New rollers of developments at FTIL

The week gone by has brought in new waves of optimism for FTIL. FTIL turned new leaves with a distinct step forward – the expansion of FTIL Board, having inducted industry leaders commanding colossal wealth of experience in the business spectrum. Among the inducted directors were Mr.Anil Singhvi, Mr. Berjis Desai and Mr. Prashant Desai. The former MD and CEO of Ambuja Cement, Anil Singhvi will be part of the Board of Directors along with the founder of the law firm – J Sagar Associates, Mr. Berjis Desai, as non-independent and non-executive directors. The investor relation expert, Mr. Prashant Desai will be on FTIL Board as an executive director.  

Empowering the board with more able hands to ripple FTIL’s progression was, evidently, the core objective. All three of them have hailed as exceedingly successful leaders in their fields of functionality. Their credentials have led numerous organisations to the pinnacle of accomplishments.

Bergis Desai – a law graduate from the Mumbai University and a post-graduate in law from Cambridge University, UK, was the managing partner of J. Sagar Associates, a national law firm, with the strength of over 300 lawyers, since April 2003. He specializes in financial and international business laws and international commercial arbitration. He is also a director of leading companies including The Great Eastern Shipping Company Ltd., Praj Industries Ltd., Emcure Pharmaceuticals Ltd., Edelweiss Financial Services Ltd. and Adani Enterprises Ltd.

Mr. Anil Singhvi, a chartered accountant, is the Chairman of Ican Investments Advisors Pvt. Ltd., with over 30 years of experience in corporate sector, which constitutes 22 years of extensive experience having worked with Ambuja Cements Ltd. where he excelled to the high echelon of MD & CEO. By worthy organic and inorganic strategies, the company grew from less than one million to 20 million tonnes, wherein he played a crucial role in the sale of Ambuja & ACC to Holcim, with a transaction value of over $ 2 billion. His approach was multidimensional, having conceptualised and advised merger of Enam with Axis, a deal that involved about US $ 500 million, and having founded IIAS (Institutional Investor Advisory Services India Ltd.), proxy advisory company for Institutional Investors.

It was a ground-breaking determination for refining corporate governance and accountability of the corporates. IIAS covers over 300 large Indian corporates and advises Investors on the issues of corporate governance and voting. Apart from being Corporate & PE Advisor, he is also on the board of various companies viz. Hindustan Construction Co. Ltd., Capital First Ltd., Subex Ltd, Greatship (India) Ltd., Lavasa Corporation Ltd.

Mr. Prashant Desai commands 20 years of valuable experience, which constitutes 10 years in investor’s relation. He is an associate chartered accountant and ranked 4^th, whilst graduating in cost & work accountant. He founded Seagull IR Solutions Pvt. Ltd., which happens to be one of India’s leading investor relations companies. It has represented numerous companies viz. Financial Technologies (India) Ltd. (FTIL), Pipavav Defense, Phoenix Mills, Talwalkars. Provogue, Prozone CSC, Everstone, Dhunseri Petrochem, DQ Entertainment, Supreme Infrastructure and many more. Before this stint, he headed IR

& Investments at Future Group (Pantaloons Retail, Future Capital Holdings & Future Ventures, Mumbai). He was also head of research at Rare Enterprises, a Rakesh Jhunjhunwala partnership firm, in Mumbai. He was also a board member in Pantaloons, Talwalkars, Future Staples, Future E-Commerce, Pan-India Foods and Industree Crafts. He was President, Mergers & Acquisition and investor Relations at FTIL, since December 2012. He also represents FTIL on the boards of Dubai Gold & Commodity Exchange, Bourse Africa Ltd., Mauritius and Bahrain Financial Exchange, Bahrain.

The new inclusions to the FTIL Board were welcomed by all in FTIL, particularly, by the founder and MD of FTIL – Mr. Jignesh Shah and Mr. Venkat Chary, IAS (Retd), ex-Chairman FMC and Chairman FTIL.