About Us

Optimus Resolution and Restructuring Advisors is an Insolvency Resolution entity registered with IBBI vide registration number IBBI/IPE/0073
Optimus is promoted by Mr Avishek Gupta and Mr Hiralal Prasad who are partners in HLP & Associates, Chartered Accountants.
Optimus is empanelled / registered with most of the large banks and financial institutions in India.
Optimus is ISO 9001:2015 certified and promoted by Insolvency Professionals registered with Insolvency and Bankruptcy Board of India under IBC 2016.

Optimus Resolution has been honoured and adjudged as ‘Best Insolvency Professional Entity and Stressed Asset Advisors – 2021‘ by Business Mint at Nationwide Awards 2021. Earlier in 2019, the entity was awarded the title of ‘Best Insolvency Resolution and Turnaround Advisors’ in Eastern India.

Team - Founding Partners

Avishek Gupta

Avishek Gupta is an Insolvency Resolution Professional (Registration no: IBBI/IPA-003/IP-N000135/2017-2018/11499) with over 16 years of professional experience. He is the founding partner at Optimus.

Avishek is an MBA (2 year full time program) from IIM Calcutta and a Chartered Accountant. He has worked with leading institutions such as Bank of America CSPL, Wachovia Private Equity Fund and Ernst & Young.
Currently he is also a partner at HLP & Associates, Chartered Accountants.

He has extensively worked in following sectors:

Infrastructure – power, road, port and water management
Construction & EPC
Manufacturing – sugar, steel, textiles and cement
Services Sector – financial services, healthcare and education

He has received numerous applause and appreciation form clients for his lead role in advisory and consulting assignments.

Hiralal Prasad

Hiralal Prasad is an Insolvency Resolution Professional (Registration no: IBBI/IPA-003/IP-N000134/2017-2018/11498) with over 47 years of professional experience. He is a partner at Optimus.

Hiralal is a Chartered Accountant and law graduate. . He was associated in the past with reputed industrial conglomerates like Birla, Jindal and Taparia and has an excellent understanding of corporate finance and strategy.
He is also the founding partner at HLP & Associates, Chartered Accountants.

He has extensively worked in following sectors:

MANUFACTURING – jute, chemical, pharma, plastic and paints
SERVICES SECTOR – trading, mining and hospitality
INFRASTRUCTURE – real estate, construction and power

He has been instrumental in turnaround of many companies in his capacity of advisor / consultant.

Team - Partners

Balasubramanium Govindarajan

Mr Govindarajan is an Insolvency Professional with over 30 years of experience in the field of corporate finance and strategy.

He is a commerce graduate and fellow FCMA.

Mr Govindarajan is based out of Mumbai and has expertise in the area of debt resolution & banking regulation.

Amalesh Roychoudhury

Amalesh Roychoudhury is an Insolvency Professional with over 25 years of experience in finance and information technology.

He is a commerce graduate and Fellow Chartered Accountant.

Mr Roychoudhury is based out of Kolkata and has experience in the field of resolution & cost optimization.

Shikha Gupta

Shikha Gupta is a MBA from NMIMS with over 12 years of professional experience.

She is also a post graduate in commerce and has substantial contribution in the growth of Optimus Resolution.

Ms Gupta is based out of Kolkata and has significant experience in Corporate Strategy and Stressed Asset Management.

ASSOCIATE PARTNER

Pramod Srihari .

Pramod Srihari is an Insolvency Professional and a Fellow Chartered Accountant.

He is based out of Bangalore and is a partner of the Chartered Accountants firm M/s Pramod and Darshan.

Mr Srihari provides services in the area of Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, direct and indirect tax and corporate advisory.

Optimus Advisory Committee

Shri Anil Kumar Gupta

Mr. Gupta retired as Executive Director from Power Finance Corporation (PFC) of India in December 2016 and has been associated as Advisor (Stress Asset Resolution Cell & Resource Mobilization) with PTC India Financial Services Ltd since May 2017. He is a Chartered Accountant and has undertaken a course on Course in Risk Evaluation on Project Financing. In addition to his stint at PFC, he had worked for two years at Energy Efficiency Services Ltd (EESL) as Director Finance and for 10 years at National Hydro Power Corporation (NHPC).

He has been closely involved with project appraisal and financing in power sector and was in charge of resource mobilization in domestic and international markets. Mr. Gupta as head of Structured Product Group was overall responsible for sanction and release of funds for various power projects in conventional and renewable energy space. He was on the board of 4 Ultra Mega Power Projects, Power Exchange (NPEX), Small is Beautiful (a fund managed by KSK energy ventures) and Parvati Coal Dam Transmission Lines Ltd (Joint Venture of ADAG Group and Powergrid). Mr. Gupta was closely involved with National Electricity Fund and prepared the concept note, presented it to Ministry of Power (MoP) and formulated the scheme with the interaction with the officers of CEA, Planning Commission and MoP officials.

Dr Dilip Kumar Datta

Dr. Dilip Kumar Datta is an M. Tech (Chemical Engineering), M.B.A in Finance and has done Ph.D in Business Management from University of Calcutta. He served in UCO Bank and Industrial Reconstruction Bank of India in senior position for 22 years. His core competence is Turnaround Management, Corporate Restructuring, Industrial Revival, Techno Economic Appraisal of projects and handling Corporate Bankruptcy.

He has handled more than 2000 cases with BIFR and AAIFR. He has prepared more than 2000 reports of Techno economic viability of various large and medium scale projects. In his doctoral thesis, he has developed empirical models that not only segregate ‘good performing’ companies from ‘bad performing’ companies but also predict the probability of a company becoming sick in the near future. He has long experience as a visiting faculty in various prominent Management Institutes.

A number of articles authored by him have been published in various leading journals. He is a member of International Turnaround Management Association (TMA), Chicago, USA, Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), All India Management Association (AIMA), Association of Corporate Advisers & Executives (ACAE), Consultancy Development Centre (CDC).

Shri Indratosh Chattopadhya

Mr Chattopadhyay has 38 years of experience working with Reserve Bank of India in various capacities and departments in the Kolkata and Mumbai office. He has extensive knowledge and expertise in the area of compliance, risk management, inspection, foreign exchange and stressed asset management. Besides he has been associated with some of the leading Chartered Accountancy firms post his tenure at RBI.

Mr Chattopadhyay has in-depth understanding of functioning of both public and private sector banks and financial institutions. His expertise spans across banking rules and regulations including those pertaining to NPA and corporate debt restructuring.

Shri Moses Harding

Mr Harding is at present also Advisor to the Group Chairman & Board of Directors, SBM Holdings Limited (State Bank of Mauritius Group) and Director, SBM Bank (India) Limited.

Mr Moses Harding brings over 35 years of experience in domestic and overseas markets in several domains in banking, financial services & global markets and has held top management positions since 1999.

Mr Harding’s most critical assignments include

13 years with State Bank of India in specialised areas of International business, FX & Derivatives, Correspondent Banking and Treasury services
Member of core team in set up of new generation private sector banks IndusInd Bank (1994-1999) and Centurion Bank (1999-2003)
Scale-up and re-rating assignment of IndusInd Bank (2003-2013) as Head of Wholesale Bank including International business & Global Markets and
Leadership role in scripting the transformation story of large systemic important infrastructure finance company.

He has proven track record in building strategies & execution tactics capabilities in 3-phase business transformation from below-par to above-par and to best-in-class, and turnaround strategies building higher capacity for scale up of productivity and upgrade of operational efficiency.

A successful banker and finance professional, Moses is often quoted and published articles as think-tank and opinion-maker & influencer in several journals/dailies/magazines and is a frequent face on business media. A well-known brand in the financial markets, he provides proprietary analysis on Global economy & financial markets (across asset classes) on social media (Twitter-handle: @mosesharding)

Shri Rajiv Ranjan

Mr. Ranjan, a graduate in engineering and a PGDBM in Finance from XLRI, Jamshedpur, has worked as the President and CEO of Reliance Asset Reconstruction Company Ltd., a Reliance ADA Group company, and Chief Operating Officer of SBI Factors & Commercial Services Pvt. Ltd., a State Bank of India subsidiary. He earned his spurs by working for over 34 years at State Bank of India.

Some of the critical assignments he held during his long tenure at State Bank of India included preparing Techno-Economic Viability Studies for revivable sick industries and implementing the same, Project Finance, Corporate Finance, Stressed Assets Management, including Rehabilitation & Recovery, International Credit, Factoring/ Trade Finance, IT Operations, etc. He also worked as the head of Credit & Investments at State Bank’s Los Angeles Agency office and served as a member of Reserve Bank of India’s “Working Group on Bank Finance to Factoring”.

As the President & CEO of Reliance ARC, Mr. Ranjan led from the front in raising issues plaguing the asset reconstruction industry – by taking up the matter with the authorities concerned, speaking at seminars and conferences and publishing articles in reputed journals that pinpointed flaws in India’s asset reconstruction model and suggested concrete measures to correct the same so that value from non-performing assets could get unlocked.

Mr. Ranjan believes that, in order to deliver good performance, one has to take up the challenge of identifying problems at the root first, and then, implementing directional changes to fix them, without losing the focus on strategy and innovation.

Shri Sukamal Chandra Basu

Mr. S. C. Basu, served as Chairman & Managing Director of Bank of Maharashtra in the past for over 5 years in the past. He is a Chartered Accountant as well as Bachelor in Law & Master in Commerce.

He has extensive experience in banking sector and was associated with United Bank of India and served on deputation to Bank of Baroda apart from working with Price Waterhouse.

During the tenure of service in banks held a position as Director on Board of EXIM Bank & Dy. Chairman of Indian Banks’ Association. He is also an ex-member of the Governing Council of National Institute of Bank Management. (2001-2006)

He has rendered service as an Advisor and Management Consultant to several Corporate groups and is in Policy formulation and overview of the Statutory / Internal Audit of PSU and Commercial Banks.

Code of Conduct

Integrity, transparency and confidentiality is ingrained in our Guiding Principles. Our Code of Conduct sets forth our core values, shared responsibilities and commitments.

The Code of Conduct for our partner and employees is as under

Integrity and objectivity

An insolvency professional must maintain integrity by being honest, straightforward, and forthright in all professional relationships.
An insolvency professional must not misrepresent any facts or situations and should refrain from being involved in any action that would bring disrepute to the profession.
An insolvency professional must act with objectivity in his professional dealings by ensuring that his decisions are made without the presence of any bias, conflict of interest, coercion, or undue influence of any party, whether directly connected to the insolvency proceedings or not.
An insolvency professional appointed as an interim resolution professional, resolution professional, liquidator, or bankruptcy trustee should not himself acquire, directly or indirectly, any of the assets of the debtor, nor knowingly permit any relative to do so.

Independence and impartiality

An insolvency professional must maintain complete independence in his professional relationships and should conduct the insolvency resolution, liquidation or bankruptcy process, as the case may be, independent of external influences.
In cases where the insolvency professional is dealing with assets of a debtor during liquidation or bankruptcy process, he must ensure that he or his relatives do not knowingly acquire any such assets, whether directly or indirectly unless it is shown that there was no impairment of objectivity, independence or impartiality in the liquidation or bankruptcy process and the approval of the Board has been obtained in the matter.
An insolvency professional shall not take up an assignment under the Code if he, any of his relatives, any of the partners or directors of the insolvency professional entity of which he is a partner or director, or the insolvency professional entity of which he is a partner or director is not independent, in terms of the Regulations related to the processes under the Code, in relation to the corporate person/ debtor and its related parties.
An insolvency professional shall disclose the existence of any pecuniary or personal relationship with any of the stakeholders entitled to distribution under sections 53 or 178 of the Code, and the concerned corporate person/ debtor as soon as he becomes aware of it, by making a declaration of the same to the applicant, committee of creditors, and the person proposing appointment, as applicable.
An insolvency professional shall not influence the decision or the work of the committee of creditors or debtor, or other stakeholders under the Code, so as to make any undue or unlawful gains for himself or his related parties, or cause any undue preference for any other persons for undue or unlawful gains and shall not adopt any illegal or improper means to achieve any mala fide objectives.

Professional Competence

An insolvency professional must maintain and upgrade his professional knowledge and skills to render competent professional service.

Representation of correct facts and correcting misapprehensions

An insolvency professional must inform such persons under the Code as may be required, of a misapprehension or wrongful consideration of a fact of which he becomes aware, as soon as may be practicable.
An insolvency professional must not conceal any material information or knowingly make a misleading statement to the Board, the Adjudicating Authority or any stakeholder, as applicable.

Timeliness

An insolvency professional must adhere to the time limits prescribed in the Code and the rules, regulations and guidelines thereunder for insolvency resolution, liquidation or bankruptcy process, as the case may be, and must carefully plan his actions, and promptly communicate with all stakeholders involved for the timely discharge of his duties.
An insolvency professional must not act with mala fide or be negligent while performing his functions and duties under the Code.

Information management

An insolvency professional must make efforts to ensure that all communication to the stakeholders, whether in the form of notices, reports, updates, directions, or clarifications, is made well in advance and in a manner which is simple, clear, and easily understood by the recipients.
An insolvency professional must ensure that he maintains written contemporaneous records for any decision taken, the reasons for taking the decision, and the information and evidence in support of such decision. This shall be maintained so as to sufficiently enable a reasonable person to take a view on the appropriateness of his decisions and actions.
An insolvency professional must not make any private communication with any of the stakeholders unless required by the Code, rules, regulations and guidelines thereunder, or orders of the Adjudicating Authority.
An insolvency professional must appear, co-operate and be available for inspections and investigations carried out by the Board, any person authorised by the Board or the insolvency professional agency with which he is enrolled.
An insolvency professional must provide all information and records as may be required by the Board or the insolvency professional agency with which he is enrolled.
An insolvency professional must be available and provide information for any periodic study, research and audit conducted by the Board.

Confidentiality

An insolvency professional must ensure that confidentiality of the information relating to the insolvency resolution process, liquidation or bankruptcy process, as the case may be, is maintained at all times. However, this shall not prevent him from disclosing any information with the consent of the relevant parties or required by law.

Occupation, employability and restrictions

An insolvency professional must refrain from accepting too many assignments, if he is unlikely to be able to devote adequate time to each of his assignments.
An insolvency professional must not engage in any employment, except when he has temporarily surrendered his certificate of membership with the insolvency professional agency with which he is registered.
An insolvency professional must not conduct business which in the opinion of the Board is inconsistent with the reputation of the profession.

Remuneration and costs

An insolvency professional must provide services for remuneration which is charged in a transparent manner, is a reasonable reflection of the work necessarily and properly undertaken, and is not inconsistent with the applicable regulations.
An insolvency professional shall not accept any fees or charges other than those which are disclosed to and approved by the persons fixing his remuneration.