Samir has an extensive general management experience of over 40 years. He has served as the President and CEO of major businesses of General Electric in South Asia and as the CEO & Managing Director of Tyco Electronics in South Asia, for over 11 years.

Samir built a rich, diverse and successful career through Indian, Japanese and American companies; in PSUs and private sector; in various roles including purchasing-vendor development, commercial, manufacturing-operations, sales-marketing, strategy and finally, leadership. He has led businesses in various verticals like automotive, auto components, electronic hardware and electrical equipment. He successfully negotiated, set up and operated joint ventures with Indian, Korean, German and American companies. Samir has also invested successfully in various sectors and stages in his entrepreneurial innings in Private Equity. The company he co-founded – Forum Synergies (India) PE Fund Managers – manages PE Funds for investments in Indian SMEs in engineering, technology, and clean technology verticals among others.

 

With a sharp focus on stake-holder interests, Samir has driven business strategy & transformation; explosive growth through organic as well as M&A initiatives; built world-class teams, brands and distribution channels; fostered engineering and process innovation and established globally competitive sourcing models. Some of his key achievements include leading start-ups to scale and profitability, successful M&A and joint venture deals and turning around loss-making companies within short periods of time.

He began his career with Tata Motors. He made significant contributions to Maruti-Suzuki in the Vendor Development program at a time when creating a robust supplier base was the key to success. Under his leadership, Tyco Electronics (now called TE Connectivity) in South Asia grew 2500% in 5 years, at 90+% CAGR, and gained strong profitability. More recently, he led a total revamp of GE’s Consumer & Industrial business in the South Asia region through closure & sale of facilities, reengineering the business model, entering new segments and businesses and building a world-class team to achieve 4x sales growth and turnaround in 5 years.

Samir also serves as a board member on Sigma Electric Mfg. Co., a $350+ mill US PE-owned leader in aluminium, ferrous castings and precision machining for Power Transmission & Distribution, Appliances markets in the US. Samir has been frequently invited to speak at corporate events, industry fora and business schools. He is the invited speaker on ‘Doing Business in India’ for Executive Programs of Stockholm School of Economics. Samir is a member of the Global Advisory Board of the Zurich headquartered global advisory firm, MAP. Samir is associated as a Global Mentor with the Unreasonable Group, USA. Since 2020, Samir has been making angel investments in several promising start ups across domains and has been open to taking advisor/mentor roles.

Samir is a member of the Young Presidents’ Organization - Gold (YPO-Gold) and the India Charter Member of The Indus Entrepreneurs (TiE) and is well networked in the industry and industry associations, having held positions and having been an active member of CII, ELCINA, AMCHAM, IEEMA, ELCOMA and ACMA.

Samir closely tracks the rapid global technological transformation under way and its impact on business models, besides being a keen follower of sports, especially Cricket.

Samir earned his Bachelors in Mechanical Engineering from Mumbai University and Post Graduate Diploma in Management (Masters) from the prestigious Indian Institute of Management (“IIM”), Calcutta.