Ashok Barat

Ashok Barat is a Fellow Member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India and a Fellow Member of the Institute of Company Secretaries of India. He graduated in Commerce from the Allahabad University in 1975 with the Chancellor’s Gold Medal and was a rank holder and winner of the A F Ferguson Award for the best paper in Auditing in the examinations conducted by the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India in November 1978.

He began his career with Hindustan Lever Limited, (as it was then called), and worked in positions of increasing responsibility, both in India and overseas with Pepsi, Electrolux, Telstra and Heinz. He retired as the Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of Forbes & Company Limited, (Shapoorji Pallonji Group).

He is the Past President of the Bombay Chamber of Commerce and Industry, and presently, the Vice President of The Council of EU Chambers of Commerce in India, and a Member of the Managing Committee of ASSOCHAM. He is a member of the Board of Directors of several companies and advisor to other business entities.

Post retirement, after spending 40 years in corporate life, he now runs his own independent advisory practice called PathFinder. He is an accredited Mediator, with the Ministry of Corporate Affairs, Government of India and the Centre for Mediation and Conciliation, Mumbai, for resolution of commercial disputes. He regularly speaks at public forums on a variety of issues of public and professional interest.