Currently working as the Head of Agri Business with Mangalore Chemicals & Fertilizers Ltd (MCF Ltd), UB Group, based at Bangalore city in India. MCF Ltd is a unit of multi Billion UB group with the well known "King Fisher" brand and one of the largest fertilizer producing and distribution organisation in India. MCF is distributing the fertilizers and buy back the produce like fruits, vegetables and staples from the farmers. These products are procured, stored value added and distributed to the Retail chains, Processors, Institutions, Government organisations, Wholesalers, Commission agents in the markets etc.

Current responsibilities

Integrate and co-ordinate entire Commercial, Administrative, Operational and Supply Chain activities of the Business, providing a basis for motivation and team work to move it along the planned path to the desired goals.

Responsible for conceiving, developing and managing the Fresh Business and achieving the targeted sales & profitability and to build & lead a team of professionals.

Sales & Market development and Front end Commercial operations

• Strategic Business planning for the business growth and account profitability
• Bring in Strategic alliance, Joint ventures, Buyouts, New Business models etc
• Organise discussion, negotiation and finalise the MOUs TOTs etc with business conglomerates
• Preparing business plan, Sale forecasting, Setting sale targets and implementation
• Sales & promotion planning and implementation
• Setting strategy to deliver the planed/targeted margin
• Develop the pricing strategy
• Develop range and merchandising plans to maximize sales and profits
• Private labelling and Brand building
• Demand study & consumer expectation / forecasting
• Fund flow forecasting and budgeting
• Benchmarking, MIS and daily pricing
• Inventory and Dump Management
• Periodic monitoring and providing the direction and guidance to the team

Buying and Merchandising
• Develop merchandise management strategy
• Establish and evaluate the procurement channels
• Procurement & merchandising of the right products and service
• Vendor development and relationship management
• Maintaining vendor certification program by establishing standards, conducting site
visits, monitoring compliance
• Price / Quality / Supply negotiations
• Negotiating trading terms, pricing and new product listing, with a category focus
• Reviewing supplier performance and profitability
• Overseeing category wise merchandising and managing the team

Establish farmer and vendor network, custom growing and collection centres

• Develop sourcing and procurement strategy for the organisation
• Establishing the entire supply chain – Production and contract farming - collection centres - warehouses
– pack house - distribution to retail stores – sales and customer relationship
• Identifying the sourcing belts
• Organising farmer meets and monitoring
• Establishing Custom growing
• Production / Procurement planning

Nov 2008 to April 2010 with Home Store India Ltd, Delhi, Wadhawan group, as Head Agri Business - reporting to CEO
(Home Stores India Limited, (HSIL) a part of Wadhawan Food Retail (P) Limited, is one of the fastest growing retailer in India with presence in Food & Grocery and Home Décor & Furnishing Segment. The group is operating retail chain in Mumbai, Calcutta (Spinach), Bangalore (Smart retail), Delhi ( Sabka Bazaar) and has more than 200 retail out lets.)

Responsibilities with Home store India Ltd

Sales & Market development

•Strategic Business planning for category growth and account profitability
•Preparing business plan, Sale forecasting, Setting sale targets and implementation
•Sales & promotion planning and implementation
•Setting strategy to deliver the planed/targeted margin
•Develop the pricing strategy
•Develop range and merchandising plans to maximize sales and profits
•Private labelling and Brand building
•Demand study & consumer expectation / forecasting
•Planogram, merchandising mix, display and up keep of retail stores
•Fund flow forecasting and budgeting
•Benchmarking, MIS and daily pricing
•Inventory and dump management
•Monitoring and managing a 500 plus sales and operation team

Buying and Merchandising
•Develop merchandise management strategy
•Establish and evaluate the procurement channels
•Procurement & merchandising of the right products and service
•Vendor development and relationship management
•Maintaining vendor certification program by establishing standards, conducting site
visits, monitoring compliance
•Price / Quality / Supply negotiations
•Negotiating trading terms, pricing and new product listing, with a category focus
•Reviewing supplier performance and profitability
•Overseeing category wise merchandising and managing the team

Establish farmer and vendor network, custom growing and collection centres

• Develop sourcing and procurement strategy for the organisation
• Establishing the entire supply chain – Production and contract farming - collection centres - warehouses
– pack house - distribution to retail stores – sales and customer relationship
• Identifying the agri sourcing belts
• Establishing Custom growing
• Production / Procurement planning

Feb ‘08 to Nov ’08 with Era Agri Tech India Pvt. Ltd as VP operations – reporting to the MD
(Era Infra Engineering Limited (EIEL), the flagship company of Era group, ranks as one of the fastest growing companies in India with a turn over of more than 2000 Crores in *****. Era group is in Retail & Whole sale Business, Infrastructure Development, Real Estate, Pre engineered Buildings, Hospitality, Entertainment and Power)

• Driving complete front end & back end operations and leading the company’s participation in the Govt. of India’s initiative of developing Modern Terminal Market, setting up of Whole Sale (Cash & Carry) and Retail Stores, Mega Food Processing Parks, Rural Agri Business Centers (RABC), Sub Urban Retailing, state of the art supply chain “farm to the fork” cold chain & temperature controlled warehousing facilities.
• Guided the organisation to achieve:
 Qualified status for the Modern Terminal Market at Patna, a Rs. 150 Crores project in Joint venture with the Bihar Government.
 An award of 10 RABCs (Rural Agri Business Centres) worth Rs. 80 Crores from Ministry o*****, Bihar Built, Own and Operate (BOO) basis for handling Staples and fruit & vegetables
• Finalised strategic alliance with National Agricultural Co-operative Marketing Federation of India Ltd (NAFED) and National Co-operative Consumer’s Federation of India Ltd. (NCCF). Subsequently finalised an MOU with these organisations.

Jun’06 to Jan’08 with Heritage Foods (India) Ltd., Hyderabad as Head - Agri Business – reporting to the president
(An organisation promoted and guided by Sri. Chandrababu Naidu, former Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh. Heritage Group have business divisions viz., Dairy, Retail, Agribusiness etc. under its flagship Company Heritage Foods (India) Limited (HFIL) with an annual turnover of more than Rs.700 crores during *****.)

• Managed pan India operations of Retail Business of Food and FMCG products with a key focus on Agri products (staples, fruit & vegetables) for the Rs. 1200 Crores venture, with over 75 retail outlets (fresh @ stores) in India. Responsible for Top and Bottom line of the business (P&L) through effective planning, Sales & market development, Strategic Buying & Merchandising, farmer networking & custom growing, setting sales target, merchandising plans, promotions, private labelling & brand building, aggressive store rollout plans etc.
• Played an active role in implementing retail model “fresh @” stores in a record time of six months, end to end right from the stage of conceptualisation. Handled a sale turn over of 200 plus crores. Established popularity of the outlets across the country for superlative quality, range and value for money and was highly appreciated by the industry.
• Successfully designed and introduced one of the best private label brand “Farmer’s Pride” in staples through the retail stores. Handled and marketed more than ***** MT of staples and other per annum.
• Set up entire supply chain from the scratch, from the stage of contract farming & vendor development, set up of collection centers, pack houses, distribution centers till promotion through retail stores.
• Handled a team of 1000 plus employees in multi locations.
• Instrumental in developing pack houses for:
 Cleaning, grading, packing, storage and distribution of fruit and vegetables, over a built up area of more than ***** sq.mtr. with cold storages, ripening chambers, pre coolers, grading, washing & sorting lines etc. in different strategic locations in the country, with all necessary related infrastructure.
 Sorting, grading and repacking of staples (Rice & other cereals, pulses, spices, dry fruits, sugar, different flours, etc.) in different parts of the country as per the business plan, along with distribution centres.
• Formulated business plan for promoting agri products from scratch. Achieved retail contribution of more than60% of agri and food products with gross margin of 28% for staples and 27% for F&V.
• Implemented a judicious merchandise mix, planogram, MBQs and achieved 95% fill rates in staples and 90% fill rate in fruit & vegetables on a daily basis.
• Instrumental in reducing:
 Dump & shrinkage percentage of highly perishable agri products in the retail stores to below 12% and distribution centre to below 2%.
 Distribution centre expenses to less than 4% of the sale.

Apr’03 to May’06 with “Safal Market”, Mother Dairy Foods Processing Ltd., Bangalore as Head-Market Development – reporting to the CEO
(A unit of National Dairy Development Board (NDDB) one of the most reputed organization in India. The company markets an array of fresh and frozen fruit and vegetable products under the brand name SAFAL through a chain of more than 300 owned Fruit and Vegetable shops and more than 20,000 retail outlets in various parts of the country)

• Distinction of serving as one of the founder members of the prestigious “Safal Market” project at Bangalore, and oversaw entire sales & market development activities and operations of “Safal Daily Fresh” stores. Responsible for a sale turn over of 150 crores per annum
• Made strategic alliance and marketing tie up with institutions like Metro Cash &carry, Reliance, Food world and made franchise arrangement with Jain school of Management studies.
• Instrumental in setting up Transparent electronic Auction system first of its kind in India.
• Established Cash & Carry (B2B) and retail stores (Safal Daily Fresh stores), a new concept for the first time in India. Handled more than 1000 hawkers, 200 + institutions on a daily basis along with other customers
• Conceptualised and implemented business plan for franchise network for Safal Daily Fresh stores.
• Promoted the organisation from 4 MT to 400 MT per day sale and 4 customers to 600 whole sale registered customers
• Handled and marketed more than 1.2 lakhs MT of fruits and vegetables per annum through auction, whole sale, C&C stores, retail net work and institutional customers.
• Regular monitoring of the sales team on targeted sales, payment collection in time, credit management, fund flow, promotions, margins etc
• Established market linkage with all the major markets and Institutions in India.
• Distinction of introducing standard banana ripening process through ripening chambers and subsequently marketed 50MT of banana every day.
• Ensured economical utilization of ***** MT cold store space to generate substantial contribution to the revenue.
• Responsible for the PR activities, advertisement ,presentation to the guests and customers for Brand building and concept selling.

Apr’98 to Apr’03 with Avan Agro-Tech P Ltd., Bangalore as General Manager – Reporting to the MD
(A unit of Agro Biochem (I) pvt ltd, Promoted by a high-profile investor Mr. Ramesh vengal who steered PepsiCo and Seagram into India. And the company is dealing with natural pigments, contract faming & distribution of fruits, vegetables, flowers and other agri products)

• Governed overall operations of the organisation, encompassing production, procurement & marketing of vegetables, Exotic vegetables, Herbes, flowers and fruits.
• Contract Farming & Seed Production of marigold flowers for the pigment extraction
• Managed an R&D team for the selection of high yielding varieties (high pigment) marigold flowers and propagation through tissue culture, hybridisation of the selected varieties in climate controlled greenhouses, production of hybrid seeds etc
• Produced seeds from the selected clones for ***** acres every year
• Produced and marketed herbs and aromatic plants like Rosemary, Thyme, Basel, chives, Dill leaves, Oregano, Celery, Parsley, Lemon Grass etc and exotic vegetables like Broccoli, lettuces, leeks, coloured capsicums, red cabbage, asparagus, Chinese cabbage, Cherry Tomato etc
• Instrumental in increasing revenue from mango farm three times higher than existing arrangements within a year by standardizing farm management practices, introducing plant protection schedule, improved harvesting and ripening technology, as well as attractive packing and direct marketing.
• Submitting quotations, price negotiations, order finalisations etc with institutions like Taj group of hotel chains, Leela Group of hotels, ITC Group of hotels all over India and retail chain like Niligiris, Food world, Sunday to Manday etc
• Export of Mangoes, flowers, fruits and vegetables and maintained the customer relations with the international clients.
• Import of exotic fruits like Washington apple, dates, melons, kiwi fruits etc.
• Transformed the organisation as one of the major suppliers for Fruits & Vegetables to all major star hotels and other whole sale and retail institutions in India.
• Achieved success in bringing the purchase prices of Exotic vegetables down to 50% to 60% less through planned growing, cutting wastages, proper packing, better transportation and storage.

Jan’95 to Apr’98 with SKPL, Nagpur as General Manager – reporting to the MD
(An agri-based company in Maharashtra, dealing in traditional seed business, modern farming & cultivation, Bio -technology etc.)

• Governed production, marketing, administration and functional operations of the company to achieve overall profitability of the business.
• Established the entire biotechnology division and produced and marketed 2 million tissue culture plants per annum
• Steered the unit to be awarded financial assistance and four years sale tax exemption (under the scheme of integrated development of arid zone) by the Director of Horticulture. This is the only unit in Maharashtra, which has been selected for this award in 1997.
• Liaised with authorities of National Chemical Laboratory (NCL), Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, Government of India, Pune for inspection and evaluation of the facilities, systems, procedures and protocols, and obtain subsequent approval and technical and marketing support to the unit. This is the only unit in India, which has an approval of this kind from NCL.


Jun’90 to Jan’95 with A.V. Thomas & Co. Ltd., Kochi as the lab In charge
(AVT group is a multi-faceted plantation company, engaged in diverse business interests such as agricultural commodities, retail, commodity exports, natural pigments, logistics biotechnology etc and a US$ 150 million entity, provides employment to over 11,000 people across the country)

• Joined as Junior Executive-Production (Trainee) and grew to become the Lab In-charge, Biotechnology division in Sep’92.
• Responsible for overall operations of the division comprising of more than 200 employees in Kerala unit.

• During tenure as Lab In-charge (*****), led the Biotechnology division to export more than seven million plants. For this, the unit has got the prestigious award of “Largest Exporter of Tissue culture plants” from the Government of India in 1994.
• Managed the international clients on order finalisation, price negotiations, delivery schedule finalisation, quality specifications etc.
• Signed MOU with institutions like Spices Board, Agriculture Universities etc for production and multiplication of selected clones of cardamom, Vanilla, Banana etc.
• Made Tie up with “Vanitha” Malayalam magazine and organised ‘AVT-Vanitha Orchids Clubs’ all over kerala and marketed imported Orchids from Singapore and Thailand.
• Handled and marketed products like Tea, Cardamom, Coffee, Vanilla, vegetables, Banana, Orchids Anthurium and other ornamental plants and flowers.
• Received appreciation letter from the company in 1994 for successfully completing the Vanilla project.
• Felicitated with Performance award (equivalent to 30 times of normal increment) by the management in recognition of exemplary performance during *****.
• Received Excellent Performance Award from the Chief Executive of the company in 1991 while serving the training period.

• M.Sc. (Botany) from Maharajas College, Kochi (Mahatma Gandhi University, Cochin, Kerala state, India) in 1987 (Secured 1st class with 61%).
• B.Sc. (Botany, Zoology and Chemistry) from Sacred Heart College, Kochi, Kerala state, India in 1984 (Secured 1st class with 73% marks. Stood 1st in college in Botany).

• Attended classes on Total Quality Management (TQM), Problem-solving procedure and Quality circles organized by Essae Chandran Institute, Bangalore in 1993.
• Attended classes on Productivity, organized by Kerala State Productivity Council in 1992.
• Completed a two-year certificate course for the trade Mechanical Refrigeration and Air-conditioning, which is coming under National Council for Training in Vocational Trades, Ministry of Labor, Government of India in 1981.

• Visited Holland, Germany, Switzerland, Italy and experienced the different aspects of the agribusiness like climate controlled production, sorting grading and packing facilities, centralised marketing systems, electronic auction systems, retail networking, material handling and packing, storage and distribution etc
• Handled the international clients from Holland, US, Singapore etc for delivery of TC plants, fruits and Vegetables.