1. Competent Agri Solutions Pvt Ltd -

Founded by him in August 2009 along with a like minded Gujarat based Agribusiness professional. Besides being a full service Supply Chain Solutions and Consultancy in fruit & Vegetable sector, contributing knowledge resources and cross linking opportunities towards improvement of fruit and vegetable trade both a backend and frontend, is the main mandate of Competent Agrisolutions. Lately, as Managing Director at Competent Agri Solutions Pvt Ltd, a supply chain solutions cum food & agribiz consulting company, he is donning role of a potent leader who is engaged in exponential multiplication of his expertise, knowledge and beliefs in transformation of primitive, traditional agricultural marketing systems into a modern, transparent and efficient platform thereby significantly contributing to the Indian economy.

(Current)

Mananging Director - Location Delhi

• Concept to commissioning consulting project for M/s Adarsh ThoughtWorks Pvt. Ltd, a Rajasthan based large financial institution, for establishment of an innovative pan Indian urban retail system. A complete Agri-produce Collection Centres in villages, Warehouse and Cash & Carry Stores that shall act as re-distribution points on hub and spoke model are integral parts of the system. Pilot project with 110 mobile kiosks and few stand alone stores, is ready for roll out on large scale in Delhi / NCR region.
• Strategic consulting agreement has been reached with a National level street vendor organization to form retailers SHGs in Delhi / NCR region.  These SHGs through their own Federation & Management shall directly source fruit & vegetables from neighboring Farmers SHGs, consolidate the sourced products in their large warehouse and distribute same to their own members to be eventually retailed to end customers. This would perhaps be first initiative of such kind of linkages in India.
• Consulting assignments in progress:
• CA cold storage projects for HP based apple orchardist and a Delhi based apple trader.
• Fruit & Vegetable minimal processing, storage and distribution project for a Delhi based corporate group.
• SHG formation, facilitation and market linkage project for quasi Govt. institution in Uttarakhand.
• Revamping of distribution operations and Process re-engineering – a short term consulting assignment for LML 365, a Delhi based retail chain owned by Shri Lal Mahal Limited, major Indian rice exporters with 40 odd stores.
• Conceptualized ‘Vegfru’ - a fruit & vegetable packing, minimal processing and distribution brand. Vegfru through its associate processors takes an innovative approach to provide fresh-cut and value added fruit and vegetable products to the food service industry, food processing / manufacturing companies, retail chains and traditional retailers with a strong focus on convenience, quality, hygiene and food safety while perfectly matching each customers’ special needs.
• Company’s first innovative product, trimmed shrink wrapped tender coconut is runaway success
• Modern fresh cut processing infrastructure that includes cold rooms, chillers, RO water systems apart from food grade machinery / equipment is part of the system.
• In addition to above, within days of company incorporation, he organized vegetable growers in Delhi rural and adjoining Haryana State and set up farmers’ managed three Collection Centers to pool their fresh produce for onward supply to retail chains like Aditya Birla Retail Ltd (More), Big Apple, Pantaloon Retail, besides servicing some caterers and orders suppliers. Farmers are very happy with this direct farmer – market linkage initiative.
• Sourcing assistance from Northern India was also provided to companies like Heritage Retail in Andhra and Field Fresh Foods Pvt Ltd (Bharti Delmonte) in Bangalore.

2. REI Six Ten Retail Ltd – REI Agro Ltd was established in the year 1994 with a vision to consolidate the fragmented basmati rice industry. In a short span of time it rose to the position of an undisputed leadership in the industry. REI Agro launched its 6Ten chain of retail outlets in last quarter of the fiscal of 2006-7 as part of its objective to get closer to end customer. With 371 neighborhood stores in 9 Indian States presently, 6Ten is a retail brand to reckon with. REI Six Ten Retail Ltd made a dream debut when the retail undertaking of REI Agro was demerged into REI Six Ten Retail Ltd and its equity shares of got listed in the Bombay Stock Exchange and National Stock Exchange on April 27, 2009 on a turnover of Rs 1863 Crores. (1st April 2009 – contd.)

(1st April 2009 –Contd)

Business Head (Fruit & Vegetables) - Location Delhi

• Established 5 new Collection Centers across the 5 Indian States for sourcing fresh produce directly from farmers. This brought down the procurement share of wholesale markets by 45% resulting in saving on product procurement cost by a whopping 20% plus. Substantial improvement in freshness and quality because of this action however can’t be quantified.
• Brought down the transport fleet size by 18% resulting in saving over Rs 2 Lakh a month on transport bill
• Reduced wage bill by trimming down manpower by almost 50% bringing down the manpower cost and tremendous improvement in people productivity.
• Just 14000 Sq ft warehouse used in servicing morning 6 AM daily deliveries at 185 plus stores in Delhi / NCR region.
• Changed the warehouse operations from ‘own’ to ‘outsource’ to wean out inefficiencies and rationalize manpower deployment.
• Implemented all together new Indenting, Pricing & Price Benchmarking, Logistics and reporting system in spite of good resistance from staff for maintaining status quo. Blending some fresh experienced talent with old staff and nurturing the blend as a supportive team made this possible in quick span.

2. Reliance Retail Ltd. – As a wholly owned subsidiary of Reliance Industries ltd, RRL is gearing up to revolutionize the retailing industry in India and is aggressively working on introducing a pan-India network of retail outlets in multiple formats. A world class shopping environment, state of art technology, a seamless supply chain infrastructure, a host of unique value-added services and above all, unmatched customer experience, is what this initiative is all about

(6th Oct 2006 –31st Match 2009.)

AVP (Agri. & Food Supply Chain) - Location Gurgaon

 Achievements – Starting from zero base, launched fresh produce category at Reliance Fresh stores in flat two and half months by;

• Building capacity in terms of sourcing fresh produce directly from farm production / supply areas by establishing Collection Centers across the 5 neighboring States,
• Establishing  a large warehouse complex to handle, process, consolidate fresh produce,
• Building / renewing relationship with hundreds of stakeholders across the chain to feed / oil the supply chain
• Organizing a market intelligence network for price benchmarking both at wholesale  as well as retail side,
• Logistics planning for very complex geography that is NCR which falls in three States with many vehicle entry barriers and restrictions.
• Category merchandising, demand planning and price / promotion management at front end – a ticklish job considering price / market spread in retail at thousand unorganized retail markets.
• Building a strategic team to manage thin and lean supply chain.
• Establishing a modern fresh cut vegetable facility to cut, pack and distribute fresh cut vegetables – a first of such unit for a retail chain in NCR.
• Presently 130 stores and 5 Hypermarkets are served fresh produce on 24x7x365 basis for a 60 Crore plus per annum profitable business with net margins going up to 9%.
• Few of the low cost warehousing, distribution models (Direct Store Delivery by cutting down distribution time) and techno initiatives (market information system) undertaken by team are industry first in organized sector and have completely rebuild the supply chain value proposition for perishable produce. Within Reliance Retail, these models developed by local team have been replicated all across India.

3.Subhiksha, a Chennai based supermarket and pharmacy discount chain, opened the doors of its first store in 1997. With 140 stores and a turnover of Rs 278 Crore in 2004, Subhiksha is planning to become a multi-city operator soon. The next 12-18 months will see Subhiksha setting up 180 stores in Hyderabad, Bangalore, Delhi and Mumbai.  

(26^th Sept 2005 – 5th October 2006)

Head of Business Operation (Fruit & Vegetable) – North Unit – Location Delhi

(July 2004 - September 2005)

Business Development Group – North / West / East operations – Location Delhi

Achievements

• Strategic Team Building – Built, placed and managed a team, practically from scratch, at potential locations across his territory to execute Safal Market’s supply objective in just two months. Local teams were effectively deployed to ensure regular supplies for auction as per Safal Market’s quantity, quality, packaging, delivery and price requirements from day one.
• Capacity Building – In just 4 months he was able to build business alliances with more than 20 Cold / Dry store owners and users in Delhi, Haryana, UP, Maharashtra to achieve Safal Market’s supply chain objectives. Job entailed designing and signing of formal and informal MOUs, Agreements and Contracts.
• Institution Development – Facilitated development of 10 growers’ institutions in HP, UP, Maharashtra for exclusive supplies to Safal Market in first 5 months. Integrated growers, exiting growers’ organizations, institutions and traders as registered suppliers.
• Infrastructure Building – Initiated this exercise at 5 locations for direct / indirect productive impact on supplies to Safal Market in near future. This would entail establishment of Sorting / Grading lines for Apples / Oranges / Potato / Kinnow and modern dry warehouse and cold storage for Onions.
• Relationship Building – Revived, refreshed and made contacts with many old and new suppliers / buyers / APMCs in Delhi, Pb. Haryana, HP, UP, Rajasthan, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Jharkhand, J&K etc to ensure smooth licensing for uninterrupted supplies / sales for Safal Market. 
• Promotion and publicity of Safal Market concept at all suppliers’ / non-supplier meets / industry forums with effective use of IT tools and electronic media.

5. Mother Dairy Foods Processing Limited, owners and marketer of Mother Dairy, Dhara and Safal brands of dairy, vegetable oils and horticultural products, Delhi, India. Current turnover is over Rs 1500 Crore. The company is wholly owned by the National Dairy Development Board (NDDB) - an organisation of National importance. (1987 - Contd.)

Strategy Planning & Business Development Group (Agri-business)

 (November 2003 – July 2004)

Achievements

• As a wholesale markets expert with Market Development department, he played a key role in successful operationalisation of Centralized Dutch fruit and vegetable auction at NDDB’s prestigious Safal Market in Bangalore. In addition to auction, three Cash & Carry Stores for wholesaling fruit and vegetables had also been successfully launched in Bangalore city. In just two months of launch, Safal Market wholesaled around 100 MT fresh produce daily.  
• Within a month of induction, he was able to identify for NDDB, a local procurement and imports based food marketing project in Colombo, Sri Lanka. After extensive travel and studies in Sri Lanka, a pre-feasibility study has already been submitted and got approved. Detailed market survey to formulate a commercially viable project plan for the identified project is in progress.
• Successfully negotiated a long term lease of 24 Acre built up wholesale Food Market in Ernakulam (Cochin) with Kerala Govt.

Supply Chain Management Group

(August 2002 – October 2003)

Achievements

• In a short span of just 4 months, he leveraged technology to revamp communication and information systems for the group.
• A low cost transaction software & electronic data interchange system integrated with main server at Head Qtr, was placed at all C & F Agent locations. This action ironed out the major deficiencies in Inventory, Invoice & MIS processes.
• As a step forward, introduction of an enterprise level web application to replace above with a more agile online system was implemented.
• All Operational staff, suppliers, C & F Agents, transporters and other business associates were made to communicate through private and public networks only. A minor point but this action cut down the communication cost by more than 25%.
• In view of logistical, cost and contractual disadvantages, he rationalized Company’s C & F operations across the country by closing and scaling down 8 C & F operations in flat 4 months without affecting the sales. (Cost cutting by 30%).
• A new supply cum distribution model using Integrated Logistics Service Providers was introduced for frozen products for the first time in the Country at few select locations. This move shall bring down the overall distribution cost by at least 15 %. 
• Brought down the cost of operations in surviving C & F and transport contracts by 10 % by cutting down the storage space requirement and review of secondary transport arrangements.
• Drafted new C & F & transport contracts to plug numerous money draining holes.
• A low cost centralized computerized and online Indenting model was developed and deployed across the country to streamline various Supply Chain Management processes.

Planning & Development Group

(4 Years)

Achievements

• Project plan for Fruit & Vegetable Auction Market Project at Bangalore, with a project outlay of Rs 150 Crore, gets quick approval by NDDB. The plan included a detailed road map for the fruit & vegetable supply management activities within and outside Karnataka for the proposed market.
• Quick acceptance of the Integrated Horticulture Marketing feasibility study by the Government of India.
• Prepared a blueprint for horticultural Cash-n-Carry stores for company’s Delhi Fruit & Vegetable Unit.
• Spearheaded company’s marketing drive to create a niche for it's complete range of fresh products in hitherto untapped wholesale and export markets. Exported huge potato quantity to Srilanka.
• Introduced wholesale branding concept for fruit & vegetables for the first time in the country in organized sector. Both exports and wholesale marketing are now new revenue streams for the company.
• Developed CFB wholesale and retail packaging for ten fruits and vegetables for the company in just two months. Introduced indigenous Kiwi fruit in branded packs for the first time in Indian markets.
• An alternate logistic plan developed by him is yielding rich dividend currently.
• Represented company at numerous Agri-business events, seminars, conferences and presentations organized by various chambers of commerce (like FICCI, CII, ASSOCHAM), Central and State Govts

Procurement Group

(10 Years)

Achievements

• Managed a dedicated team of 60 plus professionals, to develop an extensive and effective Fresh Produce contract farming Sourcing network, practically all over India, for round the year quality supplies of more than 150 fresh commodities at competitive prices. The job involved round the clock coordination and monitoring at various levels.
• Brought 500 plus Hectares of vegetable area in 6 Indian States under production enhancement contract farming programme using state of the art production technology based on the principles of precision and uniformity and use of innovative but simple farm machines. Wide bed production technology propagated by his group for various vegetables, particularly potatoes, have become a de-facto standard for progressive farmers through out Northern India.
• Strategic reorganization of procurement policies and procedures from purchases at supply source at local prices and terms, to, supplies at company premises in Delhi without declaring prices in production areas. This change completely overhauled company's procurement structure and resulted in major savings.
• Reorganization of purchases in wholesale markets from outright purchases at company's risk, to supplies at Project premises in Delhi on competitive biddings basis. This change resulted in major savings.
• Introduction of 15 difficult fruit and vegetable items hitherto not retailed by the Project.
• Arrangement of 11000 MTs of produce, apart from regular supplies for company's retail outlets in six months, for wholesale trials at major Indian wholesale market.
• Developed various contract formats for growers, transporters and wholesalers that are still being used

6.       Milkfed , Punjab - A Federation of 10 Distt. Milk Cooperatives and owners of "Verka", a well-known milk products brand in India.  (1981 -1987)

Technical Input Group

Achievements

• Planning and execution of a fodder seed production programme on more than 500 Hectares annually under contract growing.
• Management of a 50 Hectares captive demonstration cum seed production farm as an independent profit centre.

7.       Government of Punjab, India  (1979 -1980)

Ground Water Cell

Achievements

• As a team leader, spearheded setting up of India's first mobile soil and water testing laboratory in Punjab.