FLAME Investment Lab 
with the Masters

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 28 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.

Chetan Parikh

Chetan Parikh is a director of Jeetay Investments Pvt. Ltd., a portfolio management firm. He is also associated with Capitalideasonline.com, a website dedicated to investor education.

He holds an MBA in Finance from the Wharton School of Business and a BSc in Statistics & Economics from the University of Bombay. He has written for ‘Investment Week,’ which was a popular weekly financial publication in India, and has developed a statistical model for them. His writings have been published in Business Standard, Business World, Economic Times, and Business India.

He was also a visiting faculty member of Jamnalal Bajaj Institute of Management Studies, Mumbai.

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.

Neelkanth Mishra

Neelkanth Mishra is a distinguished economist and financial strategist with over two decades of experience in the global financial markets. Since May 2023, he has served as the Chief Economist at Axis Bank and the Head of Global Research and a Whole-Time Director at Axis Capital. Prior to joining Axis, Neelkanth had a notable two-decade tenure at Credit Suisse, where he co-headed Asia Pacific Strategy and served as the India Strategist.

He is also the Chairperson of the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI). He also serves as a part-time member of the Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister. Neelkanth’s advisory roles extend to several government bodies, including the India Semiconductor Mission and the 15th Finance Commission.

An alumnus of IIT Kanpur, Neelkanth graduated with a gold medal in Computer Science and Engineering. He is also a frequent media columnist, sharing insights on global and Indian macroeconomic trends.

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 of India. 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.

R. Srinivasan

R. Srinivasan has over 30 years’ rich experience in the financial services space. He has been associated with SBI Funds Management Limited since 2009 and, as CIO- Equity, directly manages a number of funds. He was formerly the Head of Equity.

He began his career in equity research and portfolio management, working with several organizations, including Principal PNB AMC, Oppenheimer & Co., Indosuez W.I. Carr, Motilal Oswal, Capital Market Publishers, Sunidhi Consultancy, and Future Capital Holding. These roles laid the foundation for his expertise in value investing, particularly in small- and mid-cap spaces.

He is a postgraduate in commerce and has done his MFM from the University of Mumbai.

Raamdeo Agrawal

Raamdeo Agrawal is the Chairman and Co-founder of Motilal Oswal Financial Services, a prominent financial services firm established in 1987, specialising in Indian equity capital markets and research. Raamdeo Agrawal and his business Partner Mr Motilal Oswal, spread their businesses in Retail Broking and Distribution, Institutional Equities, Asset Management Company, Private Wealth, Investment Banking, Private Equity & Home Finance.

As Chairman of Motilal Oswal Asset Management Company, Agrawal has been a key architect of the “QGLP” (Quality Growth Longevity & Favourable Price) Investment Framework and the ‘Buy Right, Sit Tight’ investing philosophy. His leadership has significantly influenced the group’s research initiatives, with Agrawal taking charge of the annual Motilal Oswal Wealth Creation Study since its inception in 1996.

Raamdeo Agrawal is a qualified Chartered Accountant and has been in equity investing for the past 4 decades. His insights and expertise have been featured on ‘Wizards of Dalal Street on CNBC TV18.’ Agrawal’s co-authorship of the book “Corporate Numbers Game” in 1986 and his solo work “The Art of Wealth Creation” showcase his commitment to sharing financial knowledge.

As an influential figure in finance, Raamdeo Agrawal continues to shape the industry through his thoughtful insights and dedication to wealth creation studies. Mr Agrawal has been releasing Annual Wealth Creation Studies for the past 28 years. These are the most awaited investing guides and reference studies in India.

Agrawal has maintained a consistent track record of integrity, earning recognition through the Rashtriya Sammon Potra from the Central Board of Direct Taxes. In 2018, he was honoured as the “Chhattisgarh Citizen of the Year” at the Chhattisgarh Excellence Awards, receiving the award from the Hon’ble Chief Minister of Chhattisgarh, Dr Raman Singh.

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 S. Damani, age 66 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.

Married to Ruchi and has one son.

Ridham Desai

Ridham Desai is a Managing Director of Morgan Stanley with 29 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.

Saurabh Madaan

Saurabh Madaan is the Founder and Managing Member of Manveen Asset Management. Prior to founding Manveen, Saurabh was the Deputy Chief Investment Officer at Markel Corporation in Virginia. He was previously a Senior Data Scientist at the Google HQ in Mountain View, California. Saurabh is also Adjunct Faculty, Finance at FLAME University in Pune. He is a Board Member and Chair of the Investment Committee for the Valentine Museum in Richmond.

Saurabh graduated from the University of Pennsylvania with an MS in Materials Science and Engineering. He holds a Bachelor of Technology degree from the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Madras, and an MS in Physics from the University of Waterloo.

Sunil Singhania

Sunil Singhania, CA and CFA Charter Holder, founder of Abakkus Asset Manager Private Limited (Formerly known as Abakkus Asset Manager LLP) was rated among the Best fund managers by Outlook Business in 2016 and 2017 over a 10 year time frame. He is the first Indian to be appointed on the Global Board of CFA institute, USA (2013-2019). Currently he is the only Indian to be appointed on the IFRS Capital Market Advisory Committee (CMAC) (2020-2023). He was Chief Investment Officer (CIO), Equities of Reliance Nippon Asset Management overseeing - USD 11 billion of equity asset. He was also an Honorary Chairman of Investment committee of CFA Institute (2018-2019) managing - USD 450 million.

* While we have received confirmation from all speakers, the speaker list could change.