ENGINEERING LEGACY MEETS SMART CAPITAL

Built on trust, shared values, and quiet ambition, Ace Designers and Kotak Alternate Asset Managers are reimagining how India builds, innovates, and competes globally.

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In an age where big numbers and flash headlines often dominate conversations about industry and investment, some of the most profound partnerships begin not with fanfare—but with shared purpose.

Such is the story of Ace Designers Limited, a Bengaluru-based CNC machine tool company built over 45 years with quiet consistency, and Kotak Alternate Asset Managers, a forward-looking investment firm backing India’s real economy with deep conviction. Together, they are scripting a new chapter for India’s manufacturing journey—one that’s high on integrity, ambition, and a clear-eyed sense of what it takes to scale.

A JOURNEY THAT BEGAN WITH A DRAWING BOARD

“We were design people first,” says Shrinivas G. Shirgurkar, founder and director of Ace Designers Limited. “But soon, we realised that if we really wanted to make a difference, we'd have to build machines of our own. No collaborations. Just belief in ourselves.”

What began in 1979 as a modest design-led company has now evolved into India’s largest manufacturer of CNC machine tools. The company’s reach spans thousands of machines across sectors, and its group structure—comprising Ace Designers, Ace Manufacturing Systems, and Micromatic Machine Tools—was purpose-built to scale. Yet as growth ambitions expanded, so did the need for consolidation and long-term investment.

“We have always been conservative in how we have run things,” Shirgurkar explains. “But at some point, we knew that to become globally relevant, we had to bring everything together under one roof—and bring in the right kind of capital to support that.”

BRINGING THE PIECES TOGETHER