Ajay Jaysinh Mariwala is the MD of Vallabhdas Kanji Limited Asia's largest processor of spice and spice ingredients, located Kerala, India. VKL is the flagship company of the USD 100 Million Kanji Moorarji Group, which includes Kancor Flavours and Extracts Ltd, and Autohangar (India) Pvt. Ltd.

Since 1993 Ajay has led the business and operations of VKL to a record Sixteen -fold growth from INR 140 Million to INR 2.50 Billion and expanded areas of business to include ground spices, sterilized spices, seasonings, private label and Flavours & Fragrance. He has also completed three rounds of Private Equity Investments in VKL & established three subsidiaries in USA, Germany and Vietnam which has earned VKL the largest spice exporter status.

Ajay holds a Master of Science Degree in Management Science from Sloan School of Management, MIT, Cambridge and a Bachelor of Science Degree in Chemical Engineering from Purdue University, West Lafayette.

Ajay Saraf is a graduate from Calcutta University and is also a qualified Chartered Accountant and Cost & Works Accountant. He has been working with ICICI Bank Limited since 2002 and holding the position of Senior General Manager.

Prior to joining ICICI Bank Limited, he was with American Express Bank for 10 years. He has a wide range of experience in Corporate Banking, Investment Banking and Treasury.

Anjani Sinha, is a strategist for National Spot Exchange Limited (NSEL), India?s first electronic spot trading platform, and Co-chairman of FICCI ? Agriculture Committee.

Mr. Sinha has over 24 years of experience with deep knowledge of commodity derivatives business and functioning of spot markets. His last stint was with the Ahmedabad Stock Exchange as executive director. Before that, he was associated with the Bombay Commodity Exchange Ltd. as its chief executive officer, during which period he was instrumental in launching futures trading in multiple commodities under the web-enabled screen-based trading system.

Mr. Sinha was also associated with the Interconnected Stock Exchange of India Ltd. (ISE), where he was responsible for expanding its trading terminals across the country. He was also part of the Magadh Stock Exchange as its chief general manager for a period of nine years.

Mr. Sinha, one of the directors on the MCX board, has been a key driver of the company?s business growth.

A chartered accountant and law graduate, Mr. Sinha also holds an MBA and a master?s degree in economics and commerce.

Mr. Sinha has written for a number of prominent financial dailies on topics related to his fields of specialization to spread awareness about commodity ecosystem. His analytical articles have been effective in sending positive vibes across the commodity ecosystem.

Anuj is Co?founder and Executive Director of Weather Risk Management Services Ltd. (WRL) He is a Chartered Accountant, Company Secretary and a member of the Global Association of Risk Professionals (GARP). Anuj has over 10 years of experience in project finance and risk management.

In WRL, he is responsible for structuring innovative weather risk management solutions for various sectors. Anuj heads a team of 6 agriculture risk management experts in WRL.

One of the risk management solutions he and his team have implemented successfully in three successive years is providing free weather insurance to farmers through reputed agri?input companies like Dupont, Pioneer Hybrid Seeds etc.

He has also conceptualized and implemented weather index insurance model around contract farming operations where a company shares the cost of insurance by incentivizing contracted farmers during procurement. Large Contract Farming Companies like Pepsico India and ITC Foods have provided
these services to their contract farmers.

His team has also structured very innovative livelihood index insurance solutions like cover small salt producers in Andhra Pradesh (through Care India) or covering Shellac Rearers in tribal Jharkhand (through PRADAN).

Ashok V. Motiani is the founder & Managing Director of Freshtrop Fruits Limited. Established in 1992, Freshtrop was one of the first private sector companies to foray into the business of exports of fresh produce. The company initiated a successful trial consignment by sea of Kesar Mangoes from South Gujarat to UK in association with Gujarat Agro Industries Corporation. Freshtrop is today the largest Indian exporter of Table Grapes and Pomegranates to the EU. Its post harvest handling facilities are located in Nasik, Sangli and Satara.

Under the leadership of Mr. Motiani, Freshtrop has established a well reputed client base spread across Europe. ASDA (a subsidiary of Wal-Mart) & Tesco in United Kingdom (UK), Delhaize in Belgium and Migros in Switzerland are among its other major customers.

Before founding Freshtrop Fruits Ltd., Mr. Motiani had established a business for manufacturing corrugated boxes in the name of Capital Packaging Pvt. Ltd. in Gujarat. Mr. Motiani received his education in Aeronautical Engineering from IIT Mumbai.

Balram Yadav is Managing Director of Godrej Agrovet, one of India?s foremost diversified agribusiness companies. He also serves as Managing Director of Godrej Tyson Foods and Vice Chairman of the Compound Livestock Feed Manufacturers Association of India. In addition, he is a Director of numerous firms including ACI Godrej (Bangladesh), Creamline Dairy Products, Polchem Hygiene Laboratories, and Aadhaar Retailing.  

Balram began his career with Godrej as Branch Executive at Khanna in 1991. During the last nineteen years, he has handled roles of increasing responsibility such as Deputy Sales Manager (Khanna), Factory Manager, Operations Manager and Deputy General Manager (Sachin). Balram was asked to lead the Integrated Poultry Business in 1999, and over the next nine years, established Real Good Chicken as the leading processed poultry brand in India.  

Balram completed his B.Sc. in Agronomy at Haryana Agricultural University, where he ranked 2nd in his class.  He earned his Post Graduate Diploma in Management from IIM-Ahmedabad. An avid footballer, he lives in Mumbai with his wife and two children.

Bhavesh A Shah is Managing Director - Investment Banking at JM Financial. He currently heads the Financial Sponsor Group. He has an experience of over 15 years in Investment Banking and is focussed on deal origination and execution across sectors. He has been associated,as the key deal maker, with some of the significant and marquee deals in the Private Equity and capital markets space.In 2006, he was with Morgan Stanley, Hong Kong, for a brief period covering the private equity investors on Asia Pacific basis.Prior to Investment Banking, he spent four years in Equity Research with JM Financial group and CERC. Bhavesh is a CFA charterholder from ICFAI, India,as well asfrom the CFA Institute, Virginia, USA.

 Deepak I. Shahdadpuri is the Founder and Managing Director of DSG Consumer Partner and Beacon India Private Equity Fund. Deepak has over 15 years of private equity and venture capital experience and is an active angel investor focusing on consumer businesses with a strong emphasis on food and beverage value chain. Before this, Deepak held senior roles at Gem India, Reuters VC, Bain & Company and Ernst & Young. Deepak is on the board of Baker's Circle, Impresario, Eazy Diner, Exito Gourmet, India Lends, Indostar Capital, Indian Home Gourmet, Mswipe, Saffronart, Saraf Foods, Sula Wines and Veeba Food. Deepak’s investment experience also includes RBL Bank, OYO Rooms, Cleartrip, Redmart, F&B Asia and Furtado’s School of Music.

Deepak serves on the board of Magic Bus, a non-profit organization helping develop underprivileged children through sports, and on the advisory board of Dawn Capital, a UK focused Venture Capital Fund. He has an MBA (Distinction) from INSEAD where he graduated on the Dean’s list, a LLB (Hons) from King's College London and a FCA from the Institute of Chartered Accountants of England & Wales.

@dishahdadpuri

Dev Lall is Managing Director & CEO of Bakers Circle (India) Pvt Ltd. The company specializes in reverse manufacturing and R&D that enables clients to reduce costs using the frozen route.

It currently serves 1200 outlets across the country with expansion plans in the Middle East and North Africa. Prior to founding Bakers Circle, Dev was with Hyatt International, New Delhi where he was in charge of pre-opening operations of Hyatt properties and was also overseeing operations of 8 points of sales at their different properties, service procedures, training and development of man power.Dev completed his Bsc. Institutional management & MBA in International Business from Johnson & Wales University, USA

Dhanraj has over 20 years of experience in financial services. He has extensive experience in dealing with banks and financial institutions in India and has successfully led several restructuring and turnaround assignments.

He is currently Partner, Specialist Advisory Services with Grant Thornton. He looks after transaction advisory which includes financial due diligence, valuation and end to end acquisition services.

He has carried out due diligence assignments across various industry sectors and has also done cross border due diligence, assisting his clients in cross border acquisitions.

Dinesh Shahra, a Chemical Engineer by profession and the Managing Director of Ruchi Soya Industries Ltd., has dared to dream Big, he staked the future of his Business on a Competitive, free market economic order and he has spearheaded the Soya Revolution to the recent position of India?s foremost Food Processing Company, one of the top 5 FMCG Businesses in the Country.

His innovative and analytical approach marks the emergence of market diversifications and developing brands through its varied food products. His ability to gauge the future trends and consumer requirements led to launching of variety of innovative Value added Soya products like Soya Flour, Soya chunks, Granules to cater to different strata of the society.

Under Mr. Shahra's Leadership, the company has consolidated its business under RSIL to have a distinct advantage in realizing his dreams and scaling newer heights.

He has been honoured with Globoil Man of the Decade Award, and has also bagged the prestigious, The American Express Corporate Award 2006 as the No- 1 Food Processing Company in India along with the Dun & Bradstreet Rolta Corporate Awards 2008 in the Food & Agro Processing sector.

Gaurav Mathur is the founder of InVent Capital, a private equity fund focused on control investments in the Indian consumer sector. Previously, he was a co-founder and managing director at India Equity Partners, where he led investments in financial services, consumer goods and the HR services sector.

Prior to that, he worked with JPMorgan’s private equity division and Deutsche Bank’s high yield capital markets group. He has served on the board of several Indian mid-market companies including well known consumer names such as Domino’s Pizza (Jubilant Foodworks), MTR Foods, Sumeru (Innovative Foods), Sagar Ratna Restaurants, Manappuram Finance and Sintex Industries. He holds an M.B.A. from the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad and a Bachelor in Economics (Honours) from Delhi University.

Gopal is the Founder Chairman & MD of TVS Capital Funds Limited, with the vision of supporting and nurturing India’s mid-cap businesses into world-class companies. It manages assets of over Rs 1,100 Cr, and which makes it amongst the largest domestically raised funds in India. He has been a strong advocate of participation of domestic capital pools in private equity and venture capital funds, and actively supports initiatives for that cause as a Vice Chairman of IVCA (Indian Private Equity & Venture Capital Association).

Gopal was the Chairman of Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) National Committee for Private Equity & Venture Capital for the fiscal year 2010-2011. He is also the Director in TVS & Sons Ltd, the holding company, and a member of the Board of several Group Companies.An entrepreneur at heart, Gopal is also actively involved in the promotion of entrepreneurship as an angel investor. He is a founding member of The Chennai Angels, and is closely associated 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, US.

@GopalSri

Hemant heads M&A Advisory practice at ICICI Bank.Hemant has over fifteen years of experience in the Investment Banking field with KPMG Corporate Finance and Lazard.

He has advised domestic and multi-national corporations on a variety of domestic and crossborder transactions and has also been involved in divestments, acquisitions, mergers, debt syndications and corporate and debt restructurings.

During his tenure, ICICI Bank catapulted to one of the leading players in the M&A advisory practice, with leadership position in mid-market space.

Hemant has an MMS degree from Jamnalal Bajaj Institute of Management Studies, Mumbai and is an engineering graduate from one of Mumbai's leading engineering colleges.

 Kanti Mohan Rustagi, a corporate Advocate and member of Institute of Company Secretaries of India has nearly twenty (20) years of professional experience.  Prior to founding Patanjali Associates, he was Senior Legal Counsel of Coca-Cola India and a member of the global legal function of The Coca-Cola Company, USA.

He has handled a number of critical assignments for Coca-Cola and amongst others, structure and executed the divestment of equity for Coca-Cola in India and carried out structuring, merger and de-merger of its bottling and concentrate division.

Mr. Rustagi has had speaking assignments at Asia Business Forum, Singapore and Fortress Intelligence, Singapore. Mr. Rustagi is also listed amongst ?Pool of Experts? from India by Embassy of Switzerland and has been a member of the Foreign Investment Committee and Taxation Committee of the PHD Chamber of Commerce in the past.

Mr. Rustagi is serving on the board of many companies and is extensively travelled.

With over 25 years of experience in the Agricultural Commodities and Processing Space, Kevin has been with Archer Daniels Midland Company for over 7 years. Prior to the current assignment Kevin has handled assignments within ADM as the General Manager at Europoort, Netherlands and oilseed processing facilities at locations across North America.

Kevin also has about 10 years of work experience with Saskatchewan Wheat Pool in Canada and UK and about 8 years of experience in the Grain and Farm Supplies business with Cargill Canada.

Kevin has a degree in Agricultural Economics from the University of Manitoba in Canada and enjoys golfing, squash, and biking as extra-curricular activities.

Nalin Kumar is the Managing Director and Head of Merger & Acquisition and Equity Capital and Advisory in India. Nalin has over 17 years of experience encompassing M&A, Debt, Equity Capital Markets and Banking.

Nalin started his banking career with HSBC in 1993. Thereafter he moved into investment banking with J.P. Morgan Chase. He had worked in New York, Singapore and Hong Kong offices of J.P. Morgan Chase initially supporting the Project, Structured Finance and Restructuring Groups in Asia, and subsequently as a key member of the Asian M&A effort working on several landmark transactions across industry verticals in key Asian markets.

He joined DSP Merrill Lynch in their Indian operation in the year 2001. Here he led important M&A and Capital Market transactions across sectors. Prior to Rabo India he was with JM Morgan Stanley, where he was working since 2005. At JM, he lead the Financial Sponsors Group and worked across sectors.

Nalin is a MBA from the Indian Institute of Management (IIM), Calcutta and holds a Bachelors degree in Chemical Engineering from Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Kharagpur.

Narendra Murkumbi is the Managing Director (CEO) of Shree Renuka Sugars Ltd. He trained as an Electronics Engineer and then completed his MBA from the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad in 1994.

He co-founded Shree Renuka Sugars Ltd. in 1998 and has grown it into a global, sugar and ethanol company with the largest sugar and ethanol production in India and substantial acquisition of mills and sugarcane plantations in Brazil.

A Qualified Marketing Professional with strong organizational skills, Pritam Shah has garnered over 15 years of invaluable experience in the dairy segment. Today Pritam shah MD of Parag Mailk Foods , spearheads the Entire Factory Logistics, supply chain, Marketing and Sales Operations for Gowardhan and GO cheese. All operations right from Milk procurement to timely dispatch come directly under his watchful eyes.

His ability to understand the pulse of the market and supplement the same by launching innovative and new products faster than competition has been his driving force.  Mr Pritam Shah's Mission To be better than the best in the dairy business.

Rahul is a Director at Argonaut Private Equity and heads India investments. Mr. Mehta is on the board of eYantra Inc and an observer on the board of Koutons Retail and VKL Spices. Rahul was previously a Principal at Blue River Capital, a $140 million India focused private equity fund.

A co-founder of the fund, Rahul sourced and executed transactions across a variety of sectors including financial services, manufacturing and logistics. He has also held positions at ChrysCapital, one of India?s largest independent private equity firms, Greenhill & Co in New York in its merchant banking and investment banking division and Merrill Lynch in New York in its investment banking division.

Mr. Mehta graduated Magna Cum Laude with a B.A. in Mathematics and Economics from Cornell University and holds an M.B.A. from MIT?s Sloan School of Management, U.S.A.

Rajesh Srivastava is the Chairman & Managing Director of Rabo Equity Advisors, managing 2 Rabobank sponsored private equity funds of US$120mln and US$150mln, both focused on food and agribusiness. The new Fund has Rabobank, CDC Group, UK; Asian Development Bank; Generali Insurance, Italy; FMO, The Netherlands; Proparco, France; IFU, Denmark as its investors. He has so far closed 12 investments, all in different sub-sectors.

Before setting up the private equity business, he was Managing Director (Corporate & Commercial Banking) of Rabobank India. Concurrently, he was Regional Head, Asia for food and agribusiness for over 5 years based in Singapore. In Rabobank, he is credited with setting up several new products such as Strategic Advisory, Renewable Energy, Carbon Credits and Micro Finance. Before Rabobank, he was with Lazard Brothers’ Venture Capital arm where he set up the largest VC Fund of the time for SMEs. Starting his career with Bank of Baroda, he has over 36 years of experience in corporate and investment banking.

Rajesh is regarded as a pioneer in establishing a private equity market for food and agribusiness sector and for advocacy on policies on agriculture/food processing. Amongst others, he sits on the CII National Committees on Agriculture, Food Processing and Innovation, Chairs CII Northern Regional Committee on Agriculture and Food Processing, and the Board of Sasakawa India Leprosy Foundation.

He is an Economics and Law graduate and a post graduate in Western History.

Mr. Rajiv Sabharwal is the Executive Director on the board of ICICI Bank. He is responsible for Retail Banking, Business Banking, Rural Banking & Financial Inclusion Business. He is also a director on the board of ICICI Prudential Life Insurance Company Limited and the Non-executive Chairman of ICICI Home Finance Company Limited.

Mr. Sabharwal has done his Mechanical Engineering from Indian Institute of Technology Delhi and MBA from Indian Institute of Management Lucknow.

He has over 22 years of experience in the Banking/Financial Services industry. He joined ICICI Group in 1998 and has held leadership positions in credit policy, debt management, business analytics, mortgage finance, consumer loans, credit cards, rural and microfinance lending and financial inclusion. His contribution in the growth of mortgage and retail business is widely acknowledged in the industry circles and within ICICI Group. He also has considerable knowledge relating to the securities and portfolio management business segments as he has been on the investment advisory committee of ICICI Prudential Asset Management Company's Real Estate PMS since 2007.

Prior to joining ICICI Group Mr. Sabharwal has worked in the Consumer Durables Marketing, Commercial Finance and Retail Finance businesses at Godrej, SRF Finance and GE Capital respectively. In January 2009 he joined Sequoia Capital, a leading venture/growth capital company and worked as Operating Partner focusing on the financial services sector. There he led new investment decisions as well as represented Sequoia at the board in existing investments.

He then rejoined ICICI Bank Limited from April 2010.

Sai Ramakrishna Karuturi is the Founder and Managing Director of Karuturi Global Ltd. Under his dynamic leadership, Karuturi Global has become the world's largest producer of cut-roses by identifying Kenya & Ethiopia as a hub for cultivation and export of roses.

Mr. Ram Karuturi is widely regarded as the pioneer of cut flower revolution in the World. Mr. Ram Karuturi was instrumental in acquiring 3,11,000 Ha of land in Ethiopia for strategic foray into Agriculture production.

Mr. Ram Karuturi has been nominated as the Top 20 CEOs from Africa by the Initiative for Global Development (IGD) for commitment towards poverty reduction in Africa.

Sai Ramakrishna Karuturi holds a Bachelor's degree (Rank Holder) in Mechanical Engineering from Bangalore University and an MBA (Dean's Honor) from Case Western Reserve University, Ohio.

S. Venkatraman is a Partner & Head of Mumbai office with Rabo Equity Advisors, the Investment Advisor to India Agri Business Fund 1 and 2. This is the first private equity fund in Asia dedicated to the Food & Agribusiness sector. At Rabo Equity, Venkat is the senior member of the investment team, involved in deal ideation, origination, evaluation, investment, execution and portfolio management.

Venkat has a B.Tech from Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay and an MBA from Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore.

Venkat has over 22 years of work experience which comprises
Six  years with Rabo Equity Advisors Pvt. Ltd
Eight and half years with Rabo India Finance Ltd (100% subsidiary of Rabobank International), where he headed the Food & Agribusiness Research and Advisory team (FAR).
7 years in the consumer marketing space, spread across Johnson & Johnson and Marico Ltd, both based in Mumbai (India). 1 year with Essar Steel in the Project Management team

Venkat has a sound understanding of the sector dynamics across food and agribusiness sectors (F&A). He has authored publications in all these sectors. He has also spoken at various industry forums and showcased his sector knowledge. He has also advised various domestic and international corporates on entry strategy, market study and implementation assistance in the F&A space.

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.

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.

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.

A trained commerce professional, Mr Karwa has been the Managing Director of KSL for the last 14 years. He has led the company with the vision of ensuring that KSL emerges as the largest technology driven agro-input company in India. Under his leadership KSL has emerged amongst India?s top five hybrid seeds companies with operations spanning the country.

His strategic industry insight has enabled KSL emerge from being a seed trading company to a pioneering research & development organisation. His visionary leadership ensured the company made a long-term investment by hiring from a talent pool of scientists and agriculture experts, who were bound to universities during the 1990s, to create a R&D team that has delivered rich dividends.

He envisaged the significant need for Integrated Plant Nutrient Management & Biotechnology in agriculture which led to the formation of M/s Subhash Fertilizer Private Limited (SFPL) in 2000 followed by a separate biotechnology division in 2004.

Mr. Karwa firmly believes that infrastructure demands need to be taken care of before building a strong enterprise. Hence, KSL has incorporated cutting edge; computerized facilities, initiated an autonomous IT Server and engaged a technology savvy workforce efficient in handling SAP.

Vijay Kumar Arora is the Chairman and Managing Director of LT Foods Ltd (formerly known as LT Overseas Ltd). He joined LT Overseas in 1978 after completing his Graduation. He has also attended the management development program conducted by the Administrative Staff College, Hyderabad. He has been the promoter director of the company since its inception. His key responsibilities include international marketing, strategic planning, finance and business development.

Mr. V.K Arora is the Vice President of the All India Rice Exporters Association. He was also the co-chairman of Agro Processing Committee constituted by Punjab Haryana Delhi Chambers of Commerce and Industry (PHDCCI). He is also a member of the "Task Force on Food Grain Sector" constituted by the Ministry of Food Processing.