Utpal Isser

Co-Founder, MD&CEO

Utpal has spent most of his 20+ years of professional life in pursuit of understanding the economy, society and livelihoods of Rural India. His education at the Institute of Rural Management Anand (IRMA) laid the foundation for this journey. He has travelled extensively through the length and breadth of the country, immersing himself deeply in the rural ecosystem to decipher the complexities that characterize this market.

A large part of this experience has been in the Financial Services space, working in the Rural and Inclusive Banking team at ICICI Bank, where he served for 18 years in different positions and geographies. He has designed, launched and scaled multiple products to serve farmers, self employed, micro and small enterprises and the rural poor through various channels, viz. branches, franchisees, value chain partners, business correspondents, micro-finance institutions, self-help promoting institutions etc.

The idea of SarvaGram germinated from the words of Dr. Verghese Kurien: “India’s place in the Sun would come from the partnership between wisdom of its rural people and the skill of its professionals.” It is execution of this idea that is now Utpal’s passion…

Sameer Mishra

Co-Founder, ED & Business Head

Sameer has always been passionate about giving back to society and this thought has held him to rural financial services space for almost two decades. He always believed that aspirations of rural households can be nurtured and fulfilled by providing them accessible financial services in a fair and transparent manner. His strong belief that financial services to underserved play a critical role in development of rural and agricultural economy has helped in shaping up the idea of SarvaGram.

Before starting entrepreneurial journey of SarvaGram Sameer was involved in setting up rural finance business of a new NBFC, Adani Capital across three business verticals viz. MSME, Farm and Commercial Vehicles. Prior to Adani Capital he was Head of rural business of Fullerton India where he had a very enriching journey of ten years, starting as part of the team responsible for setting up the business and eventually heading it. In earlier part of his career Sameer has worked in ICICI Bank, IDBI Bank and Bank of India.

Sameer is a science graduate and has masters in Business Management from Kanpur University.

Rakesh Kumar

Chief Risk Officer

Rakesh has over 16 years of experience in rural markets, primarily in the domain of retail lending and risk management in the banking sector. He has managed the functions of credit risk policy, underwriting, operations, audit & compliance. He has also gained first hand expertise in system architecture, process design and product management in different banks.

Rakesh believes that the socio-economic profile of the rural households requires competencies different from those traditionally used, to truly measure and mitigate the risk of lending to them. He has joined SarvaGram to put his conviction to work towards creating a long-term sustainable high quality organization.

Prior to joining SarvaGram, Rakesh was associated with YES Bank and IDFC Bank in the capacity of their National Underwriting Head for retail assets in semi urban and rural geographies. He has also worked at ICICI Bank, Kotak Mahindra Bank and Dow Agro Sciences.

Rakesh holds a Post Graduate Diploma in Rural Management from Xavier Institute of Management,Bhubaneswar.

Soumi Dey

Head Finance & Control

Soumi graduated as a Civil Engineer from NIT Kurukshetra and went on to finish her PG in Rural Management from IRMA, Anand. She began her 14 year career with HDFC bank in agri-commodity credit risk department, she has worked with various multinational and private banks analyzing credit risk as well as managing loan assets of banks. Inspired by personal circumstances and rural management background, she ventured into entrepreneurship with her startup in farm to fork packaged natural foods business.

She is proud to be now associated with SarvaGram, which gives her the opportunity to utilize her entrepreneurial skill, banking experience & rural management education.

Rakesh Patel

Zonal Business Head

Rakesh has a Masters Degree in Commerce, holds a Post Graduate Diploma in Management of NGOs and has attended the MDP at Institute of Rural Management Anand.

12+ years of work experience in the Rural markets has taught Rakesh the nuts and bolts of this sector. Understanding the basics of the economy and the behavior of its participants, he now has a natural tendency to focus on the root of the problem rather than the symptoms.

Having managed over 1000 team members at a time, his people skills stand out and are looked at as a valued addition to the organization. He has grown through the echelons, imbibing the various facets of business. He has worked with Credit Access Grameen Ltd in the beginning of his career. He has played a key role in the growth of the rural vertical of Fullerton India Credit Company, managing different product lines and a large, well diversified portfolio.

Association with organizations since inception has helped him understand business cycles and develop the capacity to be absolutely resilient whenever the situation demands. An ardent believer of team work, Rakesh looks forward to contributing enormously in building an unmatchable business.

Ranjeet Sainani

Head of Business Development

Ranjeet's journey from Relationship Manager ( Auto Finance) to Head of Business Development at Sarvagram has been an exciting and enriching one.Prior to joining Sarvagram, Ranjeet has spent over 19 years with ICICI Bank Ltd. in various capacities managing businesses like Auto Finance, Gold loans, KCC and Financial Inclusion at the State and National levels. He has been challenged to fulfil goals and targets across different areas such as Sales, Strategy, Product and Business development, Third party distribution in Retail and Rural assets.

Ranjeet is a qualified Company Secretary (ICSI) and has a Diploma in International Law. His experience of managing large teams, his inherent leadership and mentoring styles as well as an innovative spirit is what he looks forward to bringing to Sarvagram, an organisation whose goals are aligned to his personal belief of "Growth for all".

Pravin Savant

Zonal Business Head

20 years of work experience in Business Development, Sales & Distribution and Debt Services management across BFSI, Telecom and FMCG sectors has molded Pravin into an effective leader with distinguished abilities in directing, managing & enabling a workforce focused on accomplishing greater operational efficiency and excellence.

Pravin has worked extensively in rural markets across the western states of India, managing 300 team members and 5 lac customers across a network of 250+ branches. In addition to his 12 year stint with ICICI Bank, Pravin has contributed to the growth of IDFC First Bank, Reliance Infocom, Hindustan Unilever and Geoffery Manners.

For some time now, Pravin has dreamt of creating a financial organisation worthy of being emulated by its peers in the industry. The name SarvaGram motivates him to work towards reaching every corner of India which may need his services.

Anjali Mahajan

Group Product Head

Anjali has been working in the area of rural finance for 18+ years in different roles across a variety of organisations. Anjali has worked with NGOs in the area of financial inclusion as well as leading private sector banks. She has headed the financial inclusion product function for ICICI Bank. She headed the Credit and Policy function for financial inclusion in RBL Bank. Anjali's key interest has been to develop relevant products and processes in sphere of rural finance leading to a sustainable rural business portfolio.

Anjali has done a post graduate diploma in management from the Institute of Rural Management.