Board of Directors

Arun Kumar is the Company’s Founder and Promoter Director. Arun is a first-generation entrepreneur with an illustrious track record of pursuing “difficult to operate” domains with high scarcity value. Effective April 5, 2025, Arun has transitioned as Non-Executive Chairperson on the Board of Strides.

Arun founded the Company in 1990 and has since led the Company in establishing a global reputation with a differentiated business model and delivering value to its stakeholders, including distribution of the most extensive dividend by a pharmaceutical company in India.

Arun was awarded the E&Y Entrepreneur of the Year for the Healthcare Industry in 2000. In 2014, he also received the “India’s Best CEO Award (Mid-Sized Companies Category)” and “Best CEO in the Pharma and Healthcare Industry” from Business Today.

Dr. Kausalya Santhanam, Founder of SciVista IP & Communication, is a Patent attorney registered with the Indian Patent Office as well as the US Patent and Trademark Office.

Dr. Kausalya has a Ph.D in Cell biology and Immunology from Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research (PGIMER) Chandigarh and a Law Degree from Mumbai University. She was a National Research Council (NRC) Fellow at Walter Reed Army Institute of Research, Washington DC and then a Research Associate at Albert Einstein College of Medicine, New York and researched in the areas of inflammation and cancer immunology. Later, she worked as an in-house practitioner in the Intellectual Property Department of a Biopharmaceutical Company at Connecticut, USA.

Currently, Dr. Kausalya provides services in the areas of Intellectual Property including IP strategies for Biotech, Pharma, Nutraceuticals, Agriculture, Nanotechnology and Medical Devices Companies both in India and abroad. She is currently also an Adjunct Professor at IIT Jodhpur, Global Executive Pharmaceutical MBA Program of Ahmedabad University and is also a speaker at various IP-related workshops and training programs in Academia and Industry. She also serves as an Independent Director on the Boards of various Pharma and Animal Health Companies.

Mukta is a pharmaceutical Industry leader with more than three decades of experience in the pharmaceutical value chain. A gold medalist from Delhi Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences and Research with an Executive MBA from Indian Institute of Management Bangalore.

She is working as the Managing Director and Site Leader for Astellas Pharma, setting up their Global capability centre in India. During her career at Eli Lilly and Elanco previously, across India and Europe. Mukta spearheaded numerous strategic initiatives. Most notably, she successfully launched several key brands. forged several alliances, established, and scaled two Global Capability Centres (GCCs), creating substantial organizational value through innovative operational frameworks.

She has orchestrated business transformation initiatives, forging crucial industry collaborations for MNCs with Indian companies. Her leadership was instrumental in accelerating drug discovery and development processes, optimizing supply chains, and establishing cutting-edge technology and analytics hubs for data-driven decision-making.

Mukta's influence extends beyond corporate leadership through her active participation in prestigious industry bodies including OPPI, CII, NASSCOM, and the Vision Group of Biotechnology. A respected voice in corporate circles, she regularly speaks on critical topics such as corporate culture, Talent, Diversity, equity, and inclusion (DE&I), and leadership.

Mukta has earned her numerous accolades, including the HR Association of India Award for DE&I Champion, the World Women Leadership Award, and the Karnataka Women Leader Award. Mukta maintains a deep commitment to Corporate Social Responsibility, focusing on initiatives in Children's Health and Education.

Homi Khusrokhan is the Independent Director of the Company and is associated with the Company since May 2017. Homi is a Fellow member of the Institute of Chartered Accountant of India since 1966 and was a rank-holder. He studied at the Sydenham College of Commerce and Economics and obtained a B. Com (Hons.) from the University of Mumbai in 1963. He also studied at the London School of Economics and Political Science between 1966-68 and obtained degree of M.Sc. (Econ.), in Accounting and Finance. Homi has over 40 years' experience in the corporate sector (29 years of which were with the Glaxo Group of Companies).

Homi was the Managing Director of Glaxo & Burroughs Wellcome in India from 1996- 2000. During his stewardship, in 1999, Glaxo was rated as India's Most Respected Company across all industries by Business World. Homi moved on to become the Managing Director of Tata Tea Limited; And later Managing Director of Tata Chemicals Limited. Both the Tata Companies became the world's 2nd largest Companies in Tea & Soda Ash during his tenure by virtue of major international acquisitions.

Homi has served as an Independent Director in several companies, including Rallis India Ltd, Fulford India Ltd, and ICICI Bank Limited. In 2009, Homi was appointed as a Special Advisor to the Government-Appointed Board of Satyam Computer Services Ltd, which was tasked to resuscitate and find a new owner for the company. He has worked with various Industry Organizations and Chambers of Commerce. He was President of the Organization of Pharmaceutical Producers of India and Vice-President of the Bombay Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

Apart from his experience and expertise in pharmaceuticals, he has knowledge of consumer products, agriculture related business, specialty chemicals and has also managed several international businesses by virtue of the mergers & acquisitions made during his tenure in the Tata Group. He retired from the Tata Group in 2008 and is now a Senior Advisor to Tata Capital's Private Equity Funds.

Homi was initially the Governor of Maharashtra’s nominee to the Executive Committee of Indian Red Cross Society, Maharashtra and is now Chairman of IRCS for Maharashtra State, since 2022.

Ameet P. Hariani, age 64, has around 37 years of experience advising clients on corporate and commercial law, mergers and acquisitions, real estate and real estate finance transactions. He has represented large organizations in international real estate transactions, arbitrations and prominent litigations. He was a partner at Ambubhai and Diwanji and Andersen Legal India, as well as the founder and managing partner of Hariani & Co.

He has now transitioned to advisory and chamber practice. He also acts as an arbitrator, mediator and as an independent, non-executive director on the boards of several well reputed companies.

He holds Law degree from Government Law College, Mumbai and Masters in Law degree from the University of Mumbai. He is a Solicitor enrolled with the Bombay Incorporated Law Society and the Law Society of England and Wales. He is also a member of the Bar Council of Maharashtra and the Bombay Bar Association.

Subir Chakraborty has spent more than four decades working in various capacities in several organizations such as Berger Paints, Balmer Lawrie & Co Ltd and Exide Industries Ltd, out of which he spent more than two and half decades in the last-named company, rising from the level of General Manager to the apex level, through several tiers in the company. He joined the Exide board in 2013 serving in various capacities, prior to becoming the Managing Director & CEO in 2021.

Subir qualified as a Mechanical Engineer from IIT Madras, earning his B.Tech in 1980 with Distinction. Thereafter, he worked for two years as an engineer, and then enrolled at IIM Calcutta to pursue a Post Graduate Program in Management, completing his PGDM in 1984.

Subir is deeply involved in business bodies and associations and is the immediate past President of Bengal Chamber of Commerce & Industry (BCCI). He has also been a National Council Member of Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) for the years 2022-24.

Subir has received several accolades and awards during his career, including the India Energy Storage Alliance (IESA) Lifetime Achievement Award in May 2023 as well as the Distinguished Alumnus Award from Indian Institute of Management, Calcutta in Nov 2023.

Subir remains interested in academic pursuits and has been a guest faculty at several reputed management institutions of repute, such as IIM Calcutta. He is committed to the cause of sustainability and spearheaded multiple initiatives at Exide to further this objective. He has also delivered several addresses on this topic at important forums and is a sought-after speaker on the subject. His speeches are all available in the public media.

Subir has operated for more than ten years at the board level of Exide and several other subsidiaries both in India as well as abroad. After traversing an eventful career path of around forty-two years, he has retired from Exide effective May 1, 2024.

Badree Komandur holds a degree in Commerce from the University of Madras and is a Member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India, the Institute of Company Secretaries of India and the Institute of Cost Accountants of India.

Badree has also completed a Chief Human Resource Officer Program from The Wharton School (University of Pennsylvania), USA in December 2023.

Badree has over 30 years of rich and comprehensive experience in Corporate Finance & Taxation, Treasury, Forex Management, Mergers & Acquisitions, Debt Syndication & Management, Fund Raising, Governance and Investor Relations Management, amongst others.

Badree is associated with Strides since February 2010 and before joining Strides, he had over 15 years of experience working in varied sectors including Information Technology and Engineering.

During his tenure at Strides, he has handled key management portfolios and has played an influential role in implementing Company’s strategies. He has also led the finance function and provided stewardship in Corporate Finance & Taxation, Treasury, Forex Management, Mergers & Acquisitions, Debt Syndication & Management, Fund Raising, Governance, and Investor Relations Management, amongst others.

Badree has also played an instrumental role in driving global compliances, risk management and govern overall financial discipline in the system.

Badree was appointed as Executive Director – Finance and Group Chief Financial Officer of the Company on May 18, 2017 and was elevated to the role of MD and Group CEO effective June 1, 2025.

Aditya Arun Kumar holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Biomedical Sciences from Newcastle University and a Master of Research in Biophysics from Kings College, London.

Aditya started his career with Strides as a Management Trainee and since then held multiple positions in Strides and Family Office prior to his current role.

Aditya has over 10 years of experience in the Pharma Industry, predominantly in Business Development roles. Before heading the B2B business for Strides, he was also responsible for integrating two acquired consumer divisions.

From 2017-2022, Aditya led the Business of a Promoter-funded Pharmaceutical Start-up that is the second such technology platform that can develop and manufacture Oral Lyophilisates.

Aditya has been leading the Global Partnered Business at Strides since June 2022. In this role, he has been instrumental in adding new customers across geographies enabling growth and sustainability. The business under his leadership has grown in size and scale.