Industrial Goods and Marketing and Sales & Pricing practices. His notable assignments included developing portfolio strategy for India’s largest business conglomerate, building and launching an appliances business for an electricals company and executing a business carve-out for a leading commercial vehicle player. He also led programs on enhancing customer experience for a premium motorcycle company and driving sales acceleration across cement and passenger vehicle sectors.

Mr. Sahu earned a bachelor’s degree from Bharati Vidyapeeth, Delhi and an MBA from XLRI Jamshedpur.

Jugnu Sakuja is a Managing Director with Alvarez & Marsal’s Business Transformation Services in New Delhi. He specializes in driving large-scale business transformation programs focused on margin expansion, leveraging growth as well as cost optimization levers.

With more than 18 years of consulting experience, Mr. Sakuja has worked with automobile original equipment manufacturers, auto suppliers, infrastructure players, apparel and fashion brands and retailers.

Prior to joining A&M, Mr. Sakuja spent seven years with Accenture Strategy in New Delhi, serving most recently as Managing Director. He recently drove a large-scale cost optimization program for one of India’s largest passenger vehicle players, helped a farm equipment player increase its market share and helped a leading two-wheeler player optimize its logistics and packaging operations.

Previously, Mr. Sakuja served as a Principal in Hong Kong for SDG, a boutique consulting firm.

Mr. Sakuja earned a bachelor’s degree in economics from Delhi University and an MBA from IIM Calcutta.

Amit Dakshini is a Senior Leader with Alvarez & Marsal Automotive & Industrials practice in Mumbai.

Mr. Dakshini’s primary areas of focus include growth and diversification strategy, domestic and global market expansion for original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) and suppliers, product planning and technology roadmaps, engineering transformation, EBITDA transformation, and business turnaround. With more than 28 years of experience, he has worked closely with senior industry leaders of domestic and global OEMs and automotive suppliers and investors, advising them on their strategic agendas.

Prior to joining A&M, Mr. Dakshini led the Automotive practice with Arthur D. Little India and South Asia. He has also held leadership positions managing profit and loss statements and corporate strategy functions for Tier 1 suppliers across India, Southeast Asia, Central Europe, North America, and Latin America.

Mr. Dakshini earned an MBA from the Birla Institute of Management Technology (BIMTECH) in Greater Noida, India.