Mr. Ram Kaundinya
Director General (DG), Federation Of Seed Industry Of India (FSII)
Mr Kaundinya is an author, strategic management consultant, speaker and a policy analyst in India. He has 36 years of operating experience in agriinput industry, the last assignment being the Managing Director and CEO of Advanta Ltd . He is an Independent Director with Syngenta India. Thought leader in seed and biotech industry. An advisor and consultant now,he works closely with agrientrepreneurship development programs and funds. Management Graduate from IIMA. He has a wide experience in the area of policy advocacy for agricultural input industry and worked closely with the Ministry of Agriculture, GoI. MAIZE Independent Steering Committee of the CGIAR Institution CYMMIT. He serves on the Expert Review Committee of Access to Seeds Foundation,Netherlands.
Has been involved with academics for the last 30 years. Frequent guest lecturer IIMA. NIAM , MANAGE , MYRA School of Business and NAARM for Agri Input Marketing and business Strategy subjects.
He has co-authored a book titled ‘Agri Input Marketing in India’ with Prof Venugopal of XLRI. This is a reference book for students and industry practitioners. He has been at the forefront of the expansion of biotechnology applications in agriculture in India. Served as a member of the MS Swaminathan Task Force for Biotechnology policy in 2004.
Currently he is on the boards of Axis Finance. AgriRain Industries (irrigation services startup) and Vasudhaika Software Solutions, Fertis India ( in biological agri inputs business ) and NICR. He co-founded ThinkAg, a Not-for-profit organization to promote innovation and entrepreneurship in food and agri sectors. In 2019 he was appointed a member of the committee set up by the Principal Scientific Advisor to the Prime Minister of India to suggest strategies for “Agricultural policies for sustainable Agriculture”.
Currently, he is Director General (DG)of Federation of Seed Industry of India (FSII).
Mr. Emmanuel Murray
Agri Micro Finance NBFC Industry Expert
Mr. Emmanuel Murray is an Advisor at Caspian Impact Investment, Advisor for FPO and Agri Startup Evangelist with 36 years of rich and varied experience in Agriculture, rural credit and micro finance, including five years as head of operations of an Impact-focused NBFC with a portfolio of over INR 6 billion. He is additional director for NABKISAN FINANCE LIMITED. He has special interest in working with small and emerging institutions and projects with unstructured businesses. He is alumni of Institute of Rural Management, Anand, Gujrat (IRMA). Published over 150 papers & reports.
Dr. A. L. Pharande
Former Dean (F / A ) & Director of Instruction, MPKV, MH
Dr A.L. Pharande has wide experience working as Chief Scientist and Associate Director of Research, GoI. He implemented and executed 12 National Technical Projects in Agriculture.
In the capacity of Dean & Director of Instruction, responsible for monitoring, evaluation and execution of educational activities in 10 Constituent and 63 Affiliated UG and PG Colleges and 86 Agril. Technology Schools. He worked as State Level Co-ordinator for revision of B. Sc. (Hons) Agriculture syllabus. Further he played an important role in implementation of revised syllabus of different degree programmes related to Agriculture, Horticulture, Food Science and Technology. As a Technical and Administrative Head of the prestigious World Bank aided project on Centre of Advanced Agriculture Science and Technology “Climate Smart Agriculture and Water Management” amounting to Rs. 20 Crores supported by ICAR-NAHEP, New Delhi. As Chairman, DICC implemented state level comprehensive educational policy decisions. He played significant role in seeking professional degree status to Agri Business Management by making deliberation at ICAR and State Government level.
Mr. Dilip Sangat
Former Assistant Commisioner, FDA, Pune, MH
Mr Dilip Sangat, Former Assistant Commissioner (Food), Food and Drug Administration. Government of Maharashtra. He has More than 32 years of experience in the Food and Drug Administration M.S.
During the service. he Implemented Food Safety and Standard ACT 2006 and Regulations 2011, He also Implemented Prevention of Food Adulteration Act- 1954
Mr.Yash Jain
Enterpreneur in Residence
Yash brings over 5 years of expertise in the space industry, harnessing satellite data for decision intelligence in sectors including agriculture, banking, insurance, and energy. As a skilled software engineer and former solutions architect in the BFSI space, he has a variety of experience in developing infrastructure to support and deploy business solutions. Currently he is focusing on developing innovative risk management solutions for multinational corporations, with a specialisation in climate change-related risks.
J V Ratnam
COO, Lab2Land Agritech Solutions
Offering 24+ years’ experience in managing & driving Business Development, strategy formulation & execution, designing new business, setting up new platforms, M&A, Sales & Marketing Management. Matured to managing P&L and balance sheet of the company with proven record of managing all functions of the business predominately for the growing agriculture sector/rural markets.
Proven record of orchestrating business establishment in highly competitive markets through creative, aggressive and tactically designed business strategies and marketing concepts.
Listed among the top 25 most talented rural marketing professionals of India .
Started his Career with Dow AgriSciences Pvt.Ltd ,Bioseed Vietnam Ltd./DCM Shriram Ltd and Advanta India Ltd.
Worked as the Vice President Sales & Marketing ,Premier Irrigation Adritec (PIAL), a pioneer in premium micro irrigation systems in India. Worked as Head – Domestic Formulation CPC business leading both Sales & Marketing in Coromandel international Pvt.Ltd.Worked as CEO – Leading all the verticals of the business including domestic, international and institutional business. Delivering a business of 300 Cr INR with predominant business in the domestic business in ANU Products, Delhi. Worked as Head – AGCON & CWIG business in NCML.
His core competencies include P&L management.
Sales & business development.
GTM strategies and implementation.
Mergers & Acquisition.
Business Development.
Strategic Planning & Implementation.
New Market & Opportunity Identification.
Promotion & Product Launch.
Channel Management & Development.
Industry & Market Analysis – Local & Global.
Dr.Gopal Shinde
Principal Investigator NAHEP-DFSRDA-ICAR
B.E. (Production Engg), M.Tech. (Mechanical Engg.) IIT, M.B.A. (Mktg) Ph.D. (Mechanical Engg.) Professor (Dept. of Farm Michanery and Power Engineering) Vasantrao Naik Marathwada Krishi Vidyapeeth, Parbhani
Currently working as a Principal Investigator NAHEP-DFSRDA-ICAR
Thus associated with World Blank and Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) adjunct Projects on Agricultural Robots, Drones and AGVs. Project Cost is 18Cr. Experience in nurturing the competitive strength by developing the experimental,computational research activities with the aim and objectives to educate the Mechanical, Production, Manufacturing and Agricultural engineering students for their employment and also to meet the Socio- Economic benefits of Farmers and Society with Worldwide acceptance.
Mr.Praveen Rao Velchala
Former Vice Chancellor, PJTSAU, Hyderabad
Prof. Velchala Praveen Rao, as founding Vice Chancellor of Professor Jayashankar Telangana State Agricultural University (PJTSAU), Hyderabad, Telangana and International Microirrigation Consultant made valuable contributions in the field of agriculture and water management. He was instrumental in shaping the Telangana State farm policies and action programmes and his contributions in the field of microirrigation, fertigation and crop water modelling are globally recognized. Initiatives such as AgHub Innovation Centre, seed village concept combined with seed melas, internalizing value chain approach in to the University action research agenda, decentralized value addition and technology support to farmers on market-led production, transformed the farming to agribusiness mode benefiting the farmers & students. Under Prof. Rao’s dynamic supervision, University developed and released 54 high yielding varieties & hybrids in major food and industrial crops, forged Collaborations and Partnerships with reputed international institutions in USA, Australia, Germany, Israel, Philippines etc., and started 12 New Agricultural Institutions for enhancing the outreach of education and research benefits to stakeholders in newly formed state. Prof. Rao’s exemplary leadership enabled University to reach new heights, finding a place among top six Agricultural Universities of India, received “Institute of Excellence Award in 2019” and “13 Best Performance Awards”. Prof. Rao received several national/international awards and recognitions, including the – Academic Leadership Award (2020), 7th MS Swaminathan Award (2017–19), Best Leader with a Strategic Vision Award (2019), Best Vice Chancellor Award (2018), Education Leadership Award (2018), Life Time Achievement Award from Rythu Nestam and Soil and Water Conservation Society of India (2015 and 2018) for implementation of world’s largest microirrigation project in smallholder fields, NetAward from Netafim, Israel (2006), Leadership Award (2005), Meritorious Teacher Award, ANGRAU (1998), MASHAV Fellowship, Israel (1995). Prof. Rao served as Member of Governing Board, ICAR; President, Indian Society of Agronomy (2020 – 2022); Secretary General (2021 – 2022), Indian Agricultural Universities Association, New Delhi; Member, BoM of Several Universities; Chairman of ICAR Accreditation Boards; Member, NEP 2020 on Higher Agricultural Education; and Regional Advisory Boards, NABARD. He was also conferred with Fellowship of several Professional Science Societies. As an International Consultant on Microirrigation handled developmental projects in more than 20 countries of South Asia, Southeast Asia, Middle-East and Africa, developed a dedicated website (www.sugarcanecrops.com) for sugarcane growers and digital agroknowledge material for over 47 drip irrigated crops. Prof. Rao is also an International Active Member of several Prestigious Professional Bodies viz., American Society of Agronomy, Crop Science Society of America, Soil Science Society of America, International Society of Horticultural Science, Asian PGPR Society of Sustainable Agriculture; and a Life Member of several National Professional Bodies. Prof. Rao has co-authored over 380 publications (refereed national & international journal articles, books, book chapters, technical bulletins, extension articles, poplar articles, proceedings, reports, digital media etc.). Currently he is guiding implementation of projects on emerging (4IR) technologies in collaboration with Agri-StartUps on Blockchain technology, Agrovoltaic crop models; AI, IoT, Sensors, RS & GIS & Drone applications combined with drip irrigation and fertigation in agri-horticultural crops, to enhance crop input use efficiency, productivity, profitability, and sustainability of large and small-scale production systems.
Dr.M.S Reddy
Founder & Chairman, Asian PGPR Society for Sustainable Agriculture Auburn, AL,USA
Dr. Reddy is a Professor in the Department of Entomology & Plant Pathology, Auburn University, USA. Earned a Ph. D. in Integrated Pest Management with speciality in Biological Control and PGPR from the Department of Biological Sciences, Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada. Completed Post Doctoral training in the Department of Botany at the University of Toronto, Canada. Worked as a Scientist, Senior Scientist and R & D Global Manager for several industries such as ExxonMobil (Esso – Imperial Oil), Agrium, Cominco fertilizers, Allelix Inc. etc. in Canada for over 15 years and its current position since 1998. Established a multi-disciplinary, nationally and internationally recognized, comprehensive research in the area of biological control of soil-borne diseases, IPM, biofertilizers & biofungicides (PGPR), induced systemic resistance, organic agriculture, development of safer environmentally-friendly agricultural products for sustainable agriculture with reduction of pesticide use and poverty alleviation around the world for over 40 years. Developed several commercial biofertilizers and biofungicides for sustainable agriculture with national and international collorative efforts. Authored and co-authored over 350 peer reviewed research papers in high impact journals and several book chapters, refereed research and extension articles, proceedings, bulletins, popular press reports, electronic media and others. Panelist on several granting agency review boards, Chief Editor, Editor, Associate Editor and Reviewer of research papers for several national and international journals. Developed and managed grants in partnership with national and international research and development organizations that have reached over several millions of dollars. Research efforts have been recognized widely and invited to several countries around the globe for presentations and research collaborations. Since 1987, participated in sucessfully organizing International PGPR Workshops includes Orillia, Ontario, Canada in 1987; Interlaken, Switzerland in 1990; Adelaide, Australia in 1994; Sapporo, Japan in 1997; Cordoba, Argentina in 2000; Kerala, India in 2003; Noordwijkerhout, The Netherlands 2006; Portland, USA in 2009; Medellin, Colombia in 2012; and Liege, Belgium in 2015. In 2009, established a non-profit Asian PGPR Society of Sustainable Agriculture with likely-minded group of scientific friends and registered the society in India and later in USA to enable scientists, researchers, academicians, government groups, students, farmers, and industry personnel etc. from various agricultural disciplines to meet every two years in different Asian Countries and discuss their common interests in teaching, research and commercialization of PGPR’s. Asian PGPR Society has more than 1500 registered life members from around the globe and is growing every day.
Participated as a Chair of workshops of the scientific programs and an organizer of numerous symposia and workshops at international conferences. Trained several M.Sc. and Ph. D. graduates, post-doctorates and visiting scientists at national and international levels. Received prestigious awards from USA, Canada, Saudi Arabia, China, South Korea, India etc. Successful Businessperson, Investor & Entrepreneur of www.auburnventures.com, Auburn, Alabama, USA. Consultant for several national and international educational, industrial, governemntal and non-govermental funding agencies.
