Board of Directors of AMC

Mr. Neil Parag Parikh has been a part of the capital market for over two decades, with experience across wealth management, research, institutional desk, marketing, operations, broking, key client management to name a few.

He started his career as an intern with JM Morgan Stanley in 2003. He has been a part of Parag Parikh Financial Advisory Services Pvt. Ltd. since July 2004 in various capacities. At PPFAS Mutual Fund, apart from handling key client relationships, he is also entrusted with the fulfilment of strategic responsibilities.

Keeping with his father—late Mr. Parag Parikh's—investment philosophy, he believes in value-investing and is a strong advocate of applying behavioural finance fundamentals in investing.

He is an avid reader and a passionate golfer; he also plays several other sports for recreation.

Neil's academic excellence is reflected in his qualification from prestigious universities. He holds a Masters in Business Administration from IESE Business School, Spain and a BA in Economics from University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Mr. Rajeev Thakkar possesses more than three decades of experience across fund management, securities broking, merchant banking, investment banking, and corporate finance.
He began his career in 1994 and joined PPFAS Limited (the sponsor of PPFAS AMC) in 2001. In 2003, he was appointed Fund Manager for the Portfolio Management Service titled Cognito, managing a portfolio of around ₹300 crores. From 2007 to 2012, he served as the Chief Executive Officer of PPFAS Ltd.
He played a pivotal role in the incorporation of PPFAS Asset Management Pvt. Ltd. (Investment Manager to PPFAS Mutual Fund) and, in 2013, was instrumental in launching its flagship equity scheme—the Parag Parikh Flexi Cap Fund. Today, it stands as the largest actively managed mutual fund scheme in India, with assets under management (AUM) exceeding ₹1 lakh crore, and continues to be managed by him.
Currently, he serves as Chief Investment Officer (CIO) – Equity and Director at PPFAS Asset Management Pvt. Ltd., overseeing five of the six schemes introduced under his stewardship since inception.
A firm believer in the principles of value investing, Rajeev draws deep inspiration from the philosophies of Warren Buffett and Charlie Munger. His academic inclination is reflected in his diverse qualifications. Along with a Bachelor of Commerce degree from the University of Bombay, he is a Chartered Accountant, Cost Accountant, and CFA Charterholder.

Mr. Subrata Kumar Mitra is a well known veteran with hands-on experience in a wide range of financial services businesses in India. In his early years Mr. Mitra worked with various reputed organisations such as American Express Bank as Head of Corporate Banking and Investment Banking in India, Standard Chartered Bank- Merchant Banking Division, GIC Mutual Fund- where he brought one of the earliest foreign investors in the industry. Thereafter, from 1994 to 2007 he served as the Group Director, Financial Services in the Aditya Birla Group and set up the highly successful financial services business.

He has served on the Board of Directors and Committees of several reputed companies in different industries as an Independent Director, Advisor. He also acts as an advisor to a large international bank. He is associated with several international and domestic NGOs, Committees and Chambers in India and a contributor of articles in various publications. Mr. Mitra has been India Correspondent for Asia Asset Management, Hong Kong.

Prior to his appointment at PPFAS AMC, Mr. Mitra was also an Independent Director on the board of LIC AMC, Bharti AXA AMC and L&T Mutual Fund Trustee.

Ms. Sonal Dave is a Chartered Accountant and holds an experience of close to four decades of which 28+ years was with the HSBC Group in India. She began her career with the HSBC Group with their Institutional Equities and Investment Banking arm, HSBC Securities and Capital Markets India Pvt. Ltd. (HSCI) and thereafter transitioned to HSBC Bank, from where she retired in April 2024.

At HSBC Bank India, she held the position of Head of Financial Planning & Analysis and Business Finance, India where her key responsibilities were financial budgeting and analysing for all businesses and HSBC entities in India and enabling reviewing and decisioning by HSBC India Executive Committee on strategic matters.

At HSCI, she initially held the position of Financial Controller/ Chief Operating Officer and later became the Managing Director and Chief Operating Officer where she was responsible for Finance, Operations and HR related matters, including analytics for all HSBC India entities including HSBC Asset Management. She was also the Principal Officer at HSCI.

She is currently an Independent Director on the Board of Fedbank Financial Services Limited and Director of Anibha Arts Foundation.

Alumni of IIM (Bangalore) and ESADE (Barcelona, Spain), Mr. V. Ramesh has spent over three decades in the Mutual Fund Industry and seven years in Banking. He held the position as MD & CEO for MF Utilities India Pvt. Ltd (MFU). during the period starting from April 2014 to May 2021. He initiated, implemented and led MFU on behalf of the industry. Prior to joining MF Utilities, he held the position as Deputy CEO for Association of Mutual Funds in India (AMFI) from October 2010 to March 2014. His responsibility in AMFI was to ensure functioning of the Mutual Fund Industry with effective relationships with all stakeholders, including SEBI and other regulators. He was actively involved in Policy making at Mutual Fund Industry Level.

Mr. Ramesh was also a Founder and Director for Ecomove Solutions Pvt. Ltd from January 2009 to September 2012, an innovative business in the social sector. Prior to that, Mr. Ramesh also held the position as CEO for Prabhudas Lilladher Financial Services Pvt. Ltd. (NBFC) between January 2008 to December 2008. In Prabhudas Lilladher Financial Services, he was key managerial personnel and his major activities included but not limited to distribution of third party products and lending, particularly margin funding.

Besides Mutual Funds, he is passionate about acting. He regularly performs in plays.

Vikas Gandhi is an accomplished Chartered Accountant with over 23 years of experience in the Banking, Mutual Fund, Insurance, and Financial Services sectors. Served as Head – Finance & Accounts at Mirae Asset Mutual Fund and Group Companies, his key achievements included Mirae Asset group restructuring in India, implementing Ind AS and setting up units in GIFT City and Dubai. He also worked on projects involving setting up of Alternate Investment Funds and launch of various International ETFs and Fund of Funds for Mirae Asset in India.

He specializes in financial planning, budgeting, compliance, and process standardization that drive organizational growth and shareholder value. Throughout his career, Vikas has led finance functions for leading institutions like L&T Mutual Fund, Nippon India Mutual Fund (earlier Reliance MF), ICICI Bank, Trust Investment Advisors and YouFirst Money Express, demonstrating strong leadership in financial management, regulatory compliance, and strategic decision support.

Apart from the Finance Domain, he has spearheaded projects on Quality Management, Japanese 5S techniques, Lean Management and various Cost Reduction initiatives. His other achievements include migration of Accounting Systems to SAP and Oracle. Vikas became an IIM-C Alumni in January 2025 by successfully completing the Chief Financial Officer Programme from the Indian Institute of Management, Kolkata.

Mr. Raman Jokhakar is a Chartered Accountant in practice with over 27 years of experience as a Partner at B. D. Jokhakar & Co., Chartered Accountants. He qualified as Bachelor of Commerce from University of Mumbai, is now a Fellow member of the ICAI. Raman also has a diploma in Information Systems Audit and a post graduate diploma in Global Strategic Management.
Over the years in the audit field Raman has handled diverse clientele including international and local businesses across a number of industries such as Auto Ancillary, Financial Services, Chemicals, Pharmaceuticals, Advertising, Logistics, Entertainment, Technology, Banking, Media, Retail, Real Estate, General Insurance, including a Global Fortune 500 company. His post qualification experience apart from external and internal audit includes corporate law, taxation, personal finance, and business consultancy.

He has served as President, Bombay Chartered Accountants Society (BCAS), Editor of the BCA Journal for five years and as a Technical Reviewer, Institute of Chartered Accountants of India to review Annual Reports of listed companies. He serves as Joint Hon. Treasurer, Forum of Free Enterprise, as a Trustee of A.D. Shroff Memorial Trust and as a Jt. Secretary of the All India Bank Depositors' Association.

Raman authored "Make it in India – Handbook on Starting and Doing Business in India" (published by LexisNexis, 2017), "Ease of Doing KYC: A Study" (2024), "Audit Checklist for Companies" (5 Editions) amongst others.

He is an avid reader, regular writer and music buff.

He is there on the Board of various companies.