Utkarsh Palnitkar is KPMG Head of Transactions & Restructuring and Life sciences practices

Chennai: KPMG in India announced the appointment of Utkarsh Palnitkar as Partner & National Head of Transactions & Restructuring practice and National Head of Life sciences practice. 

Utkarsh Palnitkar joins KPMG from Centrum Capital Ltd., a large financial services company, where he was an Executive Director. Prior to this, he was associated with Ernst & Young (E&Y)
 for 15 years.  During this period, he was the leader of Advisory as well as the Life sciences practice, while also being the office managing partner of E&Y’s Hyderabad practice.

Speaking on his appointment, Utkarsh Palnitkar said, “I am honored to be given the opportunity to lead this tremendously talented group of professionals at KPMG. I am also very optimistic about our combined ability to grow both the businesses in this environment. We seek to capitalize on these positive fundamentals through further deepening our sector skills, while expanding the spectrum of deal services to add value to our clients.”

Commenting on Utkarsh’s appointment, Richard Rekhy, Chief Executive Officer, KPMG in India said, “We are delighted to welcome Utkarsh into the KPMG family. An industry veteran, Utkarsh has a vast experience across life sciences, business advisory, government, real estate and infrastructure advisory. Several of the practices he led were market leaders amongst the Big Four. I am confident that under his able leadership, the Transactions & Restructuring business will see exponential growth in the coming phase.”

Utkarsh Palnitkar joined Ernst & Young in 1995 and was one of the youngest Partners at the firm. Having set up and lead the life sciences practice at E&Y, Utkarsh was associated with many pioneering initiatives such as India’s first Biotech park, Biotech incubator, Biotech focused Venture Capital fund and the first Bio-IT park. Co-chairman of the National Biodesign Strategy Committee of the Government of India,