Shyam Maheshwari was the former Chief Executive Officer, Founder and Partner of SSG Capital Management. Maheshwari who has 17 years of experience in the deal sourcing, analysis and investing industry was primarily responsible for SSG’s investment activities in India. Shyam Maheshwari holds 4 board and advisor roles including Director at Holiday break and Associate Member at The Institute of Chartered Accountants of India. Shyam Maheshwari had 4 past jobs including Assistant Manager at Reliance Life Insurance. He graduated from St. Xavier's College, Mumbai and completed his MBA from Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore.
Shyam Maheshwari has been a long-term India fan on the credit and special situation side. He feels that India is perhaps the only emerging market in Asia that has opened the doors to foreigners to participate in the local currency debt and NPA markets. Under the current government, the reforms on IBC have been path breaking. Therefore, all the ingredients of regulations, transparency, market access and the need for foreign capital are there. Mr. Maheshwari recognizes that while the NPA pool has declined over the past few years with resolutions and recoveries, the demand for credit and resolution capital far outstrips the supply.
Shyam Maheshwari SSG, identifies that from days in early 2000 very few foreign funds participated in India. However, now we have all the foreign players represented in India. The opportunities have become more appealing due to perceptible reduction in the timeframe of recovery (due to IBC) and risk (due to market access). In contrast, one would struggle to have similar access in China where markets are probably multiples of that in India. A similar contrast with Indonesia is warranted where their bankruptcy law PKPU has not met success like IBC. According to Shyam Maheshwari, mid-market corporate may be the opportunity for credit while retail NPL could provide thrust to special situation opportunities.
While addressing young entrepreneurs of India, Shyam Maheshwari advices them, “Entrepreneurship is full of blood, sweat and tears. It is the process of creating something of value or to failing in the attempt to create. You are special to have the wherewithal to take this on and it does not matter if the outcomes are not what you wanted. The skills you learn and the experience you get in entrepreneurship are applicable to life in general. So, you win either way”, Shyam Maheshwari concluded.