VCCircle Agri and Food Summit 2012 at Le Meridien, New Delhi, will bring together India's leading entrepreneurs, key industry leaders, private equity investors, bankers and economists. They will deliberate on the current issues faced by the Indian agri and food value chain and identify the potential business models apart from spotting new age entrepreneurs, who have ushered in a paradigm shift in the Indian agri and food industry scenario.
SH. Siraj Hussain, Additional Secretary, Ministry of Agriculture will kickstart the full-day conference with a keynote address on the evolving food and agriculture sector in the country and chart the road ahead for the sector.
This power-packed full-day summit explores the factors and triggers that will create the best agri & food businesses of future.
Here is a preview of the updated agenda:
9:20am - 930am
Introductory note
9:30am - 10:00am
Keynote Address: The Evolving Food & Agriculture Sector In India - Where Are We Headed?
Siraj Hussain, Additional. Secretary, Ministry of Agriculture & Cooperation
10:00am - 11:15am
Panel: Developing & Raising Capital For A Sustainable Indian Food & Agriculture Sector
Which are the burning issues faced by the Indian food & agri sector? How can we bring a transformation in agriculture & allied sectors in India? What are the various alternatives for funding food & agri business today? What are the various debt products agri promoters can utilise today? How is the investment climate in the sector? How to tackle the diversified and demanding issues in food sector such as food safety, cold storage capability & infrastructure, lack of research & food security? How to tap in the potential of the unorganised players in the Indian food & agri market?
Gopal Srinivasan - Chairman & MD, TVS Capital (Moderator)
Sanjay Sancheti - Country Manager, Olam Agro India Ltd
Abinash Verma - CEO, Indian Sugar Exim Corporation
Nagarajan Sivaramakrishnan - MD, Mother Dairy
Girish Nadkarni - Partner, IDFC Alternatives
Ajay Gupta - Head, SME & Agri, ICICI Bank Ltd., ICICI Bank Ltd.
11:15am - 11:30am
Tea & networking break
11:30am - 12:30pm
Redhot Sector I : Agri Logistics & warehousing
How to tackle the storage deficit of agri-warehousing in India? How will demand in agri-warehousing be driven by increased agricultural output? What are the measures that need to be taken to improve ailing India's supply chain management? Can public private partnership model be effective in the current scenario? How high leasing costs are forcing companies to outsource warehousing activities? How to overcome the shortage of cold storage facilities?
Sanjeev Mantri - Head, Rural & Inclusive Banking, ICICI Bank Ltd.
Aditya Bafna - ED, Shree Shubham Logistics
Amith Agarwal - ED, Star Agri Warehousing & Collateral Management Ltd
Sandeep Sabharwal - CEO, Sohan Lal Commodity Management Pvt. Ltd
Gaurav Sekhri - MD, Tinna Viterra Pvt. Ltd.
Pranav Jhawar - Executive Director, JICS Logistics Ltd
12:30pm - 1:45pm
Lunch & networking
12:45pm - 1:45pm
VCCircle Lounge
A VCCircle initiative, where companies and investors can meet and network in a structured manner in a separate enclosure. Companies can make their elevator pitch to a group of select investors, while investors can sell their funds to India's fastest growing enterprises.
1:45pm - 2:45pm
Redhot Sector II: Seeds & Fertilisers
How big is the market for hybrid seeds in India? What are the challenges in developing, producing and marketing
hybrid seeds in India? How can we bring about innovation in the seeds & fertilisers market? Does India have adequate seed processing facilities and what opportunities does it throw to the agro companies? What are the investment opportunities in agrochemicals space? Are fertiliser manufacturing companies looking for acquisitions?
Sanjeev Asthana - Founder & Managing Partner, I-Farms Venture Advisors (Moderator)
Rajesh Aggarwal - MD, Insecticides India Ltd
Ankur Aggarwal - MD, Crystal Crop Protection Pvt. Ltd
S.K. Roongta - CMD, National Seeds Corporation
2:45pm - 3:15pm
Presentation: Enhancing Food Safety and Certification in India
K Vijayaraghavan - Regional Coordinator, Cornell University
3:15pm - 3:30pm
Tea & networking
3:30pm - 4:30pm
Redhot Sector III: Packaged Foods and Dairy Products
Which are the emerging categories in Indian packaged food industry? Is ready-to-eat food segment gaining traction in India? How health & wellness segment is seeing a growth of over 50 per cent y-o-y? A look at the way ahead for the sector. What is the scope of value added products like desserts, puddings, custards, stirred yoghurt and sherbats? What can drive margins in the years to come? How to improve production, processing and marketing infrastructure?
Deepak Shahdadpuri - MD, Beacon India Private Equity (Moderator)
GS Bhalla - Founder & CEO, Cocoberry
Vinod Chaturvedi - Founder & MD, Usher Agro Ltd.
Akshay Bector - MD, Mrs Bector's Food Specialties Ltd.
Aditya Bagri - Director, Bagrrys India Ltd.
4:30pm - 5:30pm
VCCircle Special panel: Recognising the Innovators & New Wonders In Indian Food & Agri Sector
VCCircle will help hitherto unrecognised successful entrepreneurs in Indian agri and food space in sharing their entrepreneurial journey in this session. The session will aim to provide a platform for the new heros & innovators in this space for sharing their valuable opinions in bringing about a revolution in Indian agri & food sector
Sonal Shah - Director, SMC Capitals Ltd. (Moderator)
Ashish Mantri - MD, Abhay Cotex Pvt. Ltd
Kunal Agarwal- Co-founder & Director, Brattle Foods Pvt. Ltd.
Jatin Singh â Founder and CEO, Skymet
Akshay Chaturvedi - Zonal Head, North - SME and Corporate Agri Business
Arvind Jhamb - CEO - Overseas Agriculture Projects, Ruchi Soya Industries Ltd.
5:30pm - 5:40pm
Concluding Remarks
5:40pm Onwards
VCCircle Unwind
A zone for informal networking and establishing contacts with entrepreneurs and investors over cocktails.
Write to us at register@vccircle.com or call Sandeep at 0120-4171111 for more details. Click to register online