Executive Search
Business critical roles around and one layer below the CEO: functional heads, business unit heads, P&L owners, plant and general managers.
- Research driven market mapping
- Passive candidate approach
- Structured competency assessment
X
Mumbai & London · Retained
executive search since 2013
The leaders you actually want are not applying for jobs.
ASTC is a founder-led executive search firm in Mumbai. We map an entire market, approach the leaders who aren't looking, and present a shortlist of four you'd be glad to meet for C-level recruitment, leadership hiring and business-critical roles across India and EMEA.
13 sectorsIndia & EMEA coverage
Founder ledOn every single mandate
RetainedConfidential by default
ASTC in figures
- 13+Years, since 2013
- 13Sectors covered
- 300+Searches closed
- 98%Mandate closure rate
- 4Weeks to shortlist
- 7Yrs avg. tenure of placed leaders
The short answer
What is an executive search firm?
An executive search firm is retained by a company to find, assess and recruit senior leaders for business critical roles usually CXO, C-suite and functional head positions. Rather than advertising a role and reviewing applicants, executive search companies research the entire relevant market and approach high-performing executives who are not looking for a job.
You hire one when a role is too consequential to fill from whoever happens to be available: a first CFO, a successor to a founder, a plant head for a greenfield site, or a replacement that has to happen before the market finds out.
- Access to passive leaders who never see a job posting
- A researched view of who exists in your market, and at what cost
- Assessment against competence, behaviour and cultural fit not a CV read
- Confidentiality, when a sitting incumbent doesn't yet know
Practices
01
02
03
Three ways companies engage us.
Leadership Hiring
Building a layer, not filling a seat: category teams, regional leadership, succession benches and multi-role hiring programmes.
- Multi-role programmes
- Team and bench design
- Cultural and leadership fit
C-Level Recruitment
CEO, CFO, COO, CHRO and CIO mandates for boards, promoter led groups and investor backed businesses usually confidential.
- Off market, discreet approach
- Board and promoter alignment
- Offer and onboarding support
| Practice | Typical roles | Reports to | How it runs |
|---|---|---|---|
| Executive Search | Functional heads, business unit heads, P&L owners, plant heads | CEO or CXO | Retained, one mandate at a time |
| Leadership Hiring | Senior management layer, category and regional leaders, succession bench | Function head or BU head | Retained, often a multi-role programme |
| C-Level Recruitment | CEO, CFO, COO, CHRO, CIO, board and promoter-office roles | Board, promoter or investor | Retained, confidential, often off-market |
Anatomy of one search
What a single CXO mandate looks like from the inside.
Most executive search companies show you the placement. This is the work behind it: the market we map, the leaders we approach in confidence, and the very small number who reach your table.
Around 100 relevant leaders exist in a typical Indian CXO market. Four of them will meet you.
Market mapped
Approached in confidence
Assessed in depth
Shortlist presented
Offer accepted
Representative shape of a completed CXO search. Volumes vary by sector and geography.
Sectors
Thirteen sectors.
Sector knowledge is not a list on a website it is knowing who ran that plant before, why the last CMO left, and which three people could actually do the job.
Chemicals
Agro Chemicals
Industrial & Manufacturing
Consumer FMCG & FMCD
Auto & Auto Components
Pharma & Healthcare
Real Estate
Retail
E-commerce & Digital
Consumer Technology
Energy
Logistics
Engineering & Projects
The people you'll work with
Meet our team
Founder-led means the founders do the search. No mandate is signed by a partner and handed to an associate Dinesh and Dushyant Arya are personally involved on every assignment.
Dinesh Arya
Founder & Director · MumbaiIIT Bombay engineer who ran manufacturing businesses for decades before recruiting leaders for them. Handles sales, marketing, manufacturing and general management mandates.
Dushyant Arya
Founder & Director · Mumbai22 years across executive search, talent acquisition and business development. Owns search strategy, market mapping and the confidential approach to passive leaders.
Carl Bretherton
Partner — EMEA · London30 years in executive search, including a FTSE 250 business and one of the world's five largest global search firms. Leads mandates across Europe, the Middle East and Africa.
Case studies
Mandates we can talk about.
Completed searches, described with the client's permission what the brief actually was, and what we changed about it.
Media coverage
Our work, and our thinking, in the press.
Published commentary on how leadership hiring is changing in Indian industry the frameworks we use and the failures we have studied.
Blogs
Practical guidance on hiring leadership.
Written by the people who run the searches, not by a content agency. Specific, and occasionally uncomfortable.
6 · Evaluation criteria
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4 · Distinct services
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10 · Strategies
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2026-04-22Read →Client references
ASTC took the time to truly understand our organization, culture and business, and helped define a profile that was right not just for our current stage, but for the several-fold growth we are targeting.
ASTC helped set up the Pidilite category team between 2015 and 2020 five category heads. They have delivered every time I have put them to the test.
ASTC was instrumental in building senior sales leadership for the 200-acre Charoli World City, Pune, from scratch.
Why ASTC
Why companies choose us over larger executive search companies.
- Founders on every mandate. The people who pitch are the people who search.
- Large Firm Resources. Boutique Style Client Services. Our mentality is simple. We find what our clients are looking for. Period! With the resources of a large firm and the agility of a boutique firm, we are the ideal fit for your next search project.
- Sector depth over sector breadth. Thirteen industries we know, and honesty about the ones we don't.
- Passive-first sourcing. Most leaders we place were not in the market when we called.
- Confidentiality as standard. Off-market searches, sensitive replacements, promoter transitions.
- India and EMEA under one engagement. Mumbai and London teams, one point of contact.
- Relationships measured in years. Our longest client partnership is in its twelfth year.
FAQ
Questions companies ask before appointing a search firm
What is an executive search firm?
An executive search firm is retained by a company to research a market, approach senior leaders directly and recruit them into business-critical roles such as CEO, CFO, CXO, business head or plant head. Unlike a recruitment agency, which works from applicants and job boards on a contingency basis, an executive search firm is paid to run a defined search and reaches passive executives who are not looking to move.
Which are the top executive search firms in Mumbai, and how does ASTC compare?
Mumbai has a mix of global search firms, large Indian recruitment companies and boutique practices. ASTC Services is a boutique, founder-led firm: both founders work personally on every mandate, we take a limited number of searches at a time, and we concentrate on thirteen sectors rather than claiming to cover all of them. That suits companies who want senior attention on a single business-critical role, and suits large-volume hiring less well.
Which industries does ASTC Services recruit for?
Thirteen sectors: chemicals, agro chemicals, industrial and manufacturing, consumer (FMCG and FMCD), auto and auto components, pharma and healthcare, real estate, retail, e-commerce and digital, consumer technology, energy, logistics, and engineering and projects. We decline mandates outside these sectors.
Which leadership roles do you recruit for?
CEO, CFO, COO, CTO, CIO and CHRO appointments; business unit and regional heads with P&L ownership; functional leaders across sales, marketing, operations, supply chain, HR and finance; general managers and plant heads; and category or vertical leaders, particularly in consumer, chemicals, auto and retail.
How long does an executive search take in India?
A first shortlist typically reaches the client about four weeks after briefing. Most CXO searches complet offer accepted within eight to fourteen weeks. CEO and CFO mandates commonly run twelve to twenty weeks because of board alignment and notice periods.
Do you handle confidential C-level recruitment?
Yes. A significant share of our C-level mandates are confidential, including replacements where the incumbent is still in post. The client's name is withheld in the market until the client releases it, no role is advertised, and references are taken at offer stage with the candidate's written consent.
Where does ASTC Services operate?
Our head office is in Andheri (East), Mumbai. We run mandates across Mumbai, Pune, Delhi NCR, Bengaluru, Chennai, Hyderabad, Ahmedabad and India's industrial belts, and our EMEA practice operates from London covering Europe, the Middle East and Africa.
How is an executive search firm paid?
ASTC works on a retained basis. The fee is agreed per mandate before work begins and is staged across the search rather than charged only on placement, which is what allows full research effort from day one.
How do we get started?
Send the role, reporting line and business context to dushyant.arya@astcservices.com or call +91 96195 15919. The first conversation is a 30 minute market discussion covering talent pools, realistic compensation and likely timeline, with no obligation.
Start here
Tell us the role. We'll tell you honestly whether we're the right firm for it.
A first conversation takes about 30 minutes and costs nothing. You'll leave with a view of the market for that role the talent pools, a realistic compensation band, and how long the search should take whether or not you appoint us.
- 01
You send the role
The title, the reporting line and why the seat is open. Two paragraphs is enough to start.
- 02
We come back within a day
With a first read on the market: who exists, what they cost, how long it should take.
- 03
You decide
No proposal deck, no pursuit calls. If we're not the right firm for this one, we'll say so.