Brand Capital

Farzana Wadia is Director and Head of Brand Capital, the strategic investment arm of Bennett Coleman & Co. Ltd. (The Times of India). She brings over 17 years of experience in private equity and investment banking, with expertise in deal origination, portfolio management, and exits across consumer, financial services, healthcare, and technology sectors focused on Indian domestic consumption. At Brand Capital, she invests in and partners with entrepreneurs, utilizing the company's media platforms across print, digital, television, out-of-home, cinema, and celebrity networks to support business growth. Wadia is a Chartered Accountant and gold medallist commerce graduate from Mumbai University.

Rajat Tandon is a Director and National Head of Brand Estate at Bennett Coleman and Co. Ltd. (Times Group). He has 19 years of industry experience, including 13 years in real estate private equity investing across India, where he has managed transactions spanning office, warehousing, residential, hospitality, and retail assets. His background includes roles as Managing Director and Head of India at Proprium Capital Partners, Executive Director and Head of Acquisitions at India Real Estate Partners, and Vice President at Morgan Stanley Real Estate, along with prior experience at ICICI Venture. Tandon holds an MBA from the Indian Institute of Management, Calcutta, a Bachelor of Commerce degree from the University of Delhi, and is a qualified Chartered Accountant.

Amar Thomas is Head of Strategy at Bennett Coleman and Co. Ltd., where he provides business consulting to portfolio companies across D2C, fintech, fashion, real estate, and healthcare sectors. With 20 years of experience in business consulting, technology marketing, and digital adoption across South Asia and the SAARC region, he has held leadership positions at Brand Capital, Vodafone Idea, BlackBerry India, and other major organizations. He holds an MBA in marketing from Mumbai University, completed an executive program in digital transformation from Northwestern Kellogg, and is pursuing a PhD from NMIMS Mumbai.

G Ramaswamy is a Chartered Accountant and Company Secretary with over 25 years of experience in mergers and acquisitions and investment banking across institutions including J M Financial & Investment Consultancy Ltd, Standard Chartered Bank, Aditya Birla Group, and Brand Capital. At Bennett, Coleman & Co. Ltd, he serves as Senior Vice President of Brand Capital and National Head of Brand Estate, and was a core member of the team that founded Brand Capital in 2005, which currently manages a deployable corpus of USD 2.2 billion invested across over 700 companies. He holds a Board position at Aegon Life Insurance Company Ltd and has completed the ISB-Kellogg Global Advanced Management Programme.

Manish Bakshi is Head of Portfolio and Finance at Brand Capital, the investment arm of The Times Group, where he evaluates investments across early and growth-stage companies and has facilitated over $1 billion in investments across 400+ transactions with exits valued at $500+ million. He brings 24 years of finance and business experience spanning portfolio investment management, senior finance leadership roles in renewable energy and large-scale infrastructure projects, and business development in healthcare and wellness. Bakshi holds a Chartered Accountant credential and an ISB degree.

Soumit Mohapatra is Head of Legal at Brand Capital, the private equity division of Times of India Group, bringing over 23 years of corporate law experience. In this leadership role, he has negotiated and closed investments and exits across sectors including e-commerce, insurance, media, fintech, edtech, and healthtech, while managing legal affairs for a portfolio of 300+ companies. Prior to Brand Capital, he worked at law firms across India and Australia, advising clients on private equity, venture capital, and mergers and acquisitions transactions.