Axis Emerging Stars Portfolio

Fagun Pancholi is the Chief Financial Officer at Axis AMC, having joined the organisation in August 2023. With over 27 years of experience, Fagun has demonstrated exceptional leadership across finance and operations, driving transformative initiatives and managing large teams through complex projects from conception to successful implementation. Throughout his career, Fagun has played a pivotal role in major corporate events, including leading significant IPO and M&A transactions. Prior to joining Axis AMC, Fagun served as Chief Financial Officer of HDFC Pension Fund. Fagun began his professional journey with Larsen & Toubro in 1997. In addition to his corporate achievements, Fagun has contributed to industry advancement as a member of the regulatory Sub-Group responsible for implementing Ind AS (IFRS) standards within the Indian insurance sector.

Hitesh joined Axis AMC in 2022 as SVP & Head – Listed Equity Alternatives. He is responsible for managing the Axis PMS portfolios along with CAT-3 AIF strategies. Hitesh has over 25 years of experience in portfolio management, investment banking and equity research. Prior to joining Axis AMC, he served as Head of Investments in the PMS business at Aditya Birla Mutual Fund. Hitesh has also worked with Enam Asset Management as Executive Director & Portfolio Manager and Edelweiss Capital as Senior VP & Co-Head of Institutional Research. He has managed large equity funds, authored research reports and executed a number of transactions in M&A, IPO and IB assignments that involved Restructuring and Delisting in his past roles. Hitesh has contributed his research to a book co-authored by two Harvard Business School Professors - 'Wall Street Research – Past Present & Future', co-authored by Prof. Boris Groysberg and Prof. Paul Healy, published by Stanford Press. He is also an alumnus of Harvard Business School and an Advisor to the Board of HBS Club of India.

Ashish joined Axis AMC in July 2022 as Director – Private Equity to build and strengthen the firm's private equity and venture capital investing capabilities. He has over two decades of professional experience, of which 12 years have been in growth private equity and late stage venture investing. Prior to joining Axis AMC, he was the global Co-Head for Equity Investments in Healthcare, Food & Agri and Consumer at CDC (now British International Investment). Earlier, he was Director and Country Head for India at AIF Capital, an Asian growth private equity firm. Ashish began his professional journey with KPMG in India and later Goldman Sachs in UK. Across his widespread investing career, he has worked through the lifecycle of PE/VC investing of fund raising, deployment and exits and has worked extensively with portfolio companies as a Board Director/Observer on strategy, growth, expansion, fund raising, strategic sales and listing.

Nachiket joined Axis AMC as the Head of Structured Credit in 2024. Spearheading the Structured Credit business, he will be responsible for fund raising and heading investments in the structured credit funds. Nachiket's extensive experience of almost three decades spans across key functions like corporate lending, structured finance, and debt capital markets. Prior to joining Axis AMC, he was a founding member of Arka Fincap and served as Head of Corporate Lending there, where he successfully built a portfolio focusing on bespoke structured debt transactions for diverse sectors. Prior to that, he co-founded IREP Credit Capital, an NBFC engaged in structured debt transactions. He has also held senior roles at prominent institutions such as UBS, ABN AMRO, IL&FS and Credit Analysis & Research, where he was responsible for landmark debt capital market transactions and syndications.

Nikhil Garg joined Axis AMC in April 2023 as Principal – Structured Credit and manages the structured credit AIF business. He has been instrumental in successfully deploying Axis Structured Credit Fund-II which received a total commitment of ~INR 740 crs. Nikhil has over one and a half decades of experience in Private Credit, Debt Capital Markets (DCM), Structured Finance and Credit/Portfolio Risk in Banks and AMCs. His last stint was at IDFC FIRST Bank, where he headed the origination team of the DCM desk and worked on a variety of structured credit transaction for AIF/FPIS/NBFCs. Prior to IDFC, Nikhil was with RBL Bank and Bank of America where he took up various roles across risk and DCM.

Chetan Shah joined Axis AMC in May 2024 as Managing Partner and Head Real Estate at Axis AMC. Chetan spearheads the real estate AIF business and leads the fund raising, investments and divestments in real estate. Chetan has 25 years of extensive post-qualification experience in real estate fund management, debt and private equity. His last stint was with Kotak Realty Fund as a Partner where he oversaw investments more than USD 1.1 bn across all realty segments with special focus on residential mid-income and commercial office. Prior to Kotak, Chetan worked with ASK Property Investment Advisors Pvt. Ltd., where he was a core team member of the real estate fund team. He was responsible for managing multiple real estate funds across functions including fund raising, deployment, monitoring and specific emphasis on exits. In the past, he has also worked with ICICI Bank Ltd., Hypo Real Estate International and IL&FS.

Sushant joined Axis AMC in 2018 as Principal - Real Estate. His area of expertise includes fund structuring, transaction sourcing, investment and asset management. Sushant has over 20 years of experience in IT sector and real estate investments (16+ years). He has hands on experience investing across NCR, Bangalore, Pune, Chennai etc. His experience spans across strategies, structures and regulations both at offshore and onshore level in residential and commercial real estate. Prior to Axis, he was associated with Portman Holdings (US based real estate developer & investor). Sushant has previously worked with Landmark Holdings (Real Estate Private Equity Firm), Atos Origin and Infosys.

Ms. Padmaja Shirke joined Axis AMC in November 2023 as the Head – Compliance, Legal & Secretarial. She is responsible for overseeing regulatory compliance, legal affairs, and secretarial functions across all Axis AMC entities, ensuring adherence to SEBI and other applicable regulatory frameworks.

Naveen joined Axis AMC as Chief Investment Officer (CIO) – PMS and Listed Equity Alternatives, where he will be responsible for steering investment policy, driving product innovation, and leading strategic growth for the business. Naveen brings over 23 years of extensive experience in Fund Management, Equity Research, and Capital Markets. Prior to this role, he served as the CIO for Axis Securities PMS, scaling the PMS business from ₹70 crores to over ₹5,000 crores, while contributing to the research and advisory functions to build unique product offerings. Before his successful tenure at Axis Securities, Naveen served as the Head of Research at Reliance Securities and spent over a decade as the Co-Head of Research at PhillipCapital India. A highly respected voice in the industry, he is a regular market commentator on financial media networks such as CNBC TV 18, ET Now, and The Economic Times. Throughout his research analyst career, he has been consistently voted among the top research analysts for the Telecom, Consumer, and Strategy sectors in global surveys, including Asia Money and Institutional Investor.