Jump to content

Mandar Agashe

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
(Redirected from Draft:Mandar Agashe)

Mandar Agashe
Official portrait, 2021
Founder, Managing Director and Vice Chairman of Sarvatra Technologies
In office
22 June 2000 – Incumbent
Founder and Managing Director of Brihans Natural Products
In office
20 April 2000 – 2005
Succeeded bySheetal Agashe (as CEO)
Joint Managing Director of the Brihan Maharashtra Sugar Syndicate
In office
19 August 1994 – 2 August 1999
Serving with Dnyaneshwar Agashe
Succeeded byAshutosh Agashe
Personal details
Born (1969-05-24) 24 May 1969 (age 56)
Mumbai, Maharashtra, India
Spouse
Jiza Agashe (née Aparna Pandharkar)
​
​
(m. 1996)​
Children2
Parent
Alma materPune Institute of Computer Technology (B. E.)
Occupation
Musical career
GenresPop, rock, new age, techno, retro, ghazal
Years active1994–present
LabelsSony BMG

Mandar Dnyaneshwar Agashe[a] (born 24 May 1969) is an Indian businessman, music director, and former musician. He founded Sarvatra Technologies in 2000, and has served as the company's managing director since its inception.

As a musician, he is remembered for his pop and rock music releases in Hindi and English under Sony BMG in the 1990s and 2000s, and for music directing Marathi ghazal albums for Asha Bhosle in 2016, and Rahul Deshpande in 2021.

Biography

[edit]

Early life and family: 1969–1991

[edit]

Agashe was born on 24 May 1969 in Mumbai, Maharashtra,[4] into an aristocratic and entrepreneurial Chitpavan brahmin family of industrialist Dnyaneshwar Agashe of the Agashe gharana of Mangdari,[5] and wife Rekha Gogte, of the Gogte gharana of Belgaum.[6]

Through his father, Agashe is a grandson of Chandrashekhar Agashe, a nephew of Panditrao Agashe and Shakuntala Karandikar, an older brother of Ashutosh and Sheetal Agashe,[7] of distant relation to Third Anglo-Maratha War general Bapu Gokhale,[8] musician Ashutosh Phatak,[9] historian Dinkar G. Kelkar, and scientist P. K. Kelkar.[10]

Through his mother, Agashe is a great-nephew of B. M. Gogte,[6] a first cousin to poet Rashmi Parekh, a descendant of the aristocratic Latey (Bhagwat) family, and of relation to Kokuyo Camlin head Dilip Dandekar, and academic Jyoti Gogte.[11]

Agashe graduated with a BE degree in software engineering from the Pune Institute of Computer Technology in 1990.[12] He has been married to Aparna Pandharkar since 1996; she adopted the name Jiza Agashe upon marriage. They have two children.[13]

Early business career: 1991–2008

[edit]

In 1991, Agashe was appointed to the board of directors at his grandfather's Brihan Maharashtra Sugar Syndicate,[14] going on to become the joint managing director of the syndicate in 1994, the same year he was appointed a director on his father's Suvarna Sahakari Bank.[15][16] He founded a number of companies under the Brihans Group – Brihans Pharmaceuticals, an ayurvedic medicine company in 1998,[17] and musicurry.com, an internet radio company in 1999,[18] the same year, he resigned as joint managing director of the syndicate.[19]

By December 1999, Agashe and his CEO Gautam Godse had partnered with California-based software company Questionable Ventures to develop musicurry.com,[20] and in January 2000 he invited Usha Mangeshkar to be the internet radio's creative consultant,[21] with Agashe announcing plans to upload the Mangeshkar family archives to the web service by February–March 2000.[22][23] The web service was officially launched on 13 January 2000.[24]

In April 2000, he founded Brihans Natural Products, a skincare products manufacturing company,[25] and under him launched its signature aloe vera product range in 2002.[25] In June 2000, he established Sarvatra Technologies, a company that developed banking software for Suvarna Sahakari Bank;[2][26] alongside his other financial technology companies, EBZ Online and Codito Technologies, also being founded in 2000.[25][27] In 2002, Agashe purchased stake in Deepak Ghaisas' I-flex Solutions, after the company agreed to partner with Codito, with Ghaisas joining the board of directors.[28] In April 2002, he contributed an essay titled My Father to his father's festschrift.[29]

In 2006, Agashe launched "Anywhere Money" POS terminals under his company Saravatra Technologies to praise and support from politicians such as Shankarrao Gadakh in the Government of Maharashtra.[30] By 2007, Agashe had merged the business operations of EBZ Technologies and Codito with Sarvatra Technologies and partnered with Larry Ellison at the Oracle Corporation to introduce banking software technology to rural India,[31] after the Reserve Bank of India's governor Y. V. Reddy and economist Raghuram Rajan approved the plans in January 2008.[30]

Agashe with his father, felicitating Lata Mangeshkar.

Suvarna Sahakari Bank scam allegations: 2008–2009

[edit]
Main article: Suvarna Sahakari Bank

In November 2008, Agashe was one of the directors implicated during Suvarna Sahakari Bank's ₹4.3 billion alleged scam case.[32] His family, along with other board members of the bank, were arrested on the charges of alleged misuse of their rights to sanction loans to firms owned by themselves and then defaulting those loans, thereby duping the bank's depositors.[33] Agashe was in Germany at the time of the arrests, returning to India for his father's funeral in January 2009.[34]

Agashe was taken into judicial custody in February 2009.[35] After his father's death, Agashe was approached by former depositors of the bank for repayment of the defaulted loans.[36] In early March 2009, he was remanded to magisterial custody after his initial plea for bail was rejected. He was charged with having sanctioned forged loan proposals amounting to ₹1.13 billion.[37] Agashe was subsequently released on bail on 11 March,[38] but was kept under house arrest until the bank merger was resolved.[35] The bank was eventually dissolved and merged with the Indian Overseas Bank in May 2009.[39]

Later business career: 2009–present

[edit]

In 2011, Agashe launched Sarvatra's POS terminals to Urban co-operative banks in the Solapur district.[40] Under Agashe's chairmanship, having previously been appointed the company's vice-chair as of 2018,[41] the company's financial switch helping 450 co-operative banks and 50 urban co-operative banks, by 2018 and by 2020 respectively, connect to India's National Electronic Funds Transfer service.[42][43]

In 2020, at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, Agashe announced he would consider making half of his employees work from home post-lockdown,[44] further stating that cashless transactions would increase given the risk of contamination and social distancing norms.[45] In February 2021, he was a panelist at a fintech conclave hosted by Businessworld.[46] Between 2021 and 2022, Agashe was often quoted by several publications as an expert for the banking software and financial technology sectors.[47][48] In March 2023, Agashe stated that it was Sarvatra Technologies' mission to showcase its Unified Payments Interface capabilities to highlight India's payment software cababilities at the 2023 G20 New Delhi summit.[49] In September 2023, he was a panelist at a conference hosted by Banca d'Italia in Rome discussing the Payment Services Directive.[50]

In June 2024, he was part of a delegation hosted by Keith Rowley, then Prime Minister of Trinidad & Tobago, exploring the possibility of introducing Sarvatra Technologies' digital payments technology to the country.[51][52] In August 2024, he was a panelist at the 9th Global Economic Summit at the World Trade Centre, Mumbai, discussing emerging technologies in fintech.[53][54] In October 2024, the Maharashtra Brahmin Mandal felicitated Agashe and Prasad Oak at the Tilak Smarak Ranga Mandir with entrepreneurship and artist awards, respectively.[55]

Musical career

[edit]
Agashe with Asha Bhosle in April 2016.

During his final year in college, Agashe was introduced to Hridaynath Mangeshkar, who invited him to compose music for the Shirish Atre-Pai-authored Marathi poem Khulya Khulya Re Pavasa (lit. 'Open, Open, Rain'), sung by Asha Bhosle for the Marathi movie Hey Geet Jeevanache (1995). Previously in 1994, Agashe had recorded an English rock music album in Indianapolis, citing The Beatles as a major influence.[56]

In 1997, Agashe released his first Marathi language album titled Achanak (lit. 'Suddenly').[57] In 1998, he released his first Hindi language album titled Nazar Nazar (lit. 'Look, Look').[56][58] The album was produced by Ashutosh Phatak and Dhruv Ghanekar and released in India by Sony BMG.[59]

In 2003, Agashe released a new age-techno track titled I Need Someone in Germany.[60] In 2005, he further released a double-sided album titled Two of Us featuring an album of Hindi pop music titled Jaan Le (lit. 'Know It') and an album of English rock music titled F. C. Road.[61][3]

In April 2016, Agashe music directed a western pop album of Suresh Bhat's ghazals in Marathi with Asha Bhosle called 82. The album was titled after Bhosle's age at the time of recording. Recorded within one week, the album consisted of ghazals given to Agashe by Bhat. In a televised launch for the album, hosted by Sudhir Gadgil, Agashe and Bhosle also announced a competition for fan-made music videos to the songs on the album.[57][62]

In June 2021, Agashe music directed a Marathi retro music album of Suresh Bhat's poems and ghazals with Rahul Deshpande titled Theek Aahe, Chaan Aahe, Masta Aahe (lit. 'It's Okay, It's Good, It's Great'). Recorded during the COVID-19 lockdown in India, the album was produced by Vivek Paranjape and featured Aarya Ambekar, Dhanashree Deshpande-Ganatra, and Pranjali Barve as guest vocalists.[63]

Discography

[edit]

As a solo artist

[edit]
  • Achanak (1997)
  • Nazar Nazar (1998)
  • I Need Someone – Single (2003)
  • Two of Us (2005)

As music director

[edit]

Published works

[edit]

Essays

[edit]
  • Agashe, Mandar (17 April 2002). "My Father". In Barve, Ramesh; Vartak, Taraprakash; Belvalkar, Sharchandra (eds.). पुत्र विश्वस्ताचा : गौरव ग्रंथ : ज्ञानेश्वर आगाशे षष्ट्यब्दीपूर्ती निमित्त [Putra Viśvastācā : A Festschrift : In honour of Dnyaneshwar Agashe's 60th Birth Anniversary] (Festschrift) (in Marathi) (1st ed.). Pune: Jñāneśvara Āgāśe Gaurava Samitī. p. 3. ISBN 978-1-5323-4594-4. LCCN 2017322864. OCLC 992168227. Retrieved 22 May 2025 – via University of Oxford.

Notes

[edit]
  1. ^ IAST: Maṃdāra Jñāneśvara Āgāśe. Agashe bears his father's name (Dnyaneshwar) as a middle name as per the patronymic Marathi naming conventions,[1] but he is widely known without his patronymic.[2][3]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ Agashe & Agashe 2006, p. 62, आगाशे, मंदार ज्ञानेश्वर.
  2. ^ a b "Mandar Agashe, Founder, MD and Vice Chairman, Sarvatra Technologies". SMEChannels. 2 February 2021. OCLC 980373179. Archived from the original on 21 February 2021. Retrieved 9 October 2022.
  3. ^ a b "Mandar Agashe : The Man Who Brought a Revolution in the Indian Digital Payment System". Your Tech Story. 19 August 2019. Archived from the original on 29 July 2021. Retrieved 9 October 2022.
  4. ^ Agashe & Agashe 2006, p. 62, आगाशे, मंदार ज्ञानेश्वर; Ranade 1974, p. 61.
  5. ^ Ranade 1974, pp. 59–60, 70.
  6. ^ a b Kamath 1991, p. 10.
  7. ^ Karandikar 1992, p. Illustration 20.
  8. ^ Pathak 1978, p. 976.
  9. ^ Ranade 1982, p. 56.
  10. ^ Kelkar, Kelkar & Kelkar 1993, pp. 82, 89.
  11. ^ Gogaṭe Kulamaṇḍala 2006, p. 532; Barve 1982, pp. 170, 173.
  12. ^ "Mandar Agashe alumni of 1990 batch, an entrepreneur, Music director and Singer". Pune Institute of Computer Technology. 14 January 2020. Archived from the original on 2 January 2022. Retrieved 5 January 2022.
  13. ^ Agashe & Agashe 2006, p. 62.
  14. ^ Agashe, D. C. (3 October 1992). Director's Report of the Brihan Maharashtra Sugar Syndicate (Report). Pune. p. 1.
  15. ^ Ministry of Commerce & Industry 1999, p. 14.
  16. ^ Agashe, D. C. (9 August 1995). Director's Report of the Brihan Maharashtra Sugar Syndicate (Report). Pune. p. 2.
  17. ^ Ministry of Commerce & Industry 2000, p. 13.
  18. ^ Business World 2000, pp. 24, 55–56.
  19. ^ Limaye, Y. D. (2 August 1999). Director's Report of the Brihan Maharashtra Sugar Syndicate (Report). Pune. p. 3.
  20. ^ "Curried music". The Sunday Review. TNN. 12 December 1999.
  21. ^ "Musicurry.com comes as music to the ears". The Indian Express. ENS. 14 January 2000.
  22. ^ Seshan, Sekhar (21 February 2000). "A question of music". Business India: 116. ISSN 0254-5268. LCCN 78914172. OCLC 4525594.
  23. ^ Karnani, Roop (22 February 2000). "The Melody of Money". Business Today: 76–77. LCCN 92901481. OCLC 321079911.
  24. ^ Karim, Ahmed (13 February 2000). "Making music? Hurry to MusicCurry!". The Times of India.
  25. ^ a b c Seshan, Sekhar (5–18 January 2004). "A New High". Business India (674–679). A. H. Advani: 69–70. ISSN 0254-5268. LCCN 78914172. OCLC 4525594. Retrieved 16 February 2024 – via University of Virginia.
  26. ^ "New software boon for co-op. bank clients". The Times of India. Pune. TNN. 25 July 2003. Archived from the original on 4 August 2021. Retrieved 9 October 2022.
  27. ^ Pan 2006, p. 9.
  28. ^ "i-flex Solutions targets co-op banks". The Hindu. 11 January 2002. Archived from the original on 4 February 2002. Retrieved 27 April 2025.
  29. ^ Barve, Vartak & Belvalkar 2002, p. 3, My Father – Mandar Agashe.
  30. ^ a b "'एनी व्हेअर मनी' योजना देशभर राबविण्याची शिफारस : गडाख" [Recommendation to implement 'Anywhere Money' scheme across the country: Gadakh]. Pudhari (in Marathi). Nagar. 18 August 2008.
  31. ^ Madhavan, Narayanan (11 May 2007). "Larry, Mandar jam for rural banking". The Hindustan Times. New Delhi – via Nicolaus Copernicus University in Toruń.
  32. ^ "Agashe, others sent to judicial custody". The Times of India. Pune. TNN. 25 November 2008. Archived from the original on 27 November 2017. Retrieved 9 October 2022.
  33. ^ "Pune coop bank in Rs 436-cr scam". Business Standard. Pune. 23 November 2008. Archived from the original on 22 August 2016. Retrieved 17 August 2016.
  34. ^ "Fugitive run ends for economic fraud and dreaded gangster". The Indian Express. Pune. ENS. 5 February 2009. Archived from the original on 2 December 2024. Retrieved 9 October 2022.
  35. ^ a b "Mandar Agashe in police custody". Daily News & Analysis. 2 May 2009. Archived from the original on 28 July 2021 – via National Library of Catalonia.
  36. ^ "Pay back time". Pune Mirror. 5 February 2009. Archived from the original on 11 October 2022. Retrieved 9 October 2022.
  37. ^ "Mandar Agashe's bail plea rejected". The Times of India. Pune. TNN. 7 March 2009. Archived from the original on 22 December 2010. Retrieved 9 October 2022.
  38. ^ "Mandar will stay with cops". Pune Mirror. 7 March 2009. Archived from the original on 19 January 2022. Retrieved 19 January 2022.
  39. ^ "IOB posts 17 per cent rise in business". The Hindu. Chennai. 30 October 2009. Archived from the original on 25 January 2021. Retrieved 25 August 2022.
  40. ^ "पंढरपूर अर्बन बँक बहुराष्ट्रीयप्रमाणे सेवा देणार" [Pandharpur Urban Bank will provide services like a multinational]. Sakal (in Marathi). Pandharpur. 28 July 2011.
  41. ^ Mohan, Raghu (7 May 2020). "We help banks stay on the grid: Sarvatra Technologies' Mandar Agashe". Business Standard. Archived from the original on 12 October 2022. Retrieved 9 October 2022.
  42. ^ "Sarvatra Technologies brings 450th co-operative bank on National Financial Switch". Deccan Chronicle. Mumbai. 17 August 2018. Archived from the original on 17 August 2018. Retrieved 9 October 2022.
  43. ^ "Sarvatra Technologies onboards 50 urban co-operative banks on its UPI platform". The Economic Times. New Delhi. Press Trust of India. 4 December 2020. Archived from the original on 20 January 2021. Retrieved 9 October 2022.
  44. ^ Rebello, Maleeva (30 March 2020). "Mandar Agashe says he'll consider making 50 per cent of his team work remotely post-lockdown". The Economic Times. Archived from the original on 3 March 2023. Retrieved 9 October 2022.
  45. ^ K. T. & Kukreja 2024, p. 1552; Jain & Pratima 2022, pp. 23–24; Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce & Industry 2021, p. 3.
  46. ^ Sharma 2021, p. 1.
  47. ^ Mali, Krishna (8 December 2021). "Sarvatra Technologies MD & Vice Chairman Mandar Agashe on RBI Monetary Policy". TechGraph. Archived from the original on 2 January 2022. Retrieved 9 October 2022.
  48. ^ Adhikari, Anand (15 September 2022). "UPI, the Made-in-India Payments System, is Rocking Not Just India, But is Making Waves Globally Too". Business Today. LCCN 92901481. OCLC 321079911. Archived from the original on 16 September 2022. Retrieved 9 October 2022.
  49. ^ Subramanium 2023, p. 6, "Sarvatra Technologies collaborates for G20 travellers" by Nidhi Sawant..
  50. ^ Doria 2023, p. 2.
  51. ^ "Prime Minister Rowley Meets Indian Investment Mission". Office of The Prime Minister. Republic of Trinidad and Tobago. 24 June 2024. Archived from the original on 15 July 2024. Retrieved 20 March 2025.
  52. ^ Rupert, Enrique (26 June 2024). "Visiting Indian investors praise PM's vision – Government working with India to improve digital services". Trinidad and Tobago Newsday. Archived from the original on 11 August 2024. Retrieved 20 March 2025.
  53. ^ Agrawal 2024, p. 2.
  54. ^ BSN Network (20 June 2024). "9th GES to be a gateway for Indian FinTech Companies to gain the spotlight" (PDF). Bhandarkar Shipping News: India's Premier Shipping Bi-weekly. XXIII (9). Mumbai: Bhandarkar Publications: 4. Archived from the original (PDF) on 22 May 2025. Retrieved 22 May 2025.
  55. ^ "याज्ञवल्क्य उद्योजक विकासतर्फे विशेष कार्यक्रमाचे आयोजन" [Yajnavalkya Entrepreneur Development organises special program]. Sakal (in Marathi). Pune. 17 October 2024. Retrieved 30 March 2025.
  56. ^ a b Mehta, Vibha (20 November 1998). "First Person". The Indian Express. Archived from the original on 9 October 2022. Retrieved 9 October 2022.
  57. ^ a b Mathur, Barkha (21 April 2016). "Asha renders six Suresh Bhat ghazals to western tunes". The Times of India. Nagpur. Archived from the original on 15 September 2018. Retrieved 9 October 2022.
  58. ^ Kharade, Pallavi (30 April 2004). "Singing a solo tune". Pune Times. Archived from the original on 25 December 2017. Retrieved 5 January 2022.
  59. ^ Nazar Nazar by Mandar Agashe (Cassette). Mumbai: Sony BMG. 1998.
  60. ^ Contractor, Huned (14 August 2003). "Mandar to release single in Germany". The Times of India. TNN. Archived from the original on 1 September 2018. Retrieved 9 October 2022.
  61. ^ Two of Us. Pune. 2005. LCCN 2020615057. OCLC 1135234390. Retrieved 9 October 2022 – via WorldCat.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  62. ^ "Asha Bhosale sings Suresh Bhat gajhals for her next album "82"". Star Marathi (in Marathi and English). 12 April 2016. Archived from the original on 12 October 2022. Retrieved 9 October 2022.
  63. ^ Multiple sources:

Bibliography

[edit]

Conferences

[edit]
[edit]
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Mandar_Agashe&oldid=1292036566"