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.
About the firm
Two leaders who got tired of bad hires.
AST Consultancy Services Pvt. Ltd. was founded in Mumbai in 2013 by Dinesh
Arya and Dushyant Arya. They bring more than 70 years of leadership and search experience
and executive search, and they still personally run every mandate the firm accepts.
Our headhunting methodology is predicated on the belief that finding top executive talent is both a science and an art. Using modern day technology and intuition, we look for functional, behavioural and cultural fit as needed at different organisations. We also understand that there is no substitute for hard work, thoroughness, and a keen assessment of character.
Since 2013Twelve years, one focus
Founder-ledNo handovers, ever
Mumbai & LondonIndia and EMEA mandates
Position
What kind of firm this is.
ASTC Services is a boutique, founder-led retained executive search firm headquartered in Andheri (East), Mumbai, with an EMEA practice in London. We take a limited number of mandates at a time, concentrated in thirteen sectors, and are engaged by Indian corporates, promoter-led groups, private companies and multinationals for C-level recruitment and senior leadership hiring across India and the EMEA region.
The firm exists because both founders spent their operating careers watching capable businesses stall behind one wrong appointment. Dinesh ran manufacturing operations. Dushyant sold into them. Neither started in recruitment, and it shows in how searches are run: the brief is interrogated before the search begins, and profiles are argued about on operating merit rather than keyword match.
We are not trying to become a large firm. Scale in search usually means the person you met is not the person doing the work.
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
How we work
Four commitments we make at the start of every mandate.
- We will tell you if the brief is wrong. If the compensation, title or location won't attract the profile you've described, you hear it in week one, not week nine.
- We map before we call. No candidate is approached until the market picture is complete, so you know what exists not just who answered.
- We don't re-recruit our own placements. Anyone we place is off-limits for as long as we work with you.
- One shortlist, defended. Four candidates, each with a written case for and against, rather than a stack of CVs to filter yourself.
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.
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.
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.
FAQ
About the firm
When was ASTC Services founded, and by whom?
ASTC Services (AST Consultancy Services Pvt. Ltd.) was founded in Mumbai in 2013 by Dinesh Arya and Dushyant Arya. Dinesh Arya is an IIT Bombay engineering graduate with a manufacturing leadership background; Dushyant Arya leads search strategy and research. Carl Bretherton leads the EMEA practice from London.
Where is ASTC Services located?
The head office is at Radha Chambers, Level 3, Telli Park Lane, Andheri (East), Mumbai 400 069, India. The EMEA office is at 26 York Street, London W1U 6PZ, United Kingdom.
Is ASTC Services a recruitment agency or an executive search firm?
An executive search firm, working on retainer. We are engaged for a defined senior mandate, research the whole relevant market and approach leaders directly, rather than working from applications on a contingency basis.
How many consultants work on a search?
Both founders are involved in every mandate, supported by dedicated research. We deliberately limit the number of live searches so that the people who take the brief are the people who run the search.
What makes ASTC different from larger executive search companies?
Scale in search usually means the person you met is not the person doing the work. Our constraint is deliberate: fewer live mandates, founder involvement throughout, and thirteen sectors we know well rather than a claim to cover everything.
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.