Mr. Samir Shah joined Dvara Holdings (formerly Dvara Trust) in February 2018 as Executive Vice-Chair to provide strategic direction for Dvara Trust’s mission of financial inclusion and portfolio management of group companies. He has over two decades of experience in building institutions and market infrastructure. He is also the Vice Chair of Dvara Kshetriya Gramin Financial Services Private Limited.
Prior to joining Dvara Holdings, he was the Managing Director & CEO of NCDEX, India’s largest agri-focused commodities exchange. During his tenure, the exchange had transformational impact on India’s agri-economy through various technology and digital initiatives. He also worked closely with the warehouse regulator WDRA and the capital markets regulator SEBI to launch National E-Repository Limited (NeRL) to provide India’s first repository services for electronic negotiable warehouse receipts, which farmers can use to avail formal sector agri-credit.
Before NCDEX, he was the Chief Business Officer of the Dubai Gold and Commodities Exchange (DGCX). At DGCX he led the growth of the exchange to make it one of the fastest growing exchanges in the world, winning several global awards, including the Contract of the Year Award and the Best Commodity Exchange Award in 2012.
Prior to this, he worked at global information company Thomson Reuters for 17 years, where he held positions in various capacities including the position of the Global Head of Business Planning and Operations for a new inside-Sales unit at Thomson Reuters called Direct; also led Reuters’ India operations as the Managing Director in South Asia.
Samir began his career as an investment banker in Mumbai helping companies unlock value through public offerings and buy-out deals. He holds an MBA in Finance, is a Mechanical Engineer and has completed an Advanced Management Program from Wharton.