VCCircle

Amith Agarwal is the Executive Director – Strategy, Finance & HR and one of the founder members of the company.

An entrepreneur who constituted a warehouse company with a 3000 tonnage scientific warehousing/storage capacity in Alwar, Rajasthan, Mr. Agarwal brings the right blend of managerial and business acumen.

With his experience of working in both the rural and corporate worlds, Mr. Agarwal facilitates StarAgri’s vision of integrated development of the rural ecosystem. A well rounded professional, he is responsible for developing StarAgri into a national brand by raising awareness, ensuring a trusted brand experience and creating value amongst the various stakeholders.

He is also responsible for managing corporate tie-ups, legal and financial matters and business development activities at StarAgri.

Deepak I. Shahdadpuri is the Founder and Managing Director of BCP Advisors, advisors to the Beacon India Private Equity Fund ($320M under management including co-investment pool).  Prior to that he was Managing Director at private equity fund GEM India Advisors, and worked with Reuters Venture Capital and Bain & Company. Deepak is a FCA (ICAEW) and qualified as a UK Chartered Accountant with Ernst & Young.   Deepak currently serves on the board of Baker's Circle, Bhayana Builders, Impresario, Indostar Capital Finance, Sula Wines, Saffronart, Vatika and Trak.  Deepak also serves on the Advisory Board of Dawn Capital, a UK focused VC Fund. Deepak has an MBA with distinction from INSEAD (Dean's List) and an LLB (Hons) from King's College London.

Girish Nadkarni is Partner at IDFC Private Equity. He has around two decades of experience in M&As, buyouts business strategy, setting up and management of new businesses, Corporate finance, Treasury & financing.   During his previous stint, Mr. Nadkarni was Executive Vice President (Finance & Legal) and Chief Financial Officer of Rallis India Ltd, a flagship Tata Group Company in Agri Space. He was spearheading Finance, Legal, Strategy and M&As, Procurement and information Technology functions and was member of Executive Committee of the Company. In his earlier assignment, as Vice President - Finance for Tata Chemicals he played a key role in buyout of General Chemicals, having natural soda ash mines in Wyoming, for USD 1 Billion.

Prior to this, he was Vice President at Tata Industries Limited, a Tata Group holding Company, responsible for setting up and management of new businesses for the Tata Group. He was involved in acquisition of VSNL, Hughes Telecom, Escotel Mobile, NOCL Refinery, Rallis, Metahelix and divestments of Tata’s stake in Idea, Tata Honeywell, Tata Telecom, ITPL (Ascendes). Mr. Nadkarni brings in around two decades of extensive experience in various businesses such as Telecommunication, Power, Refinery, Fertilizers, Soda Ash, Agri-Chemicals, Seeds, BPO, CRO, Auto Components, Real Estate, Interactive Learning, Bio-Pharma & Alternate Medicine and Credit Card business.  He has spearheaded over a dozen large size M&A transactions and raised significant global financing through various innovative instruments.   He has served on the Boards and Chaired Audit Committees of various Tata companies.

Mr. Nadkarni is a Bachelor of Commerce & Economics, a rank holder Chartered Accountant and a Cost & Management Accountant.  He is a Fulbright Scholar, USA and completed development programs at Wharton Business School (UPENN) and Tepper’s Business School (CMU).

Sanjay Sacheti is the Country Head since the year 2003 for Olam's Indian business which comprises of supply chain management of various agri commodities like Cashew, Coffee, Cotton, Rice, Sugar etc. He has been with Olam since the year 2000, and has experience of around 22 years in the areas of Finance, Commercial and agri commodity management.

He is a Chartered Accountant and a Company Secretary, and has prior experience of working with corporates like Hindustan Unilever, AgroTech Foods and the Tata Group.

Rajesh Aggarwal, Managing Director., Insecticides India Ltd, is a commerce graduate. He possesses a Diploma in Marketing. In 1993 he joined his family's business as Marketing Incharge. Combining this work experience with utilizing state-of-the-art technologies, he took the additional responsibility of production and allied fields.

A born entrepreneur, upon graduation from Delhi University, Mr. Bhalla opted to forego studies at a business school and set up his own business venture in 1994—a corporate gifting company. He has always been a pioneer in every business he has started. In 2000 he started one of India’s first KPO company focusing on the healthcare vertical for the US, which has now grown to over a 1000 employees globally.

In 2007 he completed the “Owners Management Program” and “Launching New Ventures” management programs from Harvard Business School.
When he thought of entering into the fast growing food-and-beverage industry, he thought of introducing something for the young, health conscious urban Indians and create a brand that is not only associated with health and wellness, but is also a socially and environmentally responsible brand.
Keeping the extreme hot weather in mind, he thought of this cold treat as a viable business option that offered guilt-free indulgence and launched Cocoberry, India’s first frozen yogurt chain. The first store was opened at the posh South Delhi locality of Defense Colony in 2009. There also were a lot of innovations and transformations along the way. Today with its outlets across the NCR, Mumbai, Jaipur, Chandigarh, Pune, Ahmedabad & Goa, Cocoberry is a national brand in less than a span of 2 years with over 30 outlets. Cocoberry will also be opening in international markets very soon.

Cocoberry has received several awards and recognitions in the two short years since it started including “ Top 100 Brands That Rocked India in 2010”(4P magazine), “Top 100 Retailers 2011”(Retailer magazine), “ Most Innovative Concept”(HT City), “ Best Frozen Dessert” (HT City), “Top Rated Frozen Yogurt” (Burrp) to name just a handful.

Mr. Bhalla has also received a number of awards and recognitions such as “Top Young Turk 2010” by CNBC India and has been profiled and featured numerous times in print and TV such as “CNBC”, “India Today”, “WSJ Mint”, “Outlook Business”, “Economic Times”, “Zee Business”, “ Inc.”, “ET Now” and many more.

Sanjeev Mantri is Sr General Manager, with ICICI Bank Ltd., the largest private bank in India and a leader in SME banking services. Sanjeev drives SME & Agri Corporate lending portfolio across the country, in addition to SME Private Equity and M& A advisory services for the Bank. Under his leadership, SME & Agri business of the bank has shown significant growth.

He joined ICICI Bank Ltd in 2003 to take charge of the Corporate Linked SME lending portfolio and has been responsible for introducing various innovative products to service the needs of this segment.

Prior to joining ICICI he has spent over 7 years with BNP Paribas, Mumbai handling diverse responsibilities in Corporate Banking space.

Sanjeev is a qualified Chartered Accountant and Cost Accountant. Often quoted in the Indian media, he is a regular speaker in many national and international forums for SME Banking.

K. Vijayaraghavan, an eminent technology management professional has over 20 years of experience in facilitating technology transfer between industry and academia. He is also an active member of International Federation of Technology Transfer Organizations (IFFTO). Vijay is a Certified Management Consultant (CMC) and a Fellow of the International Council of Management Consulting Institutes (ICMCI). He holds a Masters and Fellowship in public accounting and management consulting, with focus on strategic and technology management consulting. He is the Chief Executive of Sathguru Management Consultants Pvt Ltd, a large consulting firm based in Hyderabad, India. Sathguru advises government organizations, multilateral and bilateral development institutions, private enterprises and NGOs in several countries across the Asian region. Vijay is engaged in shaping number of policy initiatives in life sciences for India and is a member of selected national committees constituted for this purpose. Sathguru is an Associate of the program Cornell-in-India. Vijay is co-directing Cornells program in India, which extends to several other countries in Asia. He is Regional Coordinator for ABSPII South Asian activities (in India and Bangladesh).

Sonal has rich experience of 18 years across Investment Banking, Consulting and Private Equity Investing. Prior to joining SMC Sonal has worked with Macquarie Capital Advisors (India), Yes Bank and Rabo Bank at leadership positions. Sonal has worked extensively with well known Indian business houses and Government of India at Central and State Levels, and advised them on agri and food strategy.

Sonal is a graduate in Economics from Delhi University and holds a post graduation degree from IIM, Kolkata.

Pranav Jhawar young and dynamic businessman, he did his Graduation in Industrial Engineering and Business Management from United States of America. In Last 8 years, as a director of the group in the areas of Warehousing of commodities & Logistic, Agricultural Equipment Manufacturing and Automotive Engineering Industry by his knowledge and ability he made the group technically more advanced. During initial years of his business journey under guidance of his Grandfather Late Shri Jai Narayan Jhawar and Father Shri Anil Jhawar he has given new heights to the business. In 2009, Mr. Jhawar corporatizes the whole business and given a dynamic look.

Mr. Jhawar is Executive Director in M/s JICS Logistic Limited a leading warehousing and logistics solution provider in India with a capacity of 3.5 Lac MT of warehousing capacity equipped with owned Laboratories and professional staff. In 2011 by inviting an institutional investor (ILFS) to the group Mr. Jhawar has set a mark in the warehousing industry for all the solutions under the single umbrella. Now under guidance of Mr. Jhawar, JICS become a Brand in the industry and now coming with a owned capacity of 4.5 Lac MT capacity on PAN India Level.

Mr. Jhawar is also director in M/s Indra Marshal Power Private Limited a leading and 45 year old company in sector of Agricultural Engineering in Indore, Indra Marshal is a all India level Brand with dealer network of 350 dealers and PAN India presence. Now under directions of Mr.Jhawar Indra Marshal is entering into sector of manufacturing of Power Generating Sets, Power Tillers, Rotary Tillers and Lightweight Commercial Vehicles.

Sanjeev Asthana, Founder and Director of I-Farm Venture Advisors, is engaged in building up the strategic advisory practice for Indian SMEs and international companies in the food, agriculture, retail, supply chains and rural markets. Mr Asthana has held roles as President and Chief Executive, Agribusiness & Food Supply, Reliance Retail, Director Cargill India (Board of Directors) Country Head, ITC Global Holdings in Indonesia and Romania and Head Food & Agribusiness, Britannia Industries. His Board directorships include Ruchi Soya Industries, Ruchi Infrastructure NCDEX Spot Exchange. Mr Asthana’s trade associations include the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce & Industry, National Agriculture Committee, National Food Processing Committee and Task Force on Public-Private Partnership in Agriculture Extension.

A Hard Core Leader with 30 years of experience in the Government as a part of Civil Services, in Public Sector Undertakings and Private Sector.  Responsible for providing strategic leadership and management direction to support the functioning of the organization.  Have had wide experience covering General Administration, Project Planning and Implementation, Disaster Management, HR Management, Petroleum and Food Grain Sectors, Vigilance, Intelligence, Investigations, Multi-model Logistics, Banking etc. while working in the Government.  

Tenure in the Private Sector has encompassed Creation of Agri Business Hubs, setting up of largest Cool Chain for fruits and vegetables in India right from the conceptual planning to the operationalization, covering the whole gamut of activities like mapping of the operational areas, man-power development, market studies, development of R & D protocols, SOPs, Planning & Construction of physical infrastructure.

Another key highlight has been the establishment of a Commercial Farming Project in Ethiopia from ground ‘Zero’.  The Project involves production of field crops for the first time in a new area, and their value-addition through processing.

Aditya (24) joined Bagrry’s in 2011 and currently leads the Marketing & Strategy function for the organisation. Previously, he has been a part of the international organisation AIESEC where he led the corporate team in Delhi and has also worked with Goldman Sachs in the UK. He looks into Strategy, Corporate Finance, and New Business Development for Bagrry’s. Aditya is a Statistics Graduate from Hindu College, Delhi University and received an MSc. In Management from the London School of Economics (LSE), where he graduated with Distinction.

Mr. Thakurta is a President at Resurgent India Limited and heads the Consumer and Retail verticals. He has combined 11 years of experience in Investment Banking, Private Equity and Management Consulting – having worked with Francisco Partners, McKinsey & Co, A.T. Kearney and Arthur Andersen in his earlier stints.

Mr. Thakurta assisted several leading companies in Retail, F&B, TMT and Consumer Products across India, EMEA and Americas.  In India he has been associated with several F&B companies in formulating their growth strategies, M&A and capital raise. Earlier in his career he assisted nodal state agri agencies in development of contract farming framework to incentivize shift from existing paddy-wheat monoculture.

Mr. Thakurta started his career in ITC Agri Business. He is a rank-holder Chartered Accountant and an MBA from XLRI Jamshedpur.

Mr. Sandeep, an MBA from Delhi is a managing partner with Sohan Lal since 1996 and has played a key role in shaping the affairs of the company.

His knowledge about commodities is widely recognised. He was a member of the executive committee on Warehouse Development and Regulation Act (WDRA). He is also member of the FICCI committee which was appointed by Government of India to study the United States of America’s warehousing model.  

Sandeep has been conferred with Certification on US Warehouse Receipt System from the Norman Borlaug Institute for International Agriculture and the Texas a & M University

His views on agricultural commodities are frequently referred to in The Economic Times, CNBC Awaz, Business Standard and other leading news channels.

Mr. Aditya Bafna is a management graduate with over 9 years of experience in the field of Commodities business. Belonging to the promoter family, he is involved in day-to-day business activities of SSLL. He also serves as a director on the board of NABARD Consultancy Services (NABCONS), a wholly owned subsidiary of National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD).

A commerce graduate and a fellow member of Institute of C.A. (FCA), having more than 25 years post qualification experience in various fields. Finance, project management and Business administration. Mr. Chaturvedi was also awarded doctorate degree by governor of Uttar Pradesh, his H.E. Shri B.L. Joshi for his thesis titled as “Rationale & Prospect for second green revolution”.

A recognized Agri leader known for crafting the requisite strategic vision to achieve business goals, offers a unique blend of successful deliverer of growth, innovative financial and marketing skills. As a director Mr. Vinod Kumar Chaturvedi has built a responsive organization that consistently delivers results by aligning business goals, improvement in the quality, standardization and performance. With a reputation for judicious use of resources, Mr. Chaturvedi’ work has been commendable in agriculture sector.

Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Skymet Weather Services Pvt. Ltd. (erstwhile Skymet), pioneers in private sector initiative in weather forecasting and information services in India.

The company had modest beginnings in 2003 as providers of weather information and infographics to television and print media. Today, the company has ushered in weather solutions for sectors as varied as energy (distribution and renewable), shipping, agriculture (advisories and remote sensing based crop yield, acreage and health estimation), and risk (agriculture and energy) in India following its humble beginnings serving the media industry.

Skymet envisions accurate weather forecasts available to the common man, empower the Indian farmer to plan farm activities weather wise and support Indian industry to take informed risks in the short and long term wherever weather affects it.

Skymet has started an India centric weather website www.indianweatherforecast.comavailable in English, Hindi and Marathi. Plans of launching it in many more Indian languages as well as going global are on anvil.

Jatin is an alumnus of Kirori Mal College, University of Delhi, where his commentary on the political situation in Southeast Asia were published and widely acclaimed, and has a Master’s Degree in International Relations and International Communication from Boston University. He has worked with Associated Press, Aajtak and Headlines Today as a producer.

Shri S.K.Roongta is an MBA (Marketing) from Birla Institute of Technology & Science (BITS), Pillani.  He has got rich experience of having worked both in private sector as well as public sector companies during the last 38 years. Before joining National Seeds Corporation (NSC) as its Chairman cum Managing Director on Ist April, 2009, he had worked with two other PSUs viz. NationalTextile Corporation and Cotton Corporation of India for about 33 years. During his tenure, the turnover of NSC has more than doubled during the last three years.  Under his stewardship,  NSC was elevated from Schedule ‘C’ to Schedule ‘B’ and awarded the Mini Ratna Category-I status by the Department of Public Enterprises and Ministry of Agriculture, Government of India during the year 2010-11.  NSC was also given SCOPE Award for Excellence and Outstanding contribution to the Public Sector Management-Institutional-III for the year 2009-10 by the Hon’ble Prime Minister of India on 31.01.2012. Shri Roongta is also on the Board of Directors of seven State Seed Corporations.

Gopal is the Chairman & MD of TVS Capital Funds Limited, that has launched an India focused growth private equity fund. The vision is to develop and nurture India’s mid-cap businesses into world class companies. The fund will make investments in companies that are at the intersection of high growth consumer consumption driven opportunities and a developmental theme, such as organizing the unorganized/inefficient sectors. The fund will target to source proprietary investment opportunities, and be a strategic partner to the entrepreneur and the enterprise to help expand businesses beyond their existing roots, professionalize their operations and enhance their management team.

Gopal, a member of the TVS family, is the founder and Chairman of TVS Electronics Limited, and is a Director in TVS & Sons Ltd, the holding company and several group companies. Gopal was also a Board member in Great Lakes Institute of Management.

Gopal was the Chairman of the “Confederation of Indian Industry (CII)” Tamil Nadu State Council for the fiscal year ‘07-‘08. He was also the Chairman of CII National Committee for Private Equity & Venture Capital for the fiscal year ’10-‘11. He has also served on various leadership roles in several business associations.

Gopal has incubated over eight businesses, and has over twenty five years of operational experience in India, along with a wide network of relationships across the world.

A passionate entrepreneur, he is also actively involved in the promotion of Entrepreneurship as an angel investor. He is associated with Chennai Angels as well as TiE (The Indus Entrepreneurs) where he provides guidance to the budding entrepreneurs on incubating businesses.

Gopal earned a B.Com from Loyola College, Chennai and an MBA from University of Michigan, USA.

Abinash Verma is the Director General of Indian Sugar Mills Association (ISMA), an apex body of private and public sectors sugar mills in India, which looks after sugar industry interests. Mr Verma undertook post graduate studies in Economics from Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi. A bureaucrat with the Indian Government from 1989 to 2010, he was deeply involved in sugarcane, sugar and ethanol policy making for five years before joining ISMA. Mr Verma is the alternate Chief Executive of the Indian Sugar Exim Corporation, an organization jointly sponsored by ISMA and the National Federation of Cooperative Sugar Factories Ltd. which is also responsible for import and export of sugar to and from the country.

Mr Gumber has been involved with agri / food sector for the last eight years, which includes planning and strategy, setting up the projects, packaging of goods, distribution and marketing. The focus has been to set up chain and to brand and market the products in India and in overseas markets. Besides doing this I have successfully explored the funding options such as bank loans and equity capital for the company, I have done work on the company’s investor and press relations, and made investor presentations in India and abroad.

Presently working also on the board with 3 other food and non food companies, rendering advise on financial, sales and marketing and HR matters.

Prior to the above, worked in financial sector for over 20 years, including 10 years with UTI group. Also worked in Project finance, Portfolio management, Investment banking and Capital markets.

Possess MBA (Finance) degree. B.Sc (hons.) and LL.B from Delhi University, CAIIB, AIA from Chartered Institute of Bankers,(UK) and PG Diploma in Corp. Laws. Besides qualification, attended seminars, conferences, training courses. Also participated in discussions on various management topics in India and abroad. Lectured as guest in management schools.

GV started his career with his family promoted Tinna Group of companies in 1993.

GV is 39 years old and promoter of M/s Tinna Group. In 2009, GV was instrumental in formation of the joint venture with M/s Viterra Inc., of Canada in 2009. Viterra is one of the largest Agri businesses in the World.  Prior to this venture, GV was actively involved in the groups trading business dealing in procurement of various dry bulk commodities like Rice, Wheat, SBM and sugar. In 1998, GV played a key role in identifying ADM as a partner and actively participated in formation and promotion of the joint venture with M/s Archer Daniels Midland (ADM). Until 2009, he oversaw running of all business verticals, including cargo handling operations, oil seed processing, branding and marketing of edible oils and marketing of  oil ingredients for the joint venture.  Since 2009, GV is heading Tinna Viterra operations in India as its Managing Director. Based in Delhi, he works closely with Viterra in building Viterra's business in India.

GV is served as a trustee of Visakhapatman Port Trust Board during 2002-2010 and headed various council's in The Solvent Extractors Association. GV is also a member of the Delhi chapter of Young President's Organization.