Agritech venture capital firm Omnivore has appointed Harsh Kumar Bhanwala, former chairman of National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (Nabard), as a senior advisor from today.
Bhanwala will mentor Omnivore’s portfolio companies, offer advice on new investments, and help develop the fund’s rural fintech investment strategy, the firm said.
“Our team and portfolio will benefit immensely from his deep expertise in agriculture and financial sectors. We look forward to a long and fruitful partnership,” Jinesh Shah, managing partner at Omnivore, said.
Omnivore has backed over 25 agritech startups since 2011.
“It is a wonderful opportunity to work with an incredible pool of talent. With my decades of experience in the financial sector, I am confident that I can add value by being an advisor and helping Omnivore achieve new milestones,” Bhanwala said.
He was chairman of Nabard from 2013 to 2020, overseeing all aspects of agricultural credit as well supervising regional rural banks and cooperative banks.
Prior to leading Nabard, he was chairman and managing director of India Infrastructure Finance Company, senior vice-president at IL&FS Water, and managing director of Delhi State Cooperative Bank.
After Nabard, Bhanwala started serving as executive chairman of Capital India Finance Ltd. He is on the IIM Rohtak board and serves as an independent director on the board of Bayer Crop Science India. Bhanwala is also an independent director on the board of MFIN (Microfinance Institutions Network).
He did his B.Sc in dairy technology from the National Dairy Research Institute, Karnal, MBA from IIM Ahmedabad, and PhD in management from Maharshi Dayanand University.