ABOUT UGRO

Satyananda Mishra

Non-Executive Chairman & Independent Director

Mr. Satyananda Mishra is the former Chief Information Commissioner of India (December 2010 to September 2013). He has a diverse and exemplary career of more than 40 years in the Indian Administrative Services (batch of 1973). He was the Chairman and Non-Executive Independent Director of the Multi Commodity Exchange of India Limited from November 2013 till November 2016. He served as the Director of the Small Industries Development Bank of India until 2018 and as a Development Commissioner for Small Scale Industries in the Government of India. Additionally, he has also held the position of Former Secretary for various government departments like the Department of Personnel & Training (DoPT), Public Works Department (PWD), and Department of Culture (MP Government).

Shachindra Nath

Founder & Managing Director

Mr. Nath took on the role of an entrepreneur by acquiring control of a listed NBFC called Chokhani Securities Limited in 2018 and is now the Vice Chairman & Managing Director of UGRO Capital, a tech enabled small business lending platform. Prior to embarking on his entrepreneurial journey at UGRO Capital, Mr Nath has been influential in setting up Insurance Companies, Global Asset Management Businesses, Capital Market and Lending Institutions. Throughout his illustrious career, he has been instrumental in building two insurance companies, a large asset management company and an NBFC. Some of his biggest achievements include establishing new business verticals alongside foraying successful joint ventures and partnerships for the group. He is a qualified lawyer and a University Rank Holder from the Banaras Hindu University (India).

Karuppasamy Singam

Independent Director

Mr. Karuppasamy has served as the Executive Director of Reserve Bank of India and as the RBI Nominee Director at Indian Bank. He continues to be associated with a number of high-profile working groups in certain areas, such as High-Power Committee on Urban Cooperative Banks, Rating Framework for Urban Cooperative Banks, Cross Border Supervision and Integrated System of Alert. This also includes serving as an Independent Director at Asset Reconstruction Company (India) Limited. He is a postgraduate in Economics, a Certified Associate of Indian Institute of Bankers, with a Post Graduate Diploma in Bank Management (NIBM).

Karnam Sekar

Independent Director

Mr. Karnam Sekar is a professional banker with rich experience in all the facets of Indian Banking at a very senior level. He joined as a Probationary Officer with State Bank of India in 1983 and rose to the level of Deputy Managing Director. Selected as Managing Director of Public Sector Bank and has the rare distinction of heading two public Sector Banks during very critical juncture of their history. As the Dy MD of SBI, he contributed during the Board level deliberations of the Nation’s Largest Commercial Bank for more than four years. Presently he is on the Board of Incred Financial Services Ltd. and National Asset Construction Company Ltd.

Hemant Bhargava

Independent Director

Mr. Hemant Bhargava is a Master’s in economics. Mr. Bhargava joined LIC as a direct recruit officer in 1981 and retired as its Managing Director in July 2019. During his long tenure of 38 years, he worked across diverse set of roles both in India and abroad, building multi-dimensional experience in different capacities, especially in Marketing, Internal Operations, and new ventures. He was the first chief of LIC International Operations SBU, besides being instrumental in setting up LIC Cards Services Limited. His tenure as Managing Director (and also as Chairman in charge from January to March 2019) was marked by his creative leadership with new ideas enriched by the extensive experience gained in overseeing several functions including Marketing, Finance, Personnel, Investments, Alternative Channel, etc. Presently he is on the Board of Larsen and Toubro and Tata Power Company Limited and ITC.

RAJEEV K. AGARWAL

Independent Director

Mr. Agarwal has nearly three decades of experience in the Indian financial services sector. He was worked with some highly reputed organisations such as the Securities and Exchange Board of India, Forward Markets Commission, and Indian Revenue Service. He has a knack of building and maintaining relationships and community with ease. Rajeev Agarwal finished his term on November 2016 from the post of Whole Time Member at SEBI. Before joining SEBI, he served as the Member of the Forward Markets Commission (FMC) and was responsible for the framing of regulations for the Commodities Markets which had been liberalised just then. He is an alumnus of The Indian Revenue Service (Batch of 1983) and the Indian Institute of Technology, Roorkee with a bachelor’s in technology.

ROHIT GOYAL

Vice President at IFU

Mr. Rohit Goyal is currently working as a Vice President within the global financial services team at IFU, a Danish DFI, working to invest in financial services institutions across emerging markets.

Mr. Goyal has a cumulative experience of 20 years, of which 15 years has been within the financial services sector. Mr. Goyal is a B-Tech in mechanical engineering from IIT Delhi and is also a CFA charter holder.

Tabassum Inamdar

Independent Director

Ms. Tabassum Inamdar is a highly seasoned and respected Chartered Accountant, with over 25 years of extensive experience in research and analysis in the banking, insurance, and financial sector in India and Asia. As a pioneer in the impact sector, she founded Tameel, a research initiative specialising in impact strategy research in 2019. Her groundbreaking 7-point framework for successful CSR has been recognised as a foundation for impactful initiatives, and she has applied this framework to analyse companies like Mahindra & Mahindra and ITC.

As a member of a committee set up by the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India, Ms. Inamdar played a key role in developing a concept paper on standalone micro-insurance companies. She has also held key positions in various organisations, notably, as the Head of State Reform Team at Central Square Foundation, Managing Director and Co-head of the India Research team and Asia Financials team at Goldman Sachs Securities India Private Ltd, and other influential roles at UBS Securities and Kotak Securities etc.

Her expertise includes serving on multiple boards as an Independent Director, including those of Equitas Small Finance Bank and Zipsure, along with current appointments at Franklin Templeton AMC India, Pure Earth Blacksmith Institute, Indifi Technologies Pvt. Ltd., and its 100% subsidiary, Indifi Capital Pvt. Ltd. With her impressive track record, expertise, and commitment to creating a positive impact, she is poised to be an invaluable addition to the board of UGRO Capital Limited.

Ramanathan Subramanian Arun Kumar

Non-Executive (Nominee) Director

Mr. Ramanathan Subramanian Arun Kumar has over 29 years of experience in the financial service sector. He is currently serving as the Chief Operating Officer and overseeing finance, legal, compliance and overall operations of ClearSky Investment Holdings Pte Limited. He holds an MBA from University of Chicago Booth School of Business and is an Associate Member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India.

AMIT MANDE

Chief Revenue Officer

22+ Years of Experience

Amit is the Chief Revenue Officer at UGRO Capital. Leveraging his prior experience of building profitable businesses across asset products, diverse distribution models, and his passion for technology and speed, he endeavours to build a multi-product and omnichannel MSME lending franchise on the back of digitization and data analytics. Amit shoulders the responsibility of scaling the asset side of the business. Business and Operations teams across all product verticals report to him. Amit brings a rich career experience spanning over 22 years with organisations like Capital First, Standard Chartered Bank, ABN Amro Bank, Barclays Bank, among others. Amit is an alumnus of Jamnalal Bajaj Institute of Management Studies and a Mechanical engineer from V.J.T.I., Mumbai.

ANUJ PANDEY

Chief Executive Officer

20+ years of Experience

Anuj is a founding team member of UGRO Capital. His passion is to use analytics & technology to create pragmatic risk models that help create new products/programmes which in turn helps simplify the credit access experiences for SME’s. Anuj brings 20+ years of experience from leading companies such as Barclays Bank, ABN AMRO Bank & Religare Finvest, among others. Anuj holds a Bachelor’s degree in Engineering (Mechanical) from Thapar University & PGDM from IIM Lucknow.

Shilpa-Bhatter

Chief Financial Officer

18+ years of Experience

Ms. Bhatter is a seasoned finance professional with 18+ years of experience in the BFSI sector, Specialising in strategic finance, treasury, business development, and financial controllership. A Chartered Accountant by qualification, in her earlier stint she was the Chief Financial Officer at Dvara Kshetriya Gramin Financial Services (DKGFS), an NBFC focused on rural inclusion, with an AUM of over ₹2,200 crores. Ms. Bhatter has a well proven track record in capital raising, having mobilised over ₹4,000 crores in debt for DKGFS, including onboarding of 30+ new lenders and securing foreign debt through impact investors. She has successfully driven rating upgrades, enhanced capital efficiency, and played a key role in operational risk management and compliance with RBI and other regulatory bodies.

RAJNI KHURANA

Chief People Officer

20+ years of Experience

Rajni brings over 20 years of Global Human Resources Management and Strategic Business Advisory experience to UGRO. Specialising in Financial Services, she excels in crafting platforms for organisational growth. A foundational member of UGRO Capital, Rajni played a pivotal role in scaling the people function and shaping the organisation's people-centric culture and values. Her strategic acumen has been instrumental in the evolution of UGRO, fostering a workplace culture that aligns with the company's vision and values. With a rich background that includes contributions to IndoSpace, CRISIL, Birla Sunlife Insurance, HDFC Bank, and WNS, Rajni brings a diverse wealth of experience to her impactful leadership role.

SUNIL LOTKE

Chief Legal & Compliance Officer

20+ years of Experience

Sunil is our Chief Officer – Legal, Compliance & Secretarial and is the primary interface with the Regulators. He brings about 20 years of rich experience in the field of Legal, Compliance and Corporate Secretarial with specializations in Financial Services Legislations, Capital Market transactions, Corporate Restructuring, and Securities Regulations. Sunil joins us from InCred Financial Services, where he was responsible for Legal & Compliance function. Before joining InCred, he has worked with the Reliance Group, Future Capital Holdings & IIFL Group, among others. Sunil is a member of the Institute of Company Secretaries of India, and a law graduate from Mumbai University.

Sharad Agarwal

Chief Operating and Technology Officer

20+ years of experience

Sharad brings over 26 years of extensive experience in Business, Startups, Fintech, and Operations within the Banking, Financial Services, and Insurance Sector. He has excelled in establishing and leading high-performing functions, steering them to achieve substantial portfolios in dynamic business environments. Sharad's core competencies include setting up Fintech organisations, managing startups, designing Enterprise IT and Operations Strategies, and driving digitization initiatives. He has a proven track record of scaling businesses from startup to growth phase. As a former member of the Gartner Research Forum and a CAPSTONE-certified professional, Sharad brings valuable insights and expertise to our team.

Irem Sayeed

Chief Risk Officer

20+ years of Experience

With over 20 years of experience in the financial services industry, Irem has a rich background in credit and lending, having most recently served as Chief Credit Officer at UGRO Capital & Vice President at Mswipe before that.

Her career journey includes significant roles at Care Health Insurance, Poonawalla Fincorp, Kotak Mahindra Bank, and GE Capital. Irem’s diverse experience across these organisations has equipped her with a deep understanding of the financial sector and a robust skill set in risk management, product development, and strategic planning. Her leadership and expertise continue to drive innovation and growth at UGRO Capital.

Sameer Nanda

Chief Revenue Officer

26+ years of Experience

Sameer Nanda is a seasoned financial services professional with 26 years of diverse experience across MSME lending (Business Loans, Loan Against Property, Trade Finance) and Consumer lending (Durables, Two-Wheeler Loans, Personal Loans, Credit Cards). He has a proven track record of leading large teams, executing greenfield projects, driving strategic growth, and re-establishing brand presence in competitive markets.

Sameer’s core strengths lie in portfolio management, debt recovery, and digital transformation, with a deep understanding of both retail and MSME customer segments. Over the course of his career, he has consistently delivered results by blending operational excellence with strategic foresight.

His professional journey includes significant tenures at Religare Finvest Ltd., ABN Amro Bank N.V., and ICICI Bank, where he played instrumental roles in stabilizing portfolios, scaling operations, and leading turnaround strategies. With a leadership style rooted in collaboration and a strong execution mindset, Sameer continues to be a trusted driver of transformation and sustainable growth in the financial services industry.