Management Team

Management Team

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• S. Naganath - President & CIO

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    S. Naganath is the President and Chief Investment Officer of DSP BlackRock Investment Managers Pvt. Ltd. He worked with DSP BlackRock Investment Managers Pvt. Ltd. (previously called DSP Merrill Lynch Fund Managers) from its inception (1996) to October 1999 as Chief Investment Officer. He then worked for Credit Suisse Asset Management, New York as a portfolio manager for international equities before re-joining DSP BlackRock Investment Managers Pvt. Ltd. in 2002 as Joint President and Chief Investment Officer. Prior to his initial position at DSP BlackRock Investment Managers, he had worked in Hong Kong as a portfolio manager with Merrill Lynch Asset Management and GT Management, Hong Kong. Naganath holds a Bachelor of Commerce degree from Madras University and a PGDM from Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad (class of 1987).

    In a poll conducted by The Asset Magazine in 2001, he was ranked as one of the most astute investors in the Asian markets, amongst his peers on the US East Coast.

• Anup Maheshwari - Exec. Vice President, Head Equities & Corporate Strategy

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    Anup has been working with DSP BlackRock Investment Managers Pvt. Ltd. (previously called DSP Merrill Lynch Fund Managers) since July 1997, and has been managing the domestic funds since May 2001. Anup was CIO at HSBC Asset Management between Dec 2005 and May 2006 before returning to DSP BlackRock Investment Managers. Between 1997 and 2000, Anup also managed an offshore fund, the Merrill Lynch India Fund which was registered in Mauritius and sold to Merrill Lynch's clientele outside India. Prior to joining DSP BlackRock Investment Managers Pvt. Ltd., he worked with Chescor, a British fund management firm that managed three offshore funds investing into Indian equities. Anup obtained a Bachelor of Commerce degree from Sydenham College, Bombay University, in 1991 followed by a Post Graduate Diploma in Management (PGDM) from the Indian Institute of Management (IIM), Lucknow, in 1993. In May 2005, the "Top Fund Managers of India" survey conducted by Business Today and Mutualfundsindia.com, featured Anup amongst the top equity fund managers in the country.

• Dhawal Dalal - Exec. Vice President & Head - Fixed Income

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    Mr. Dhawal Dalal joined Merrill Lynch Investment Managers in 1996 after receiving his MBA from the University of Dallas. He worked with the Merrill Lynch Private Client Fixed Income Division for approximately a year. He later joined Money Market Desk of Merrill Lynch Investment Managers. He returned to India in 1998 to join the Fixed Income Desk of DSP BlackRock Investment Managers Pvt. Ltd. (previously called DSP Merrill Lynch Fund Managers). He is currently Exec. Vice President and Head of Fixed Income at DSP BlackRock Investment Managers Pvt. Ltd.

• Apoorva Shah - Exec. Vice President & Fund Manager

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    Apoorva Shah joined DSP BlackRock Investment Managers Pvt. Ltd. (previously called DSP Merrill Lynch Fund Managers) in April 2006. He previously held senior positions in the Global Private Client and Institutional Equity Sales divisions of DSP Merrill Lynch Ltd. Apoorva has a Post Graduate Diploma in Management (PGDM) from the Indian Institute of Management (IIM), Ahmedabad, and brings with him over 18 years of experience in banking and investment.

• Pankaj Sharma - Exec. Vice President, Head of Business Development & Risk Management

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    Pankaj joined DSP BlackRock Investment Managers Pvt. Ltd. (previously called DSP Merrill Lynch Fund Managers) in June 2003 and is currently the head of Business Development & Risk Management. Pankaj has more than 15 years experience in the Banking and Finance sectors. Between June 2002 and May 2003, Pankaj was Head of Pre-Sales and Product Evangelist (Treasury Product) at Infosys Technologies. Prior to that, from April 1993 to April 2002, Pankaj served as Vice President (Risk Management) at Citibank, with assignments covering India, Singapore and the United States. Pankaj holds a Bachelor of Engineering degree in Computer Engineering and obtained his Post Graduate Diploma in Management (PGDM) from XLRI, Jamshedpur in 1993.

• Ramamoorthy Rajagopal - Exec. Vice President, CAO

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    Ramamoorthy Rajagopal began his career as a Management Trainee with Mafatlal group in 1988. In 1989, he joined Arthur Andersen in their Financial Controls and Taxation department. Towards the end of 1992, he took up an overseas assignment with Alghanim Industries, Kuwait (one of the largest trading conglomerate in the Gulf with business interests in automotive, electronics, Insurance, Food & Consumables, Travel Services and Consumer Engineering) as a Senior Financial Analyst. In April 1996, he returned to India to join DSP Merrill Lynch Ltd in their Finance & Operations team and was part of the core team which was responsible for setting up systems and processes for their equity broking operations. In 2000, he started overseeing DSP Merrrill Lynch’s Distribution back office operations.

    In March 2002, he was moved to DSP BlackRock Investment Managers (previously called DSP Merrill Lynch Fund Managers) as Vice President and Chief Financial Officer (CFO). Currently, he is the Chief Administrative Officer (CAO) overseeing critical support functions viz. Fund Administration, Client Response and Operations, Finance, Technology, Legal & Compliance and Corporate Services.

    Ramamoorthy Rajagopal holds a Bachelor of Commerce degree from Mumbai University and the dual qualifications of CFA and ICWA.

• Ajit Menon - Exec. Vice President, Head of Sales & Marketing

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    Ajit has been working with DSP BlackRock Investment Managers Pvt. Ltd.( previously called DSP Merrill Lynch Fund Managers), since August 2000 and has been heading the Sales function since January 2008. Previous to that, Ajit has been heading the Banking and Retail channel sales for the firm. He has more than 15 years of Sales experience and prior to joining DSP BlackRock Investment Managers Pvt. Ltd., Ajit has worked with Standard Chartered Bank, Vodafone and Crompton Greaves Ltd. Ajit holds a Bachelor of Commerce degree from Parle College, University of Mumbai in 1991 followed by a Masters in Management Studies from Chetna’s Ramprasad Khandelwal Institute of Management and Research, Mumbai university in 1994.

• Aditi Hemendra Kothari - Exec. Vice President, Head of Retail & PSB Sales Relationships and Strategy, Head - Marketing

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    Aditi Kothari is a Exec. Vice President at DSP BlackRock Investment Mangers currently heading Retail and Public Sector Bank Sales Relationships and Strategy. She is also a member of the Executive Committee. After completing her Bachelor of Science in Economics degree from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania in 1998, Aditi joined Merrill Lynch’s investment banking group in New York primarily working on M&A activities in the Financial Institutions Group. In 2000, she returned to Mumbai to work for DSP Merrill Lynch’s Fixed Income sales team. Aditi joined DSP Merrill Lynch Fund Managers in 2002 and worked on new initiatives including establishing an offshore fund for foreign investors. In 2005 she went to study further and completed her MBA from the Harvard Business School in 2007.