Tarun Bhatia

Tarun Bhatia is a regional managing director and co-head of Asia Pacific in the Investigations, Diligence and Compliance practice at Kroll, the global risk and financial advisory firm, based in Mumbai, India. Under his leadership in the region, Kroll has been named the Corporate INTL Global Awards 2026 “Business Intelligence Advisory Firm of the Year in India”.

Leading business intelligence and diligence in Asia Pacific

Tarun Bhatia co-heads Kroll's Investigations, Diligence and Compliance practice across Asia Pacific, drawing on more than twenty years evaluating, measuring and monitoring risk across corporate India, South Asia, Southeast Asia and Oceania. Business intelligence advisory sits at the heart of this work: helping clients understand who they are dealing with, uncover hidden risks, and make investment, transactional and compliance decisions on the basis of reliable, independently gathered information.

His areas of expertise include domestic and cross-border mergers and acquisitions, investment and partnership advisory; investigations relating to white-collar crime and financial fraud, with a focus on whistleblower cases, anti-money-laundering (AML) remediation and insolvency matters; asset tracing and litigation support; non-performing asset (NPA) recovery; and forensic investigations for banks and financial institutions. He also advises on environmental, social and governance (ESG) and corporate social responsibility partner assessments, reflecting the growing importance of integrity and reputational due diligence in investment decisions.

Depth of experience

Tarun Bhatia's track record includes leading a very large number of due diligence engagements across sectors, and directing complex forensic and asset-tracing work. His experience extends to major AML remediation for one of the largest private-sector banks in Bangladesh and to substantial multi-jurisdictional investigations, underlining the scale and cross-border nature of the risk and intelligence work he oversees. This combination of investigative depth and financial sophistication is what enables clients to act with confidence in markets where information can be difficult to obtain and verify.

Before joining Kroll, he was a senior director at CRISIL, a Standard & Poor's company, where he played a role in the organisation's growth into a global analytical business and managed a large offshore team supporting international operations. Earlier in his career he worked in the Financial Engineering Group at SBI Capital Markets, structuring complex financial instruments. That grounding in ratings, analytics and structured finance complements the investigative and compliance dimension of his current work.

Education

Tarun Bhatia holds a Master of Management Studies from the Jamnalal Bajaj Institute of Management Studies, University of Mumbai, and a Bachelor of Commerce, also from the University of Mumbai.

Business intelligence advisory in India

India's rapid economic growth, its active deal market and its increasingly stringent regulatory and anti-fraud environment have made business intelligence and investigative due diligence essential tools for investors, lenders and corporates. Cross-border transactions, complex ownership structures and the risk of fraud or misconduct mean that decision-makers need independent, thorough intelligence to protect their interests. Firms that combine local knowledge with global reach – and that can move from pre-transaction diligence to full-scale investigation and asset tracing when problems emerge – are especially valuable in this market. Kroll's investigations, diligence and compliance practice, co-led in the region by Tarun Bhatia, is built precisely for this role.

Compliance in a demanding regulatory environment

The compliance dimension of Tarun Bhatia's practice has grown steadily in importance as India and its neighbours have strengthened their anti-money-laundering, anti-fraud and corporate governance regimes. Businesses, banks and investors face rising expectations to know their counterparties, screen partners and vendors, and respond effectively when whistleblower allegations or suspected fraud emerge. His work on AML remediation, whistleblower investigations and integrity due diligence helps clients meet these expectations and protect themselves from financial and reputational harm. Coupled with his forensic and asset-tracing capability, it allows Kroll to support clients both proactively, before problems arise, and reactively, when they must investigate and recover. This full-spectrum capability is a hallmark of the business intelligence advisory practice he co-leads in the region.

The Corporate INTL Global Awards 2026 “Business Intelligence Advisory Firm of the Year in India” recognises Kroll and Tarun Bhatia for their leadership in business intelligence, investigations and diligence, and for the depth of risk expertise they bring to clients operating in and around the Indian market.