Sanjay Sapre to step down as president of Franklin Templeton in June 2022

Avinash Satwalekar, currently is the country head of Malaysia and will relocate to India as president - designate effective April 1, 2022.

Franklin Templeton Asset Management Company (AMC) on Thursday announced Avinash Satwalekar will take over as president of India business from Sanjay Sapre in June 2022.

Satwalekar, currently is the country head of Malaysia and will relocate to India as president – designate effective April 1, 2022. Sanjay Sapre, current president of the India business, will join Franklin Templeton’s digital strategy and wealth management division in July 2022.

A Franklin Templeton spokesperson said, “We would like to thank Sanjay for leading the India business with distinction over the last six years, including through the challenging period since April 2020, when the trustee announced the winding up of six fixed income funds. Since then, over 103 per cent of the aggregate reported assets under management (AUM) value across those 6 funds when the decision to wind up the funds was announced, has been distributed to investors so far.”

Sapre has been appointed as the president of Franklin Templeton Asset Management India effective August 1, 2016. From July 2011 to July 2016 he held various positions in the group, providing strategic leadership to the customer service and customer operations functions with an increasing scope of geographical coverage starting from India and expanding to include international operations and customer service for the Asia pacific region.

In his new role from July 2022, Sapre will be responsible for developing and leading the firm’s consumer-oriented capabilities globally, with a special emphasis on helping its distribution partners grow their digital propositions. He will continue to be based in India in his new role and will remain on the India AMC board.  

“As the incoming president, Avi (Avinash) will work closely with all stakeholders to build our India business and strengthen relationships with clients and distributors. Avi’s extensive experience in both investment management and business development makes him an ideal candidate to lead our India business which is well-positioned for growth,” said the fund house in the release.

Franklin Templeton India came under scanner after it decided to shut its 6 debt funds in April 2020 citing liquidity issues due to the Covid-19 outbreak. The move had hit over 300,000 investors and locked up over Rs 25,000 crore of investments.

This led to multiple legal cases against the fund house. Even the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) barred the fund house from launching any new debt schemes for two years.