PEOPLE STRONG
People are our biggest asset and our strength derives from a team of over 500 professionals led by more than 20 partners and directors. Our enduring relationship with clients comes from an ability to listen and respond with transparency and integrity. Employee-friendly policies, continuous learning through in-house technical seminars, and peer knowledge-sharing sessions, as well as regular participation in seminars, ensure that we are constantly upgrading our expertise and sharpening our skills.Our Team
Shreedhar Kunte
Mumbai
Expert – Tax
C.A., B.Com.
Professional
Shreedhar is a subject matter expert in our headquarters in Mumbai with 47 years of rich experience in corporate taxation, direct taxation, domestic and international tax and litigation for public and private companies in the pharma and chemical sectors.Personal
Shreedhar’s hobbies are reading Marathi and English literature, watching dramas, and watching sports on TV.Partners
Alkesh Hirapara
Ahmedabad
Partner, GRC and Consulting
C.A. (2006), B.Com
Professional
Alkesh is a partner at Sharp & Tannan Associates is based out of our Ahmedabad office and heads the Governance, Risk Management and Compliance (GRC) & Consulting Services for diverse sectors like pharma, chemicals, infrastructure, and renewable energy. Alkesh has experience with both listed and unlisted clients involved with a national and international presence. Alkesh has successfully handled certain complex engagements involving ERM, Project audits in infrastructure sectors like renewable energy, road and power transmissions, city gas distribution (CGD), and oil & gas exploration.He is additionally responsible for business development in the organisation.
Personal
Alkesh’s interests include Yoga, running and playing cricket. Amit Shah
Vadodara
Partner, GRC and Consulting
C.A., B.Com
Professional
Amit has been involved in GRC and Consulting for over 16 years.His engagements both in the GRC and Consulting sectors are specifically in the chemicals and IT sectors.
Amit has an uncanny ability: he remembers all numbers, mobile numbers and credit card numbers alike and strongly believes in ‘good deeds and quality always pay.’
Arnob Choudhuri
Pune
Partner, GRC and Consulting
M.Com., LLB, FCA, LCS, Grad. CMA, MBA, DADRS, DIPR, DLL&LW, DISA
Professional
Being associated with Sharp & Tannan Group since 2008, Arnob is currently working in a leadership role in the GRC & Legal Assurance domain.His areas of expertise include:
- Risk-Based Internal Audits,
- Legal Compliance Management,
- Risk-Based Internal Audits
- Legal Compliance Management
- Internal Financial Control Framework
- Enterprise Risk Assessments
- Business Development
- Operational Consulting
- leading and mentoring large teams, handling complex assignments over various geographies
Personal
His hobbies include adventure automotive and outdoor activities, community service, fitness, martial arts, performing music, reading, social dancing, yoga, travel, etc. Edwin Augustine
Mumbai
Senior Partner, Audit and Assurance (Mumbai)
F.C.A., B.Com.
Professional
- Edwin Augustine joined the firm in 1989 as a chartered accountant, and he became a partner in 1997.
- He has experience in the audit and assurance services domain covering audits of listed companies. He carries out various attest functions and audits such as management, statutory compliance, and VAT audits.
- Client sectors include manufacturing, shipping, heavy engineering, oil & gas, consumer business, pharmaceuticals and money changing business, hospitality, Banks & NBFC.
- Edwin has exposure to business valuations, valuation of goodwill, due diligence assignments, risk-based internal audits, and Internal Control over Financial Reporting (ICFR) audits.
- Edwin also has experience of overseas assignments undertaken on behalf of the group which includes assignments for one of Nigeria’s largest business houses in hospitality, cement, logistics, sugar, infrastructure, fertilizers, and refinery sectors.
- He is a regular speaker at various CPE Study circles regulated by ICAI.
Personal
Edwin is actively involved in philanthropic service through large charitable trusts serving the poor and marginalized youth. Being an active member of the Catholic Church, he was involved in many outreach programs, assisting migrants and the marginalised during the pandemic.Belief
He firmly believes there is only one person responsible for the quality of life you live, and that person is YOU. Firdosh Buchia
Mumbai
Partner, Assurance
C.A., B.Com.
Professional
Firdosh is a Partner – Statutory Audit and has been associated with the firm since August 1981, when he joined as an articled trainee. He rejoined the firm in November 1996, after working in the Gulf countries (Bahrain and Saudi Arabia) for many years. His exposure abroad to a variety of audits and special assignments in the financial, construction, manufacturing and hospitality sector has been fruitful in servicing diversified businesses.Firdosh is based out of our Mumbai office and heads audit services for public and private companies in construction, infotech, technology services, engineering, realty, power, manufacturing, and finance sectors. Firdosh’s expertise consists principally of statutory audits and assurance services of listed companies, tax audits, transfer pricing, certifications, and VAT/GST audits. He also audits gratuity and superannuation funds, and various trusts.
In addition, he has handled numerous special assignments, including the preparation of accounting manuals, fixed assets verification, fraud investigations, etc. He has worked on other key service areas like valuations and due diligence assignments.
Personal
His main interests are reading, and astronomy. He has also indulged in adventure sports like scuba diving (in which sport he was also an instructor) and hiking. Hemal Modi
Vadodara
Partner, GRC and Consulting (Vadodara)
C.A., C.I.A. (Florida – USA), B.Com.
Professional
Hemal joined the firm in January 2001 as semi-senior personnel and became a partner in April 2007. Along with other partners, he manages the group’s Gujarat operations engaging 70+ staff.With over two decades of experience and proficiency in risk-based internal audit and consulting, Mr Hemal looks after the
- Internal audit/management audit based on the COSO model
- Management consulting areas of ERM/Risk Assessment
- Internal financial controls, business process design and documentation
- Forensic investigation/due diligence
- Legal compliance management
- RERA compliances
- Business valuations
Recognition
- Contributory to World Bank’s annual survey on India paying tax since 2011.
- Working as an ‘Ombudsman’ for a group of chemical companies, including several listed companies.
Personal
Hemal plays badminton and cricket and is a frequent follower of these sports. Numerology and Vastu Shastra (the science of architecture) interest him. Hemul Desai
Mumbai
Partner, GRC and Consulting (Mumbai)
C.A., B.Com
Professional
Hemul has professional experience of more than 29 years and has been associated with the firm for 22 years.Hemul has been inducted as a partner in 2013. He is based out of the Mumbai office.
His areas of expertise are risk, governance and controls. He also performs due diligence audits, forensic investigations and special assignments for reputed corporates. Additionally, he handles special assignments in audit and assurance for overseas clients regularly.
Earlier, he also held senior positions in risk and governance departments of reputed FMCG and engineering companies.
Personal
Hemul loves reading, travelling and listening to music and believes that `if you can dream it, you can do it.’ Mandar Ghanekar
Pune
Partner, Assurance
C.A., B.Com
Professional
Mr. Mandar is based out of our Pune office and heads the assurance services for the Information Technology, NBFC, Construction and Industrial Markets sectors. Mandar has an auditing experience of both listed as well as unlisted clients for statutory audits, limited reviews and other certifications. He has experience of handling clients with national and international presence. He has successfully handled certain complex assurance engagements involving the Corporate Insolvency Resolution Process (‘CIRP’)With over 15 years of expertise and experience, Mandar has facilitated a smooth transition to the Ind-AS implementation for our key clients.
Personal
To serve his inclination and passion towards the subject, Mandar has delivered lectures on certain Ind AS topics. His hobbies include playing badminton, getting connected with friends on holidays, listening to music, etc. Moiz Motiwalla
Mumbai
Partner – Direct Tax
C.A.
Professional
Moiz Motiwala is a Partner – Direct Tax and has been associated with the firm since 2010 when he joined as a Senior Tax Consultant. Moiz is based out of our Mumbai office and oversees direct taxes for public and private companies engaged in the pharma and chemical sectors. His expertise consists principally in direct tax services of listed companies. He joined the firm, after working in the pharma industry and a CA firm for about 33 years. His exposure in the industry was in taxation, management information, accounting, audit, periodic reporting to the HQ in Europe and finalising the accounts with the auditor in the manufacturing and pharma distribution sector. This exposure has been fruitful in servicing the pharma business.Personal
Besides his interest in taxation, his other interest is reading professional magazines. Parthiv S. Desai
Mumbai
Partner, Assurance, (Mumbai)
F.C.A., B.com. Diploma in Computer Management (D.C.M.)
Professional
Parthiv is a partner – Statutory audit (since 2013) and has been associated with the firm since August 1985, when he joined as an articled trainee. Post completion of the article ship, he was associated with the group in various capacities. He is deeply involved in overseeing the planning and executing of statutory audits, tax audits, limited review as per SEBI, corporate governance, internal control over financial reporting (ICFR), and certification of listed and other entities.Parthiv is based out of the Mumbai office and heads assurance services for public and private companies in stockbroking business, NBFC, HFC, merchant bankers, manufacturing, A.M.C., A.R.C., real estate, hospitality, liaison offices in India, schemes of SEBI registered funds, etc.
Additionally, he oversees the firm’s peer review and quality review processes. To his credit, Parthiv has experience in handling special assignments like public Issues of equity and debentures of various listed entities.
During his professional carrier spanning over 30 years, Parthiv has worked in leading corporates at senior positions.
Personal
He firmly believes ‘wrong is wrong, even if everyone is doing it. Right is right, even if no one is doing it.’ Parthiv counts reading and fitness among his interests. Pavan Aggarwal
New Delhi
Partner, Assurance and Tax
C.A., AICwA and C-IIT (certificate in international Tax)
Professional
Pavan completed his articleship training and worked thereafter with the firm until April 1997. He had rich industrial experience and worked with two leading conglomerates before re-joining in August 2003. Pavan specialises in the energy (Hydrocarbon and Power) and EPC sectors. He attends to corporate taxation and handles external audits.Personal
His main interests are reading and travelling to the hills. He indulges himself in social work regularly. Pramod Bhise
Pune
Partner, Assurance and Taxation
F.C.A. (1993), B.Com., LCS, MBA
Professional
Pramod is our group partner based out of Pune, having 27+ years of experience in audit and assurance engagements of listed and unlisted companies (a few of them having foreign operations and a global presence.) Additionally, he handles direct taxation consultancy for clients.He is an engagement/signing partner for 15+ years for public limited companies and various multinational, multi-locational private limited companies.
Pramod was actively involved in establishing the Pune office right from the inception of his career.
His skillset extends to
- Direct taxation practice, i.e., tax audits, tax assessments, international taxation & transfer pricing, representation before CIT (Appeals), DRP – international taxation
- Preparation of accounting procedures manuals, documentation of SOPs
- Managing the outsourced finance and other critical functions of the clients
Raghunath Acharya
Mumbai
Partner, Tax (Mumbai)
F.C.A., B.Com
Professional
Raghunath is a partner in our headquarters in Mumbai with 35 years of rich experience in corporate taxation, specialising in transfer pricing, international tax and litigation. Raghunath has been advising multinational companies on domestic tax, international tax and various transfer pricing issues including transfer pricing documentation.He advises clients on estate planning and mergers & acquisitions. Being nominated to the tax committee of the Bombay Chamber of Commerce and Industry, he renders tax and advisory services to various Chambers of commerce and non-profit organisations.
Some of the present clients’ engagements include the biggest domestic company in infrastructure, the oldest multinational group in shipping surveys and one of the biggest speciality companies in the world.
Personal
Raghunath loves to read professional magazines and enjoys playing badminton and cricket. Rajesh Kumar Padamchand
Chennai, Bengaluru & Coimbatore
Partner – Assurance
FCA, CS, CISA, B. Com.
Professional
Rajesh became a partner in the firm in 2013 and is based out of our Chennai office. He has handled assurance engagements of listed companies for 12+ years in EPC, Manufacturing, Insurance and NBFC sectors. He has also handled clients in real estate, construction, road infrastructure, energy saving, water infrastructure and ITES sector. He has handled special assignments such as ERP migration audit for accounts payable, GST transition audit for large EPC projects, financial due diligence, IFRS transition and Ind AS convergence engagements. He is involved in setting up Indian subsidiaries for foreign companies. He takes interest in the automation of assurance services and closely observes the industry practices in financial reporting.Personal
He enjoys singing and adores the lyrics of old Tamil and Hindi songs. Rajkumar Khullar
New Delhi
Partner, Assurance and Tax
C.A., B.Com.
Professional
Partner, Sharp & Tannan, since 2004, Rajkumar has 30 years of experience in audits and assurance services, due diligence, and concurrent audits of banks and other areas.He has vast audit experience in industries like real estate, power, e-commerce, automobiles, hospitality, manufacturing and trading and service industries. He has undertaken concurrent audits of foreign banks and provided tax consultancy services. Currently, he focusses on GST audits and advises clients on GST-related matters.
Personal
Rajkumar is a movie buff and enjoys the occasional game of cricket. To him, ‘opportunities are like sunrises; if you wait too long, you miss them.’ Sapan Gandhi
Vadodara
Partner, GRC and Consulting
C.A., C.I.A, C.I.S.A
Professional
Sapan has over two decades of experience in refining business processes through GRC services in companies across the board. He is a Certified Internal Auditor from IIA and has also cleared the certified information systems auditor from ISACA.Sapan’s experience spans a variety of sectors including pharmaceuticals, FMCG, chemicals, textiles and consumer electronics, He also consults on construction management solutions for the ‘Industrial Capex’ expenditure and looks into the Data-Driven Services of the firm.
He relies on Ayn Rand for the attitude, Formula 1 for the speed, and yoga for peace. And that is probably why he believes that ‘Yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery but today is a gift – that is why they call it the present.’
Tirtharaj Khot
Mumbai & Pune
Senior Partner – Audit & Assurance, (Mumbai & Pune)
C.A., B.Com., LLB, FCA, LCS, CISA, CIA
Professional
Tirtharaj is a senior partner based out of Pune. He has 30+ years of experience in audit and assurance engagements, mainly of listed and unlisted private sector companies (some of them with foreign operations and international presence).He has been an engagement/signing partner for 18+ years for various listed and unlisted clients. He holds a certification of attest function under IFRS required for overseas regulatory filings.
He has been instrumental in setting up and building the group’s professional practice in Pune and Mumbai and handles the audit clients outside these cities too.
With his regular interactions with highly successful first and second-generation entrepreneurs, top-notch retired IAS officers, senior bureaucrats, chairmen of large public sector banks/financial institutions and renowned private equity stakeholders, Tirtharaj deeply understands a healthy correlation between audit issues and their business compulsions from the attest function perspective.
His long career with the group in Internal Audit and Management Service vertical coupled with international qualifications has made him a strong control professional with an understanding of root cause analysis of control gaps (in the finance environment).
V.R. Lalitha
Chennai, Bengaluru & Coimbatore
Partner, Assurance and Tax
F.C.A., B.Sc.
Professional
V.R. Lalitha is a partner based out of Chennai with 40+ years of experience. She had worked in the industry in the initial years and joined the Firm in Chennai. She has handled assurance, risk advisory and taxation assignments for clients in a variety of sectors including manufacturing, chemicals, IT & ITES, EPC, heavy engineering and consulting. Lalitha has advised domestic as well as foreign companies on taxation matters. She has also handled taxation advisory assignments for high net-worth individuals.Personal
Lalitha likes to spend her leisure time on gardening and reading. Varun Choraria
Chennai, Bengaluru & Coimbatore
Partner – Assurance and Tax,
F.C.A., MBA (Finance), B.Com.
Professional
Varun is a Partner – Assurance Practice and has been associated with the firm since 2015. He primarily manages the Assurance and Tax practice. He has extensive experience in leading and managing engagements in audit, taxation and transfer pricing. Before joining our firm, Varun worked with PwC. Varun is based out of our Chennai office and has handled audits for public and private companies in construction, infrastructure, InvIT, manufacturing, automotive, pulp & paper, defence, design & engineering, and start-ups. He is a Chartered Accountant and a Fellow Member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI). Varun graduated from Loyola College, Chennai, and is a ‘Masters in Business Administration’ (MBA, Finance) and has also completed a certificate course on IFRS from ICAI.Personal
Varun likes to travel in his free time and is an avid philatelist. Vinod Kumar Devasahayam
Chennai, Bengaluru & Coimbatore
Partner, Assurance
C.A., B.Com
Professional
Vinod is a Partner – Statutory Audit and has been associated with the firm since May 2010. He is based out of our Chennai office. Vinod’s expertise consists principally of statutory audits and assurance services, including tax audits and certifications. He has wide exposure in the audit of companies engaged in manufacturing, construction, infrastructure, engineering and insurance. In addition, he has handled due diligence assignments and the consolidation of financial statements of multinational companies with subsidiaries across the globe.Personal
He enjoys listening to music and reading books. Viswanathan Vaidyanathan
Chennai, Bengaluru & Coimbatore
Partner, Assurance
F.C.A., CISA.
Professional
Viswanathan has handled audits of listed entities for 15+ years in the firm covering EPC, Power Transmission & Distribution, Manufacturing, Automotive, Insurance, Pulp & Paper sectors. He has also handled clients in IT&ITES, leather goods, real estate, road infrastructure, aviation fuel, electronics and shipbuilding sectors. He has handled the audit of consolidation of large groups with significant overseas presence and led the primary teams in working with component auditors in and outside India. He enjoys the challenge of consolidating multiple GAAPs and sees an opportunity to benchmark the processes and procedures while interacting with audit teams across borders. He is also interested in understanding the internal control processes of various sectors and focuses on lucidly presenting the observations to the top management and those charged with governance. Viswanathan has worked on US GAAP, IFRS, and Ind AS assignments and reviewed the conversion of financial reporting statements from multiple other GAAPs to Indian reporting requirements.Personal
He likes to keep abreast of technological developments and consumer gadgets in his leisure time. He relishes non-fiction and finds photography therapeutic.key team
Amit Furia
Mumbai
Associate Director, Internal Audit
B.Com. Inter CMA
Professional
Amit is an Associate Director – Internal Audit practice and has been associated with the firm since May 1993. With 29+ years of vast experience, his expertise includes Risk Based Internal Audits, Internal Financial Control Framework, Legal Compliance Management Systems, Enterprise Risk Assessments and Forensic Audits. With his good analytical skills and business acumen Amit has advised several Venture Capital / PE Funds on their investment decisions while undertaking Financial Due Diligence assignments.Amit operates from our Mumbai office and heads internal audit services for public and private companies in manufacturing, engineering, chemicals, real estate, entertainment and other service sectors. Being skilled in drawing synergies between IT systems and business processes has been successful in the Design and Documentation of SOPs in an ERP environment for several companies.
Apart from good PR and communication skills, Amit has hands-on leadership experience in building a good strong team and is capable of getting the work accomplished within the desired timelines, apart from nurturing good talent. Amit regularly undertakes in-house training sessions and team-building sessions to motivate the team members.
Personal
His main interests are swimming, listening to music and indulging in adventure sports. Dhiren Rambhia
Mumbai
Director, Consulting
B. Com, ACMA, LLB
Professional
Dhiren is Director and has been associated with the firm since April 1985 as Audit Semi Senior and rose to the current position in April 1993.His major exposure has been in internal audits of large-sized corporates having interests in engineering, chemicals, pharmaceuticals, entertainment industry, etc. He also has carried out a lot of due diligence audits for M&A transactions and has carried out forensic audits of multi-locational corporates on behalf of banks and financial institutions in India as well as abroad. He has managed special assignments of fixed assets verification, compilation of records and reconciliation. Dhiren has excellent administrative skills and had an opportunity to manage the affairs of a multi-locational multi-division engineering company on behalf of banks and financial institutions. Lately, he has been more focused on client recruitments, particularly for the Gulf region specialised in accounting and finance, being his work domain.
Personal
His main interests are reading, listening to music and travelling. RAJESH ATHAVALE
Mumbai
Director
C.A., C.M.A.
Professional
Rajesh has over 25 years of experience in corporate taxation, specialising in transfer pricing, international tax and litigation. Rajesh has been advising multinational companies on domestic and international tax, and various transfer pricing issues, including economic strategy, business transformation and transfer pricing documentation. He represents clients in income tax and transfer pricing matters and represents clients before appellate proceedings at the Tribunal level. Shouvik Roy
Mumbai
Advocate, Insolvency Professional
CA
Professional
Mr. Shouvik K. Roy joined the firm as Director (Indirect Tax) in 2021. He possesses 35 years of post-qualification industry experience in the domains of indirect taxation and various aspects of finance and commercial operations. His experience in Indirect Taxation, includes GST, Customs and the erstwhile indirect taxes e.g. Excise, Service Tax and VAT. He is a member of taxation committees-Indian Merchants’ Chamber (IMC), Bombay Chartered Accountants Society (BCAS), and Bombay Chamber of Commerce and Industry (BCCI). His key skills are in tax advisory and litigation.His main achievements have been in implementing GST as Team Leader of the Implementation team, in large corporates, obtaining inverted duty GST refunds and successfully representing in the tax litigation and appeals.
He has also written several articles on taxation in several professional journals like Taxscan and Livelaw.