FLAME Investment Lab 
with the Masters

Akash Prakash

Akash Prakash is the Director and Chief Executive Officer of Amansa Capital Pte. Ltd., a Singapore-based investment management firm he founded in 2006. With over three decades of experience in the Indian securities markets, Akash leads the firm’s investment team, overseeing market risk and serving as the Chief Investment Officer for Amansa Funds’ portfolios.

Before establishing Amansa Capital, Akash held the position of Director of Investments, India, at Temasek Holdings, the investment arm of the Government of Singapore. He also served as a Portfolio Manager at the Government of Singapore Investment Corporation (GIC), managing diverse investment portfolios across the U.S., pan-Asia, and India. He has been actively investing in India since 1990.

Akash earned his Bachelor of Commerce from Bombay University and an MBA from the Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad (IIM-A). He also writes a fortnightly column for the Business Standard.

Amay Hattangadi

Amay is the co-head of the Emerging Markets Core group at Morgan Stanley Investment Management, based in Singapore. He joined Morgan Stanley in 1997 and has 25 years of investment experience.

Amay received a B.Com degree from Mumbai University. He is an associate member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India and holds a Chartered Financial Analyst designation.

Amay is an independent director on the Board of Gateway House: Indian Council on Global Relations, which is a foreign policy think tank based in Mumbai.

Previously he was a columnist for Livemint and a visiting faculty for the MBA programme at NMIMS Mumbai. He has spoken at various forums including the CFA India Forum.

Navneet Munot

Navneet Munot is the MD and CEO - HDFC Asset Management Company Limited.

Mr. Munot has over 30 years of experience in financial markets. Before joining HDFC, he has worked with SBI Mutual Funds as Chief Investment Officer, Morgan Stanley Investment Management as executive director and head of multi-strategy boutique and Birla Sun Life Mutual Funds as CIO for fixed income and hybrid funds.

Navneet has a Master’s degree in Accountancy and Business Statistics and is a qualified Chartered Accountant.

He is a Charterholder of the CFA Institute and CAIA Institute. He has also done Financial Risk Management (FRM).

Navneet’s person of the year annual letter is widely read and valued by all pedigrees of investors.

Nilesh Shah

Nilesh Shah is Managing Director of Kotak AMC.

Nilesh led his team to the Best Fund House of the Year Award at all the mutual funds where he has worked viz. Kotak, ICICI Prudential and Franklin Templeton Mutual Fund.

Nilesh is a part time member of the Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister. He is a part time member of the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI). He is a member of the Board of Association of Mutual Funds in India and a Member of CoBoSAC committee of SEBI.

Rajeev Thakkar

Possessing over three decades of experience in various segments of the capital markets such as investment banking, corporate finance, securities broking and fund management, he is currently the Chief Investment Officer and Director at PPFAS Mutual Fund.

His association with PPFAS Limited (The sponsor of PPFAS Asset Management Company Ltd.) began in 2001. He was appointed the Fund Manager for the erstwhile flagship strategy of the Portfolio Management Service, titled “Cognito” in 2003.

He is a strong believer in the school of “value investing” and is heavily influenced by Warren Buffett and Charlie Munger’s approach. Apart from his technical ability, what distinguishes him from many others is his ability to stand his ground and remain unflappable during difficult times. He is a regular contributor to Mint newspaper and has also appeared on business channels such as CNBC, ET Now and NDTV Profit.

He is a qualified Chartered Accountant, Cost Accountant and CFA Charterholder.

Ramesh Damani

Ramesh Damani Ramesh S. Damani, age 68 years, is a Member of the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE). A graduate of H.R. College, Mumbai, he did his MBA from California State University, Northridge. He has been a broker, at the BSE, since 1989.

He is Managing Director of Ramesh S. Damani Finance Pvt. Ltd.

He also serves on the Board of VIP INDUSTRIES LTD.

He has hosted a number of shows on CNBC-TV18, amongst them are Wizards of Dalal Street, Oriental & Occidental and RD 360. He is a frequent commentator of financial issues on various business channels.

He is married to Ruchi and has one son.

Ridham Desai

Ridham Desai is a Managing Director of Morgan Stanley with 28 years at the firm. He heads Morgan Stanley’s Indian Equity Research team which is the top ranked team in the country. He has been consistently ranked among the best equity market strategist and analyst in the country over his career spanning over 34 years. He has represented Morgan Stanley in several public debates on the equity market and the economy, is a regular media contributor and authored several insightful reports. Ridham is also on the advisory board of Project Mumbai, a not for profit engaged in improving the lives of Mumbaikars.

Sandeep Kothari

Sandeep Kothari is the founder of East Lane Capital and has nearly three decades of experience in equity markets. He spent 18 years at Fidelity Investments, beginning as a regional analyst before managing India-dedicated portfolios for almost 15 years. Before joining Fidelity, Sandeep worked on the sell side as a consumer and pharma analyst. Beyond investing, Sandeep is passionate about endurance sports. He has participated in Ironman 70.3 races and completed numerous marathons.

Sanjoy Bhattacharyya

Sanjoy Bhattacharyya is a Partner at Fortuna Capital. He has earned a PGDM from IIM Ahmedabad. He was the erstwhile Chief Investment Officer of HDFC Asset Management Company prior to which he was associated with UBS Warburg. He is a value investor with an abiding interest in behavioural finance.

Apart from investing, he has a passion for bridge and the visual arts.

Utpal Sheth

Mr. Utpal Sheth is the Founder and Mentor of TRUST Group. TRUST Group is an institutionalized multi-line and multi-asset financial services platform with leadership in the debt capital markets and a differentiated advisory, asset and wealth management platform. He was the Senior Partner and CEO of RARE Enterprises, a multi-billion dollar proprietary asset management firm based in India.

Mr. Sheth focuses on long-term investing in public and private markets, portfolio construction and risk management. He regularly engages with investee companies to enhance shareholder value by emphasizing on sustainable value drivers. In a career of over 30 years in the capital markets across various reputed Indian financial firms, he has extensive experience in investment management, fund raising, M&A, buybacks and corporate advisory.