ESS Management Team

Anil Bakht

Co-founder and Director

Anil along with Sanjay, founded Eastern Software Systems in 1990.

Anil holds a degree in Computer Science from University of Toronto , Canada. He lived in Canada for 12 years. There he worked with ESSO Petroleum and Bank of Nova Scotia. He returned to India in 1985 with a vision to start a technology venture.

He worked with CMC Limited for 5 years. He headed CMCs marketing initiatives in Northern Region. Using his deep background in banking industry, he helped CMC to foray in the area of Bank Automation. He also had a brief stint as General Manager of WTI, a Joint Venture between Westinghouse and Tata Group, India.

After gathering rich industry experience, he started his own venture - Eastern Software Systems. Under his vision and guidance he helped Eastern Software Systems to develop ebizframe, India's first ERP product for the SME segment.

Anil is passionate about development of Indian Intellectual Property Rights in the Global Software arena.

He is also recognized as a voice of the mid sized IT businesses in India. Anil's other interests are writing for IT publications and helping businesses solve complex problems using IT systems. Click here to Read Anil's Article, interviews, presentations and videos.

Anil was a member of the "Task Force on Information Technology" set up by the Prime Minister of India. His inputs formed a part of the Task Force's recommendations, many of which have been implemented at the National Level. He is a member of NASSCOM's Task Force on Innovation In IT Companies in India and under the activities of the Task Force, Anil has mentored many new entrepreneurs.

A sports enthusiast, Anil plays Golf in his spare time. He is also an avid photographer.

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Sanjay Agarwala

Co-founder and Managing Director

Sanjay holds a Masters in Business Administration from The Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad (IIM-A) which is amongst the top business schools of the World. Sanjay started his career with Escorts Limited where he was involved with Corporate Market Research and Planning.

Subsequently he worked with CMC for five years where he was responsible for marketing of several mega projects including those to the Telecom, Indian Railways, Banking, Aviation, Education and Agriculture sectors. He was given the company's Annual award for innovative marketing and various other awards recognitions for his performance. Sanjay had the distinction of being the youngest manager in CMC at that time and was Regional Marketing Manager for North. In 1990, Sanjay and Anil came together and decided to set up Eastern Software Systems.

In the recent years, Sanjay has been committed to taking ESS to the international markets so the Indian Products can find their place in the sun. Under his guidance ESS's ERP ebizframe has already reached 25+ countries. He and Anil have been instrumental in building ESS from a start-up to a multi-million global corporation.

Sanjay is a member of some of the standing committees in ESC(Electronics and Software Export Promotion Council of India). He is also a guest faculty at some of the Management institutes in India.

Sanjay spends a lot of time nursing his plants and is passionate about his Bonsai collection.

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Prakash Gopalani

General Manager - Sales and Marketing

Prakash holds a Masters' degree in Industrial Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology,Delhi(IIT-D), India's premier technology institute . He has been with ESS for over 11 years and heads the Sales and Marketing function at ESS. He also handles marketing operations in Northern as well as Eastern India and is also responsible for business development in S.E. Asia, CIS countries, South and Central America.

Previously he has had a short stint with Dabur and a 5-year stint with Information Technology India Ltd. [ITIL] where he was responsible for marketing their IT Services.

Prakash is a frequent speaker at ERP seminars organized by CII, NPC and many Indian Universities.

Prakash is a great MC and is pulled in frequently at company do's for his wonderful sense of humour.

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Mukul Kumar

General Manager - Projects and R&D

Mukul holds a Masters' Diploma in Computer Applications with over 17 years experience in the IT Sector. He has been with ESS for over 14 years and heads the Project and R&D group at ESS.

Mukul also heads the Total IT Outsourcing operations of ESS. He has in-depth functional and technical knowledge of ERP applications and has handled several prestigious implementation projects for ESS in India and abroad. Mukul has helped introduce many technological and functional innovations in ebizframe ERP and has successfully handled the company's endeavors in newer technologies.

Mukul is an amateur guitarist and is frequently seen toting about a large complicated camera.

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Amit Khatter

General Manager - International Business

Amit holds an MBA degree as well as an Engineering degree from a premier institute in India .

He has been with ESS for the past 13 years and currently heads the Africa business operations in ESS including Marketing, Business Development, Channel Development and Project Implementations. He has been instrumental in successfully building up ESS operations in many overseas countries. Before taking up this responsibility, Amit was responsible for ebizframe Product development and even now provides strategic direction to the product and R&D group.

Amit has been a part of various Indian delegations overseas organized by Export Promotion Councils of India.

Amit is a family guy and loves spending time with his wonderful twins.

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Ratan Sharda

Chief Consultant

Ratan has a rich industry experience of over 33 years, of which 21 years have been in IT. His domain since last 15 years has been ERP. He brings along with this his years of rich experience in textile manufacturing and marketing, dairy, packaging, publishing and printing. He is a postgraduate in Economics from Mumbai University , having graduated from St. Xaviers College .

He holds a Diploma in Man Made Textile Chemistry (DMTC) from Sasmira, Mumbai under Maharashtra Board of Technical Studies. He was a regular merit list holder during most of his academic career.

Besides being an authority on the ERP applications, he is also active in many community initiatives in Mumbai. He has also written and edited many books on social and management topics. He was also the founding secretary of the Centre for international Studies, Mumbai.

Ratan is a fountain house of knowledge about Indian fiilms and edited several tomes about Indian film industry.

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Sushil Kumar Banthia

Chief Manager, West India

Sushil holds a BE degree from MBM Engineering College (India) and has also studied Cost and Works Accounting (ICWA) as well as CPIM certification from APICS. Sushil has over 15 years experience in the IT Sector. He has extensive experience in the areas of Business Applications and Supply chain management.

Currently he is looking after ESS Projects in Western, Southern India & UAE. Sushil started his career with the Birla Group where he was involved in ERP implementation for MM, CO and PP. Sushil has also headed several prestigious implementation projects in Europe and S. Asia in the past.

A Stock Market Buff, Sushil is contributing his bit to the Society by helping founding some educational institutes in India.

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Devasis Roy

Chief Manager Offshore Business

Devasis holds a Bachelor’s degree in Electronics Engineering and is a Six Sigma certified professional. He provides thought leadership on Web 2.0 technology and has 15 years of experience.

Devasis heads the business of Application Development & Maintenance (ADM) at ESS. He is responsible for its growth in new geographies and is credited with ADM adopting new technology areas in the digital and enterprise domain. He has been building coherent, strategic solutions with a clear focus on customer experience.

Devasis is a sports buff and a new technology geek.

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Pannaga B. Patnayak

Regional Head - East & Central Africa

Pannaga has done his Masters in Business Administration from the Institute of Productivity and Management through partial scholarship from Ministry of HRD, Govt. of India for topping his batch (B.Sc Geography) in graduation in the year 1997.

He started his career as a Management Trainee with Singer India Limited. Pannaga joined ESS in 2000, and was deputed to Kenya shortly thereafter. With more than a decade of experience in Africa, he is the longest serving employee of the ESS in this continent.

He is known for his quick wit and one-liners and has hopes of rewriting the Indian epics, Ramyana and Mahabharata, in satire and getting them published. He also strongly believes in the African cause and frequently performs voluntary work for various charitable organisations.

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