Unlocking Performance Across Every Mile

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.

Praveen Pajiar is a Managing Director with Alvarez & Marsal in Mumbai. He brings 18 years of experience in manufacturing and supply chain in both discrete and process industry.

Mr. Pajiar specializes in product supply strategy, cost optimization, supply and distribution planning, network optimization, inventory management, lean manufacturing, operational excellence and process improvement. He has worked with clients in various industries, including manufacturing, automobile, consumer products, pharmaceuticals, medical devices and industrials.

Prior to joining A&M, Mr. Pajiar worked with Deloitte, focusing on supply chain and manufacturing operations for the consumer and industrial product sector. He led multiple transformation and performance improvement engagements, advising global clients across US, China, India, Australia and Europe. Previously, Mr. Pajiar worked with Procter and Gamble in their product supply group and led the implementation of Total Productive Maintenance (TPM), High performance work system (HPWS) and Lean Six Sigma in India. Prior to that, he worked with Eicher Motors, focusing on manufacturing and operations.

Mr. Pajiar has also authored various articles and thought pieces on performance improvement, operations and inventory management.

Mr. Pajiar earned a bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering and an MBA in supply chain and manufacturing operations from NITIE Mumbai.

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.

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.