Ruchika Jha
Director (Independent, Non-Executive),
Samta Mines & Minerals
Ruchika Jha, a groundbreaking CXO-turned-entrepreneur with over 19 years of experience is known for her operational excellence in complex settings. Founder of Arkya Consulting and former Group CMO & CEO of Vedanta Ltd.’s Silver Business, Ruchika has a proven track record in P&L, strategic planning, and sustainable SCM. Her leadership led to significant EBITDA growth in the commodities and Oil & Gas sectors across North America, Europe, and Asia.
In 2022, she was honoured as one of the ‘100 Global Inspirational Women in Mining’ by Women in Mining UK. Ruchika co-founded ‘Women in Mining-India’ and serves as the G100 India Country Chair for sustainable mining initiatives. Passionate about diversity, equality and inclusion, she is a strong mentor for emerging leaders with a commitment to sustainability.
Shyam Lal Bajaj
Director (Independent, Non-Executive), Polycab
Ex CFO, Vedanta
Shyam Lal Bajaj has extensive experience in financial leadership across esteemed organizations, where he has delivered robust growth through his deep expertise. He holds a bachelor’s degree in commerce from Rajasthan University and is a qualified Chartered Accountant.
Bajaj is the former CFO of Polycab Industries Ltd, prior to which he served as the Director – Finance at Vedanta Ltd, CFO of Hindustan Zinc Ltd, and was VP and then CFO at Sterlite Technologies Ltd which is now a Vedanta group company.
Nitin Deshmukh
Director (Independent, Non-Executive),
Kotak Alternate Asset Managers ltd.
Nitin is the Former Founding Managing Partner, Kotak Investment Advisors, the alternate asset investment arm of Kotak with USD 4.6 bn under management. He has over 33 years of VC/PE investment experience spanning ICICI Venture, Dresdner Kleinwort Capital, and Kotak.
Nitin’s uncanny ability to identify promising leaders and helping them realize their potential has been the hallmark of his career. He led investments in over 80 companies many of which are leaders in Pharma, Biotech, Healthcare, Media & Retailing sectors in India.
He was the founding Director-General, Association of Biotechnology Led Enterprises (ABLE), is a member of the Board of Governors of Institute of Chemical Technology, ICT (formerly UDCT), Mumbai, and member of the CII National Committee on Biotechnology.
Ravi Agrawal
Managing Director,
Gencrest
Ravi graduated with Masters in International Management degree from the Thunderbird School of Global Management and returned to India following an internship with the global marketing team of Sanofi, New Jersey, USA.
He joined Ajanta Pharma, where he oversaw Marketing and Joint Venture Operations in the CIS region and later headed the international business development division. During his tenure, the company saw its brands move up to the top 10 categories and expansion to 8 countries in the CIS region.
Ravi has over 2 decades experience in Life Sciences, Infrastructure Industries and Sustainable Energy. He is passionate about promoting and mentoring new businesses across several verticals such as Energy, Mining, Biotech and Information Technology which includes companies like Gencrest and infinichains, both start-up technology disruptors.
Aniket Gupta
Chief Financial Officer
Aniket brings with him over 16 years’ of experience with the last 5+ year in strategic roles. His journey has seen him associate with leading brands such as ICICI Bank, Tata Communications, Shapoorji Pallonji before joining the Samta group.
He has applied his strong analytical skills and strategic ability in handling Financial Strategy & Planning, Fund Raising, Corporate Treasuries and managing relationships with financial and strategic partners. His strength includes setting up and mentoring teams as well as turning around functions and systems, while scaling them up into sustainable and profitable business models.
He is an MBA from Punjab University and a graduate from Shri Ram College of Commerce.
Swaroopa Rautray
Chief Human Resource Officer
A gold medalist in Human Resource Management from IILM, Delhi, Swaroopa, is a seasoned HR Professional with more than two decades of experience. She has gained a wealth of expertise in HR Greenfield Projects, Process Transformation, Automation & Optimisation through technology, and is into creating sustainable solutions for human capital.
Due to her innate forward-thinking & outcome-based HR perspectives, Swaroopa is a leader par excellence with the vision to steer HR functions at Samta towards the organization’s mission along with a sense of strong ethics and thus construct employees into cultural ambassadors.
Prior to joining Samta Group, She has supported organizations/conglomerates like Matix Fertiliser & Chemical, Yamaha Auto, and LG Electronics. During this journey, she has been accredited as Psychometric Tests Analyst for Thomas Assessment.
Tapan Mappat
COO, Morocco
Tapan, a seasoned professional joins Samta Mines and Minerals Ltd as COO – Morocco. He is adept in managing various aspects of plant operations and maintenance, in the Metals & Mining, Chemical, Cement Manufacturing Industry.
Tapan has woked for manufacturing conglomerates, Aditya Birla and Vedanta and in his previous stint as COO – Emirates Gold DMCC, the leading Bullion manufacturer based out of UAE.
His expertise of 23 years encompasses a wide range of operations, project and business development while handling Copper, Alumina, Gold Refinery & Copper rod plant.
A chemical engineer from NIT, Surat, an EMBA from INSEAD, France, Tapan has acquired a strong, technical and business management foundation. His diverse industry experience underscores his ability to drive operational excellence in dynamic and challenging environments.
Vinod Wagh
Chief Executive Officer(CEO)
Vinod joined Samta Mines and Minerals Ltd (SMML) in August 2021 as CEO for the mining business having operations in DR Congo, Uganda and Morocco. He has over 27 years ofexperience in the mineral processing as well as smelting /refining, project management, business development across the globe. He has held various senior leadership and operational roles across Copper & Gold, Lead – Zinc – Silver, Steel and minor metals like Cadmium/Tellurium/Selenium/Nickel/Cobalt, etc.
Prior to joining SMML, Vinod was Director – Smelters for Hindustan Zinc Limited (Vedanta Group Company). Hindustan Zinc is world’s second largest lead – zinc producing company having 9 underground mines & 4 smelting locations producing 1000 KTPA of finished metal and 700 MT of silver per annum along with various minor metals.
During 23 years of association with Vedanta , Vinod has also worked for 17 years in Copper business handling 400 KTPA copper smelters, copper refineries, copper rod mills and various minor metals production units.
During initial stage of career, Vinod has also worked in steel business producing various alloy steel, long & flat products.
He holds a Bachelor degree in Mechanical Engineering and passed out in 1995 from premier institutes @ India.
Biranchi Pati
AVP- Business Development and Project
Biranchi is an accomplished Geo-Mining professional with more than 23 years of experience in the mining sector. He has expertise in Project Evaluation, DFS Study Management & Integration, Project Funding, Project Operations, EPCM, and Team Management.
His noteworthy career includes milestones such as working with Sesa Goa Ltd (Vedanta Group), Monnet Spat & Energy Ltd (JSW Ispat group), and Topworth Group of Industries, India. He also served as the General Manager (Country Head) for Dynamic Mining, in Guinea for development of a green field Bauxite mining project.
Biranchi holds an Executive Post Graduate Diploma in Business Administration from Symbiosis Institute of Business Management, Pune and an M.SC in Geology from Utkal University, Odisha. and a professional certified in Mining Financial Model & Valuation from corporate Finance Institute, Vancouver, Canada.
Sharata Kumar Naik
Chief Operating Officer – Morocco
Sharata has over 30 years of experience in Mineral Exploration and Development & Operations of mining projects across the globe. He has held various senior leadership and operational roles across Gold, Diamond, Copper & Cobalt and 3Ts (Tin, Tantalum & Tungsten) metals in different parts of Africa.
Prior to joining SMML, Sharata has been Group COO for RioZim where he played the pivotal role in commissioning of BIOX plant at CAM & Motor Gold Mine and expansion of other gold mines in Zimbabwe. He has been associated with Somika Group as Group Executive Adviser and with Chemicals of Africa (CHEMAF) as Director (Mining and Exploration) and taking care of entire gamut of exploration and mining operations for Copper & Cobalt and Tin & Tantalum in different parts of Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).
He holds a Master of Technology in Applied Geology from Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Roorkee and in Mineral Exploration from Indian Institute of Technology (ISM), Dhanbad, India.
Madhusudan Agrawal
Vice Chairman, Ajanta Pharma
Honorary Consul General of The Republic of Uganda, Mumbai
Madhusudan is the Vice Chairman of Ajanta Pharma where he played a crucial role in expanding exports to over 30 countries. His vision is to make an organization of repute and to fulfill the unmet medical needs of the underprivileged.
The Government of Uganda conferred and appointed him as Honorary Consul of Uganda in Mumbai, for the Western Zone of India wherein he had an opportunity to welcome Honourable Indian Prime Minister – Shri Narendra Modi in Uganda. He also received accolades at the hands of the then Honorable Home Minister of India, LK Advani.
Madhusudan is a trustee of Samta Foundation, where he played an instrumental role in starting programs such as Clean & Green Risod and Annachhatra and the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic.
Purushottam Agrawal
Chairman,
Samta Group
Samta Group
A visionary, entrepreneur, philanthropist and above all, a social reformer, his entrepreneurial endeavor, Ajanta Pharma, has today become a highly successful pharmaceutical empire, operating over 30+ countries including the US, Europe, Asia, and Africa. The company has a market capitalization of about US$2.0 billion and a footprint that spans the globe.
His simplicity and ethical business approach, coupled with genuine societal concern, particularly for the underprivileged, has led him to start his philanthropic venture, Samta Foundation, which reaches out to over a million under-privileged every year.
Priyanka Shah
Company Secretary
Priyanka has 4+ years of experience in Corporate Secretarial Compliances, Secretarial Audits, Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC), Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA), and Due Diligence.
She has completed her Bachelors in Banking & Insurance (BBI) and is pursuing further studies in law. She is an associate member of ICSI since 2018 and has worked with various leading practicing CS and CA Firms.
She has also authored several articles in the field of Corporate Law which have been published on the websites of the ICSI and ICAI.
She spends her leisure time reading books or playing badminton.
