Our Team
Mr. Dinesh Agarwal
Chairman
Mr. Dinesh Agarwal, Chartered Accountant qualified in 1987 and has experience of catering to the needs of diversified clientele which include national as well as multinational companies. He has the experience of providing consultancy in strategic planning, preparation of project reports, business development strategies, management consultancy, business valuation, merger & acquisition, Foreign Collaboration, FEMA related services, Virtual CFO services, Direct taxation, Indirect taxation, International Taxation, statutory audit, Internal Audit, developing MIS, suggesting cost controls measures negotiating and facilitating joint ventures for both foreign, as well as Indian clients.
Acted as consultant and advisor to the Custodian, The Special Court (Trial of offences relating to Securities Transaction) Act, 1992, a body of Government of India, investigating securities scams in India. He has also undertaken consultancy assignment for large project on behalf of United Nations. He is also an advisor to the State Health Department of Government of Uttar Pradesh India. Besides he is heading a team of diversified professionals serving clients in diversified interest such as telecommunication, information technology, flexible packaging, paper, leather, electrical & home appliances, tobacco, entertainment, defense equipment, agriculture, consumer goods industry, exports, chemicals, pharmaceuticals, construction, banking and financial & capital markets.
Mr. Pradeep Kumar
Director
Mr. Pradeep Kumar has 44 years of business operations experience in all types of roles. He has been at key positions of multinational corporations such as Procter & Gamble Asia Pacific, Union Carbide India and as Group COO of Singapore listed, Thakral Corporation Ltd.
For past 15 years he has been mentoring, coaching and consulting CEOs and top leadership team members of various companies in India and China. He also coaches consultants for enhancing their clients’ business effectiveness.
Mr. Kumar’s specializes in Theory of Constraints’ application. He enables clients identify issues that are constraining their performance and define solutions for significant improvement.
As an active Rotarian, he received the highest recognition from Rotary International President in 2013.
Surbhi Agarwal
Director
Surbhi Agarwal, with 9+ years of experience has been leading Arete to grow manifold in the field of Software development and marketing. She has experience of working on projects with the government of India, private as well as international clients, on building technical and marketing strategies, delivering software solutions that meet the needs of diverse clients across different markets and industries.
She has been working with clients across the globe touching North America, Europe, Australia and South East Asian countries to understand, strategies, execute and implement their varying requirements in terms of technical value addition for the respective organisations.
Working with the government, she has interacted at the Secretary level with various Central and State Ministries.
Played a pivotal part in development of various projects within the Ministry of Agriculture and has represented them at multiple forums including FICCI and Assocham. Has successfully led the team of Arete for project presentation before the Secretary Government of India and state of Meghalaya.
She is also the Co-founder & Director of a startup of the Agri-tech industry.
She also has experience of helping in promoting startups, working with corporates on their mergers & acquisition plans, valuations, and representing clients for investor meetings.
Mr. Pramod Agarwal
Post Graduate from IIM Ahmedabad and former CFO Global Hair Care, Procter & Gamble Company
CFO and a Global business leader with deep knowledge in the area of Finance & Accounting. Broad based experience at Procter & Gamble working in diverse locations and diverse business units. Lived in seven countries and worked in Asia, America and Europe. Rich first hand experience of over 30 years with past decade as CFO of business in excess of $10Bn in retails sales and managed team of over 100. Experience includes starting up the shared service center in Manila, managing the financial affairs of Asia and global Hair care & color business. Have proven capability in building stewardship, managing financial crisis (Thailand/Asia), turning around slow growth business into fastest growing business (Asia/N America Hair), managing large pool of talent and growing them to their full potential, negotiating tax deals with governments, managing treasury operations and investments. Extensive experience in acquisition, divestiture and integration of acquired businesses. Strong skills in strategy, sharp financial acumen and unique capability to get the best from people has enabled me deliver decades of successful and importantly sustained business results.
Mr. K. P. Shashidharan
Senior Advisor
Mr. K. P. Shashidharan is former Director General, CAG of India, Member, Indian Audit & Accounts Service, MSC from the London School of Economics (UK), AMDP from Lee Kuan Institute of Public Finance (Singapore), CISA (USA), CFE (USA), certified Quality Management System ISO9001 and EMS14001 Environmental Management System.
He worked in various capacities as Administrator, Accountant and Auditor in Ministry of Home Affairs and Supreme Audit Institution of India.
He is Visiting Professor to premier professional, academic and administrative training institutions; addressed important national and international business and industrial forums including Indo European Business Forum.
In his three and half decades of government service, Shashidharan had held important assignments both in CAG of India, Government of India and gone on deputation to UN bodies like UNHCR, UN Atomic Energy Agency, FAO and International Supreme Audit Institutions as Leader, External Audit team and Subject Matter Expert on Disinvestment, Environmental Audit and Taxation issues. He served as Member National Advisory Board for Accounting Standard, Chairman Audit Board, Member Governing Council, and Member, various technical committees of Institute of Chartered Accounts of India, RBI, CPSEs and currently a member of the SEBI Committee on Disclosures and Accounting Standards (SCODA).
As Director General Central Audit (Mumbai) he was in charge of audit of Income Tax and Central Excise, Customs and Service Tax in Maharashtra and Goa States, auditing nearly 40% of central government tax revenue including transfer pricing and international taxation.
As DG (Commercial) he had overseen certification of accounts of all Central Public Enterprises and CAG’s reports on their performance and compliance issues; introduced transparent Three Phase Audit in certification of accounts of public enterprises, addressing conferences all over India in collaboration with the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India on corporate governance and CSR issues and need for transition to accrual based accounting system in Autonomous Bodies. Three Phase Audit has brought transparency, objectivity, accountability and error free financial statements in Central Public Enterprises and was acclaimed by Ministry of Corporate Affairs, Standing Conference of Public Enterprises, CMDs of major CPSEs, ICAI, Auditors and other stakeholders.
As DG (Autonomous Bodies), DG (Western Region States) and DG (Central Audit) he had been actively interacting with Central and State governments, Ministries and Departments, Attached and Subordinate offices, Central and State Public Sector Enterprises, Autonomous Bodies, Societies and conducting performance audits evaluating implementation of various projects, programmes, schemes of Central, States and the third tier government organizations like Urban Local Bodies and Panchayati Raj Institutions.
He functioned as Member Audit Board in Mumbai certifying the accounts of all major CPSEs in Oil & Natural Gas, Aviation and Transport Sectors supervising their performance and compliance audits. As Principal Head of the Department of Western Railway, he managed audit and certification of accounts of Western Zone of the Indian Railways. He also headed CAG’s training institution specialized in Environment Audit and sustainability development transforming the institute as a Centre of Excellence in human resource management and capacity building and pioneered Environment Audits in government.
As Director and Deputy Secretary (Finance) in the Ministry of Home Affairs he was responsible for budgeting, expenditure control and rendering financial advice to the Ministry, processing and sanctioning Plan and Non Plan projects of the Ministry and its attached and subordinate offices like IB, CBI and Central Police Organizations including CRPF, CISF, BSF, NSG, Bureau of Police Research & Development, National Crime Records Bureau and Central Forensic Laboratories.
As Director, Joint Secretary (Zonal Council) and Deputy Secretary (Finance) in the Ministry of Home Affairs in the Government of India, he had organized conferences of Chief Ministers, Governors, Chief Secretaries on Centre State and interstate issues. He was also entrusted with duties relating to State’s Reorganization, States Police, Police training, Law and Order, Modernization of police, Modernization of Prison Administration, National Crime Records Bureau and Criminal Justice System. He has also authored various books and best selling Poetry namely Whispering mind, Painting Symphony and BIG: Business India Guru being some of his widely acclaimed work. As an established Freelance Columnist he has been contributing regularly to most of the news papers and professional journals and published more than 100 business and public finance related articles.
Mr. Sameer Kapoor
Senior Consultant- MBA from FMS-BHU
Sameer Kapoor is a reputed name in the Indian marketing Industry who has managed 3 companies as CEO including NDTV India and Scholastic India, an American MNC’s India operation. Launched and managed blue blooded global brands like Bosch, Whirlpool, Rayban, Carrier and Singer in India.
Sameer earlier built his career with brand management, product development, advertising, promotions, market research, distribution and after sales service functions. Has exposure to industries as diverse as Office Automation, Consumer Durables, FMCG, Publishing, Print Media and Television broadcasting. Worked with MNCs as well as promoter driven Indian companies. Widely travelled around the globe and India.