Coverage – Inversion Management Services Pvt. Ltd.

Akhil Gupta

Mr. Akhil Gupta has played a pivotal role in Bharti’s phenomenal growth in Telecom Services since its inception, both organically & by way of various acquisitions.

He has led the formation of various partnerships for Bharti with leading international operators like British Telecom, Telecom Italia, Singapore Telecom and Vodafone in addition to induction of leading financial investors like Warburg Pincus, Temasek, KKR and Qatar Foundation Endowment.

He has been instrumental in raising several billion dollars by way of project finance for the Bharti Group over the years from global banks & bond markets.

He has conceptualized and implemented the transformational initiatives that include the outsourcing deals undertaken by the group in the areas of Information Technology (IT) with IBM, Network Management with Ericsson & Nokia and has also been responsible for the separation of passive mobile infrastructure and forming Indus Towers – a Joint Venture with Vodafone and Idea, which has become the largest tower company in the world.

With innovative thought leadership, he has helped Bharti Airtel in becoming the lowest cost producer of minutes worldwide; at the same time, ensuring that it provides good margins despite the lowest tariffs in the world.

He was instrumental in acquisition of Zain Group’s mobile operations in 15 countries across Africa for an enterprise valuation of over USD 10 billion, which is the second largest outbound deal by an Indian company.

Spearheaded the successful public listings of Bharti Airtel (2002), Bharti Infratel (2012) and Airtel Africa Plc. (2019) and has been instrumental in introducing global benchmarks like full quarterly audits and transparent quarterly reports to provide all relevant information to investors & stakeholders.

He is member of the Advisory Committee on Service Providers of Insolvency and Bankruptcy Board of India, member of Sub Committee on Insolvency Law Committee, Govt of India and a member of the CII Task Force on Insolvency and Bankruptcy 2021-22.

He is the recipient of numerous awards which include “EY Entrepreneur of the Year Award 2017” as an Entrepreneur CEO, CA Lifetime Achievement Award by ICAI, Lifetime Achievement Award by Amity University, “CEO of the Year” award at National Telecom Awards, “CA Business Achiever” award, “Asia Corporate Dealmaker” award at the Asia Pacific M&A Atlas Awards, “Best CFO” awards in multiple categories at CNBC – TV18 and induction to “Hall of Fame“ by CFO India.

Mr. Gupta is also a prolific author. His recent book, ‘Some Sizes Fit All’, published by Penguin Random House India, has received critical acclaim from industry & financial services stalwarts across the globe. His views, opinions and articles are also frequently sought and published in leading financial newspapers.

He is a Chartered Accountant by qualification with over 30 years of professional experience and has done an “Advanced Management Program” at the Harvard Business School in 2002.

Ashok retired in 2016 as the Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of Forbes & Company Limited, a BSE listed company, having been earlier on the Board of Eureka Forbes Limited between 1997 and 2000.

He began his career with Hindustan Lever Limited (as it was then known), and thereafter in positions of increasing responsibility, with them and amongst others, Exide, RPG Group, Bahwan, Pepsi, Electrolux, Telstra and Heinz (now Kraft Heinz).

His major areas of influence and impact have been finance, M&A, strategy, management assurance and governance. He has worked in different roles, operational, staff and oversight, as a CFO, CEO, Managing Director and Country Manager. His industry exposure covers a wide span of FMCG, Durables, Telecom, Engineering, IT Enabled Services, Shipping, Oil & Gas, and Trading.

He is a Member of the Board of various listed, private and multinational companies and is on various Board Committees, including holding a Chairpersonship of Audit Committee. He has also been a Trustee of various public and private trusts, including being a Trustee of the Mumbai Port Trust.

Besides board engagements, he mentors senior professionals and budding entrepreneurs and advises companies, family businesses and business families on matters of strategy, organisation, performance, conflict and governance. He manages a special service offering – “Pathfinder” – to guide and mentor businesses overseas that are evaluating entry strategies into India.

He is a Past President of the Bombay Chamber of Commerce and Industry (BCCI) and of the council of EU Chambers of Commerce in India. He is presently a Member of the Managing Committee of ASSOCHAM. He has been on various committees of the Bengal Chamber of Commerce, ASSOCHAM, BCCI and Institute of Chartered Accountants of India. He was a part time faculty member at IIM, Lucknow between 1987 and 1989.

He is Convenor of the Committee set up by the Bombay Chamber of Commerce and Industry to establish the country’s first institutional Mediation Centre for the resolution of commercial disputes and is a Certified Mediator empaneled with the Ministry of Corporate Affairs, Government of India.

He graduated in Commerce from Allahabad University in 1975 with the Chancellor’s Gold Medal and was the First Rank holder. He is a Fellow Member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India, The Institute of Company Secretaries of India, Associate Member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of England and Wales and is also a CPA (Australia).

He was a Rank Holder and won the prestigious A F Ferguson and R Venkatesan Awards in the examinations conducted by the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (November 1978). He is also a Rotary Exchange Foundation Scholar (1986) and is a regular speaker in various public and academic fora.