CAF Board of Advisors

Partner, Protium India

Padmanabhan (Paddy) Balasubramanian is a Partner at Protium India, an engineering-led, risk-focused NBFC. Previously, he served as the Managing Director at Goldman Sachs, India, where he headed Risk Management functions globally, built analytical solutions for cash management and managed strategist teams. Padmanabhan pursued a Post Graduate Programme in Management, specializing in Finance, at the Indian School of Business. 

Public Interest Director at the National Stock Exchange 

Harsh Gupta Madhusudhan is the Public Interest Director at the National Stock Exchange and an investor focused on Indian public markets. He is the co-author of “Derivatives” and “A New Idea of India” and a Dr BR Shenoy awardee in Economics. He has previously been with Ashika Group, Bain & Company, Gyanada Foundation, Catallaxy Consulting and MIT J-PAL. Harsh is a CFA charterholder, has earned an MBA from INSEAD and a Bachelor’s degree in Economics from Dartmouth College.

Managing Director, Navam Capital

Rajeev Mantri is managing director of Navam Capital, an India-focused venture capital firm investing in frontier technology and engineering-driven startups in sectors including aerospace, biotechnology, robotics, industrial automation, climate tech and advanced computing. Prior to founding Navam Capital, Rajeev worked as a venture capitalist at Lux Capital in the United States. A widely published writer, he has contributed articles on political economy, technology, venture capital and entrepreneurship in India to The Wall Street Journal, Mint, Swarajya, Financial Times, The Indian Express, Hindustan Times, India Today, Open Magazine, Times Of India, Economic Times, The New York Times International Weekly, Roubini Global Economics and other publications. In 2018, Rajeev was made a Raisina Fellow by the New Delhi-based Observer Research Foundation. In 2019, Rajeev completed the Chevening Fellowship in Financial Services at King's College London. In 2023, Rajeev was selected for the Eisenhower Global Fellowship program, where he studied the India-US science and technology partnership across private and public sector domains. Rajeev is co-author of the book, A New Idea Of India — The Civilizational Republic, an international best-seller on the history and future of modern India, covering a diverse range of topics in economics, foreign policy and politics. He graduated with a BS in materials science and engineering from Northwestern University, and an MBA from Columbia University, specializing in private equity and value investing.

 Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, Sub-K IMPACT Solutions

Sasidhar Thumuluri is the Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer at Sub-K IMPACT Solutions, an impact focussed fintech. He has over two decades of experience in financial inclusion and capital markets spanning across 20+ countries. He started his professional journey at BASIX, an Indian social sector pioneer, and went on to pursue a career on global platform in impact investments, business strategy and technical advisory at MicroVest, Habitat for Humanity and International Financial Corporation. He serves on the board of Business Correspondents Federation of India and B20 Task Force for Financial Inclusion. Mr Thumuluri earned master's degrees from Princeton University and Indian Institute of Forest Management and is also an alum of business programs at Chicago Booth and Stanford GSB.

Managing Director and Co-Head of Equity Sales for Asia-Pacific, HSBC

Abhinav Sinha is the Managing Director and Co-Head of Equity Sales for Asia-Pacific at HSBC. He previously served as Director for Delta One and Equity Derivatives at CIMB and the Royal Bank of Scotland, and as a Vice President for Global Equity Linked Product Sales at Bank of America Merrill Lynch. He has twenty years of global emerging markets experience based in the Americas, Europe and Asia. Mr Sinha earned a Masters in Finance from London Business School, pursued a Post Graduate Programme in Management at the Indian School of Business and holds a BA in Government and Economics from Bowdoin College.