Trusted Partner in Value Creation
Samara Capital is one of India's leading mid-market private equity firms with strong operating capabilities. Samara Capital focuses on long term business ownership and value creation while driving positive impact for all stakeholders. Founded in 2007, Samara Capital is a leading mid-market private equity fund in India and has invested over USD 2 billion since inception. Samara Capital's investors include high quality institutional investors and family offices from across the globe.
Surojit Shome
Chairman, Samara Capital Group – India
Post-graduate management degree in Finance and Marketing (XLRI); B.Sc. Economics (Honours) (Presidency College, Kolkata)
Surojit is currently Chairman, Samara Capital Group – India. Prior to that he was with DBS Bank Group (Singapore) from 2015 till the end of 2025 and held several senior several positions including Senior Advisor. He was also a member of the Group Management Committee (GMC) of DBS Group, Singapore. Surojit has over 39 years of banking experience across corporate & investment banking, capital markets and consumer banking. Before he joined DBS, he was the CEO of Rabobank in India. Prior to that, he set up and headed the investment banking division at Lehman Brothers in India. Surojit also spent over 19 years at Citibank in various roles across wholesale and retail banking before joining Lehman Brothers at the end of 2006.
Sumeet Narang
Founder, Managing Director & co-CIO
MBA, Harvard Business School; Master's in Management, IIM Lucknow; B.E. Mechanical Engineering, IIT Roorkee
Prior to founding Samara Advisors in 2007, Sumeet briefly worked at Goldman Sachs in New York in its Proprietary Investments Group. During 2001-04, he worked with Citigroup India across various functions in Delhi and Hyderabad. He has also worked with the Fiat group in Italy and India. Sumeet provides overall leadership to Samara Advisors and spends his time in strengthening the Samara brand amongst entrepreneurs, company managements, bankers and financiers.
Gautam Gode
Co-Founder & Managing Director
AB Political Economy, Princeton University (cum laude); MBA, IIM Ahmedabad
Gautam Gode co-founded Samara Advisors in 2007. He leads investment evaluation efforts in some specific sectors, in addition to providing overall leadership and management to the firm. Previously, Gautam was a Director with Citigroup's Corporate & Investment Banking business in India, and over 13 years, led various parts of the franchise including the public sector and South India businesses.
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Paurush Roy
Managing Director
MBA, IIM Lucknow; B.E., IIT Roorkee
Paurush Roy is a Managing Director at Samara Advisors since January 2008 and as an Investing Managing Director, he has worked on multiple investment and exit evaluations. He is progressively spending more of his time seeking to strengthen the Samara Advisors franchise on various fronts, including building deep and extensive proprietary networks, a financial intermediary ecosystem, identifying top-tier CEOs across industries, and improving the firm's operating and risk management systems and processes. Previously, Paurush worked with Deutsche Bank Global Markets in India as a Vice President during 2007-08, and with Citigroup Corporate & Investment Bank during 2004-07.
Manish Mehta
Managing Director & co-CIO
MBA, Harvard Business School (Distinction); MS Transportation, MIT; B.Eng, IIT Roorkee
Manish Mehta is a Managing Director, Investments at Samara Capital and has been with Samara Capital since 2010. Manish has led investments in the Consumer, Retail, Healthcare and Business Services verticals for the Fund. He serves on the board of Sapphire Foods, Iron Mountain India, Lotus Surgicals and First Meridian Business Services and was previously associated with Paradise Food Court, Ganga Kaveri Seeds, Thyrocare Technologies and Asian Institute of Gastroenterology. Prior to joining Samara Capital, Manish worked with the Private Equity Fund at Lehman Brothers in New York. Before that, Manish was a Principal in a $10 billion multi-strategy hedge fund at Barclays Global Investors.
Vikram Agarwal
Managing Director and Chief Financial Officer
Chartered Accountant (ICAI); B.Com, Shri Ram College of Commerce
Vikram Agarwal joined Samara Advisors in November 2007 and is a Managing Director and Chief Financial Officer (CFO) of the firm. As CFO, he is responsible for overseeing the financial reporting, compliance, legal, and governance work within the firm and all the funds advised by the firm. Vikram works closely with the deal teams on due diligence of target companies, structuring and negotiation of deal terms, sourcing deal level leverage, and closure of transactions. As an operating partner of the firm, Vikram also helps the portfolio companies in M&A activities, raising capital from banks, equity investors or from capital markets. Previously, Vikram worked with PwC Delhi where he spent over seven years in the tax and regulatory practice.
Abhik Mitra
Managing Director, Operations Group
B.Tech Chemical Engineering, IIT Varanasi
Abhik Mitra joined Samara in April 2023 as Managing Director, Operations Group. Abhik works closely with the leadership of portfolio companies to drive transformation through operational excellence leading to accelerated value creation. Abhik has demonstrated transformational leadership abilities throughout this career, highlight being transforming SpotOn Logistics over a 11 year period by growing it multi fold and making it one of the leading road express logistics businesses in the country. Prior to SpotOn, Abhik turned around CEAT's Sri Lanka business through an acquisition and put it in the leadership position with 50%+ market share. Previously, Abhik has worked with organisations such as Hindustan Unilever, RPG Group, TNT India, Spoton Logistics, and Delhivery.
Abhishek Kabra
Managing Director
MBA, SPJIMR Mumbai; Master of Commerce, Mumbai University; Chartered Accountant (ICAI)
Abhishek Kabra joined Samara Advisors in July 2008 and has grown from an Associate to a Managing Director within the firm. Abhishek has investment experience across the focus sectors for Samara Advisors and currently leads the investment vertical for Healthcare, NBFCs & SFBs and Consumer – Personal Care and Apparels sector. He currently serves on the board of Nature's Essence, Spoton Logistics, Sahajanand Medical Technologies and Lotus Surgicals. He was previously associated with Asian Institute of Gastroenterology, RBL Bank, Global Coal and Sharekhan. Prior to this, Abhishek was in the Equity Investments team of Reliance Asset Management (now Nippon Life Asset Management).
Anchit Gupta
Managing Director
MBA, Kellogg School of Management; B.Sc. Computer Science, Delhi University; MS (Finance) and CFA Charter, ICFAI University Hyderabad
Anchit Gupta joined Samara Advisors in May 2012 and is Managing Director, Investments in the firm. He leads investments for the firm in certain sectors – Technology Services and Products, Pharmaceutical, Auto & Auto Ancillary and Media & Entertainment. He serves on the board of Cogencis, Oaknet Healthcare, SMS Integrated Facilities Management & Gamot (API Pharma platform) and is involved in More Retail Limited. Previously, Anchit was at Kubera Partners and was involved in seven investments and two exits with more than USD100 million at work across sectors such as technology, media services, automotive ancillary, education and biotechnology. Prior to Kubera, he was an analyst with the corporate finance practice at McKinsey & Co.
Mansi Goel
Managing Director – Fund Raising & Investor Relations
BA (Honours) Economics, Lady Shri Ram College; MBA, NMIMS Mumbai
Mansi Goel joined Samara Capital in August 2024 as Managing Director for leading Fund Raising and Investor Relations. Mansi has more than 20 years of experience in building and managing Investor Relations across Investor categories and Product segments. She has extensive experience in BFSI segment and has worked in different domains such as Project Financing, Corporate Banking, Merchant Banking and Debt Capital Markets. She has worked with organizations like SBI Capital Markets, Axis Bank and Kotak Mahindra Bank Limited. Prior to joining Samara Capital, Mansi led the Fund Raising and Investor Relations at CX Partners, a mid-market PE firm.
Manish Kanojia
Managing Director – Business Development
Bachelor in Commerce, Gujarat University; MBA in Sales and Finance
Manish is a seasoned finance professional with deep expertise in sales, business development, investor relations and has successfully forged strategic partnerships within the distribution ecosystem across banks and wealth institutions. Manish has a proven track record of over 20 years of building and scaling business development platforms, raising capital across family office investors and national distributors. Prior to joining Samara Capital, Manish served as National Sales Head (Sep 2022 to Sep 2025) with Abakkus Asset Managers Pvt. Ltd and led Sales and distribution nationally overseeing AUM growth from 9kcr to 37kcr+.
Nilay Pratik
Managing Director
MBA, IIM Kozhikode; B.Tech Electrical Engineering, IIT Roorkee
Nilay joined Samara Capital in March 2016 and is a Managing Director at the firm. He focuses on investment evaluation in sectors such as consumer, business services, financial services and chemicals sectors. Prior to Samara Capital, he was with Aumentis Consulting, a management consulting firm. At Aumentis, Nilay worked on client engagements across consumer and retail space. For two years, he led the team which handled India operations of Mitsui Global Investments, the PE/ VC arm of Mitsui Corporation of Japan.
Rahul Kapoor
Director – Operations Group
Rahul Kapoor joined Samara Capital in October 2024 as Director – Operations, collaborating with portfolio companies to improve operational and financial performance. He has over 18 years of deep expertise in investor relations, financial advisory, M&A, management accounting, corporate finance, and process design across large manufacturing companies and consulting. Prior to Samara, he led FP&A, Commercial Finance, and Investor Relations at Sapphire Foods India. Previously at Ernst & Young, Reliance Industries Limited and Huntsman India International. Education: MBA, Said Business School, University of Oxford (Dean's Scholar); Chartered Accountant with All India Rank in CA Intermediate and Finals.
Monika Kalyani
Vice President
Monika joined Samara Capital in 2023 as a Vice President and focusses on Healthcare, Logistics, (bio cut off on the page as read).
Snehal Singhania
Vice President
Snehal Singhania joined Samara Capital in 2020. Prior to Samara, he worked in the Investment Banking team at Avendus Capital for 2 years, primarily focusing on consumers and business services, closing transactions in food & beverages and logistics. Education: MBA, IIM Calcutta; B.Com, St. Xavier's College, Kolkata.
Arjun Singh
Vice President
Arjun Singh joined Samara Capital in 2020. Prior to Samara, he worked at Kotak Investment Bank for 3 years on M&A and capital market transactions across industrials, automotive, consumer, financial services and IT. Education: MBA, IIM Calcutta (top-ranking student); B.E., Delhi College of Engineering.
Akshay Sethuram
Head of Talent Acquisition & Management
Akshay Sethuram joined Samara Capital in 2024 as VP Talent Acquisition & Management. He leads strategic hiring and key HR initiatives across portfolio companies. Previously at Tata Projects (overseeing leadership hiring) and Korn Ferry (executive search across automotive, chemicals, logistics, infrastructure, metals & mining, manufacturing, and engineering). Education: Graduate, Mumbai University; MBA in Human Resources.
Sameer Kulkarni
Vice President – ESG
M.Tech Energy Systems Engineering, IIT Bombay; B.Tech Electrical Engineering, NIT Raipur
Sameer joined Samara Capital in 2022 as a Vice President (ESG). He is responsible for conducting the ESG appraisal of prospective investments as well as the ongoing supervision of ESG performance of portfolio companies. Prior to this, Sameer worked with MSCI where he was part of the ESG and Climate research team and focused on evaluating the emerging ESG regulations and the associated risks for companies. He started his professional journey as an ESG Consultant in 2012 and led ESG strategy and disclosure projects for clients across manufacturing, FMCG, energy and materials sector.
Pratik Shah
Finance Controller
Pratik Shah joined Samara Capital in May 2019 as Financial Controller, responsible for all accounting, compliance and reporting functions. Prior to Samara, he worked at PwC in Assurance for nearly 10 years, specialising in financial services (venture funds, NBFCs, broking companies, banks) across statutory and tax audit, group reporting, internal controls review, and US GAAP/GAAS. Education: Chartered Accountant (ICAI); Graduate in Commerce, N.M. College of Commerce & Economics, Mumbai University.
Dipali Goradia
Head – Internal Audit
Dipali Goradia assumed the role of Head of Internal Audit at Samara Capital in February 2024. She is a seasoned Internal Audit leader with over 13 years of experience optimising financial and operational efficiencies. Previously at Bayer Global's Internal Audit Division (German conglomerate in healthcare and agriculture), leading audit teams, risk identification, and compliance-related fraud investigations. She began her career in 2011 with KPMG, primarily with Hindustan Unilever (Home and Personal Care) and Essar Oil Limited. Education: Chartered Accountant (ICAI); B.Com, Narsee Monjee College of Commerce and Economics, Mumbai University.
Sneha Ghuriani
Manager – Legal and Secretarial
Sneha Ghuriani joined Samara Capital in February 2022 to strengthen legal, governance and compliance functions. She works closely with company secretaries of portfolio companies to build governance processes and drive secretarial compliances. Previously worked with Samara portfolio companies Witzig Advisory and SMS, leading their legal and secretarial departments. She has appeared before the Bombay High Court and handled arbitrations at law firms, and has publications in Taxmann.com and Corporate Law Adviser magazine. Education: Company Secretary (ICSI); Law graduate, ILS Law College, Pune.
Dhimant Shah
Finance Manager
Dhimant Shah joined Samara Capital in July 2024 as Finance Manager. Previously at Kotak AMC for nearly 5 years and JM Financial Private Equity for 7 months, primarily in financial reporting, fund accounting and compliance. Education: Chartered Accountant (ICAI); B.Com, M.K. Sanghavi College of Commerce & Economics, Mumbai University.
Shreyansh Agarwal
Associate
Shreyansh Agarwal is an Investment Associate at Samara Capital. Prior to joining, he worked with the Investment Banking team at Deutsche Bank for over a year, involved in M&A and financing transactions across diversified industrials sectors including automotive and capital goods. He is a CFA Charterholder and a Chartered Accountant with All India Rank 39.
Karan Mehrotra
Associate
Karan Mehrotra joined Samara Capital in August 2025 as an Investment Associate. Prior to Samara, he was a Junior Associate at McKinsey & Company, focusing on growth strategy and market entry across banking and pharmaceutical sectors. He also worked with Bank of America's Investment Banking team and at FTI Consulting. Education: MBA, IIM Ahmedabad (Industry Scholar and SBI Merit Scholar); B.Economics (Honours), Shri Ram College of Commerce.
Akash Agarwal
Investment Analyst
Akash Agarwal joined Samara Capital in September 2025 as Investment Analyst. Previously at EY-Parthenon Strategy Consulting (commercial due diligence for PE clients, market entry and growth strategy) and completed his articleship in Assurance at Deloitte. He has worked across manufacturing, telecom, and digital infrastructure. Education: Chartered Accountant (All India Rank 28); B.Com (Honours), Shri Ram College of Commerce (SRCC), Delhi University.
Smruti Deepak
Executive Assistant
Smruti Deepak joined Samara Capital in July 2023 as Executive Assistant, supporting leadership priorities, portfolio engagements, and strategic initiatives. With over eight years of experience across Private Equity, Manufacturing, Technology, and Healthcare, she brings expertise in executive administration, stakeholder management, and operational efficiency. Education: B.Sc Physics, Wilson College, Mumbai; pursuing LLB from Lala Lajpatrai College, Mumbai.
Richa Dua
Office Coordinator & Executive Assistant
Richa Dua brings over 17 years of experience in corporate operations and administration. She began her career in hospitality, working with five-star properties including Radisson, Sahara Star, and ITC Maratha, developing skills in client servicing, event coordination, and corporate management. Education: B.Sc Hospitality, Rizvi College; degrees in Office Management and Business Management, SNDT College, Mumbai.
Larisa Dabreo
Executive Assistant
Larisa Dabreo joined Samara Capital in January 2026 as Executive Assistant to the senior leadership team. She brings over 11 years of experience in Private Equity and Venture Capital executive support and office management. Previously at Xander Advisors India (7 years, supporting senior executives) and as Office Manager at Tenacity Ventures. Education: BA Arts, St. Andrew's College, Mumbai.
Vivek Chhachhi
Managing Director and Chief Strategy Officer
Alumnus of JBIMS and St. Stephen's
Vivek Chhachhi is a seasoned private equity investor and board leader with 30+ years of investing experience, and currently plays a dual role as Managing Partner at CX Partners and Chief Strategy Officer at Samara Capital, where he helps shape investment strategy and portfolio value creation across sectors. Prior to CX, he was a Director at CVCI (Citi Venture Capital International), where he spent 15 years leading and exiting investments across a broad range of industries.
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