Saurav Adhikari

Saurav is a senior global business leader with four decades of deep domain expertise in global businesses/markets, across technology, FMCG, and consumer durables sectors as an operations, general management and investment specialist. In two decades in the technology sector with HCL (2000-2019), he has held multiple leadership roles as the Founding President of HCL’s startup enterprise networking firm, led a team that established what has now become a multi-hundred million dollar IT enabled services (“ITES”) business, served as President of HCL’s ITES North American business, and as President of Global Corporate Strategy. He has worked on several multi-billon dollar inorganic investments in technology and software, carve-outs of multiple enterprise software product suites, joint ventures with global majors, all to transform and reinvent HCL’s business. He was instrumental in strategising HCL’s pivoting of its business model to a leading intellectual property led solutions company.

In his technology role, he had built deep inroads into global private equity and VC firms, while creating large, successful, value-based partnerships between HCL and private equity owned technology businesses, which are considered groundbreaking in the industry. At HCL, he held various executive positions, the last being President, Global Strategy, working directly with the Founder & Chairman with oversight across the group’s business, as well as the not-for-profit Shiv Nadar Foundation. During this time, he contributed to HCL's immense growth from a ~$200mn revenue company in 2000 to a ~$14bn revenue and ~$40bn market cap today, transforming it into one of the world’s leading, and India’s 3rd largest IT / Technology / Software Product companies.

His prior experience also includes several senior global leadership and executive roles across Unilever, as Vice President at PepsiCo and Groupe SEB as CEO of the India business.

Saurav is currently the Founder & Sr. Partner at Indus Tech Edge Fund I, a growth fund focused on globalizing India’s vibrant technology ecosystem. He is the former Chairman of NASDAQ listed Vahanna Tech Edge Acquisition I Corp (A Special Purpose Acquisition Company (SPAC) – ticker VHNA) and has after a successful DeSPAC/merger moved on to the board of NASDAQ listed Roadzen Inc (ticker RDZN). He is also serves as a board member of Goodricke Group Ltd., Accelya Solutions India Ltd., (both listed in India), and Bridgeweave Ltd, UK, an AI based Fintech firm. He works as a technology advisor and investor with interests across AI based fintech and healthcare firms, as well as analytics, IoT and logistics firms. He also serves as a Senior Advisor in the Shiv Nadar Foundation and is a Board Member of the Shiv Nadar University. Saurav schooled at Mayo College, Ajmer, earned his B.A. (Honors) Economics from Delhi University, his MBA from Bombay University, an AMP from INSEAD, Fontainebleau, and is an Indian Institute of Corporate Affairs certified Independent Director.

Saurav strongly believes that businesses can only thrive if they embrace technology driven change in an ethical framework. He is deeply passionate about education as a transformational socio-economic force, is an avid traveler, leadership coach, and a fitness buff. He lives between the beaches of Goa and the bustling National Capital Region of Delhi, thankful that online work limits travel and makes him live less on a plane.