Speakers

MR. CHIRAG M. SHAH

Advocate, B.A. , LL.B.

Chirag has over 25 years of experience in Securities, Commodities, Fixed Income and Foreign Exchange markets. He has worked with Phillip Capital, MF Global, Man Financial and Refco, holding various leadership roles and contributing to their founding teams. A qualified lawyer from Mumbai University, he has advised multinational corporations, corporate houses, trading firms, family offices, private equity firms, mutual funds and banks on risk management and hedging using listed and OTC derivatives. Since qualifying as a lawyer in 2018, Chirag has focused on regulatory law, securities law, dispute resolution, corporate finance, mergers and acquisitions, and white-collar crime. He has represented clients before SEBI, SAT, and courts across India. He is an Independent Expert Professional on the Regulatory Oversight Committee of NSE Clearing Ltd., a member of the Indian Merchants Chamber’s Capital Markets Task Force, and an Arbitrator with the Cotton Association of India.

DR. SHESHRAO KAUTKAR

Agricultural Research Scientist, ICAR-CIRCOT

Dr. Sheshrao Kautkar is working as an Agricultural Research Scientist at ICAR-CIRCOT, Mumbai, since 2019. Dr. Kautkar has made seminal contributions in the field of post-harvest processing of cotton and value addition to its biomass. His notable innovations include a pre-grooved chrome leather roller, an automatic deep-grooving machine, silage as animal feed from cotton biomass, development of torrefied pellets for thermal power plants, optimization of groove profile of ginning roll, bio-enriched compost from cotton micro-dust, cottonseed dryer, etc.

He has published over 30 papers, trained over 100 farmers and entrepreneurs through skill development programs, and mentored over 70 agri-startups under RKVY-RAFTAAR initiative of government of India. He has also coordinated multiple capacity-building programs and spearheaded industry-collaborative research at ICAR-CIRCOT to benefit cotton stakeholders directly.

MR. LALIT KUMAR GUPTA

Chairman- Cum-Managing Director, The Cotton Corporation of India Ltd. (CCI)

With 32 years of expertise in the Textile Industry, having comprehensive blend of academic excellence and practical experience. Holding qualifications in CA, CS, and MBA. He embarked his professional journey with CCI in 1994, and contributed across various pivotal functions such as Marketing, Finance, Internal Audit, Company Secretary, and Coordination divisions. He has played an instrumental role in shaping and implementing key financial and marketing strategies for CCI, with a focus on enhancing operational efficiencies and driving innovation.

He particularly recognized for championing Digital India initiatives in the cotton sector, making business processes more accessible and streamlined. His contributions include the launch of mobile-based applications such as Kapas Kissan mobile app for empowering farmers, Blockchain-based BITS for cotton stock traceability, and CotBiz application for paper less transaction to all buyers so as to provide the ease of doing business with CCI. Passionate about driving change, he continues to focus on technological advancements that push the boundaries of the textile industry's future.

MR. PANKAJ MEPANI

Director, Cotton Association of India

He is working in the Cotton Industry for almost 5 Decades, have worked in both trading and a textile company. Started his career with reputed cotton trading companies, M/s. Gill & Co. Ltd. in 1974 and further on worked with M/s. Bhaidas Cursondas & Co. all this in the ever standing Cotton Exchange Building at Cotton Green. Then had his longest tenure with M/s. Forbes Gokak belonging to the Shapoorji Pallonji Group for 28Years. He has actively participated as a member on various Committees of the Cotton Association of India, presently on the Board of CAl for several years now and also as an Executive Council Member of the Indian Fibre Society and Indian Society for Cotton Improvement at CIRCOT in Mumbai. Also on the Committee of the Value Difference Committee of the International Cotton Association, (ICA) Liverpool.

RAJINI PANICKER

Team Lead & Executive Vice President, Phillip Capital India

Rajini Panicker has 25 plus work experience in Financial Services and heads critical business verticals of Commodities and Global Markets at Phillip Capital India. She is advisor to a number of Product Committees of NSE, BSE and Commodity Exchanges MCX and NCDEX , given her vast experience of price risk management with exchange traded commodity and currency contracts. She is regularly quoted in the print and digital media on her views on price outlook for commodities and global market dynamics and is a regular guest panelist at commodity shows on TV channels and industry conferences.

MR. VINEET GUPTA

Head- Business Development, NeRL

Vineet Gupta is presently working as Head- Business Development at NeRL. He has 20+ years of cross-functional experience in banking and agribusiness. He had the privilege of working in the financial sector with a leading private sector Bank, the largest commodity exchange, and top FMCG companies. He has Experience in retail and commercial banking, with expertise in business development, new business initiatives, and product management. Closely associated with the entire Agri value chain from farmers to Processors. He has developed domain expertise in agriculture loans and commodity-based finance business.

DR. SHARAD KUMAR SARAF

Chariman, Technocraft Group

He is the Founder Chairman of Technocraft Industries (India) Ltd. (TIIL), established in 1972, with three principal manufacturing verticals: Textiles, Scaffolding & Formwork, and Drum Closures. TIIL operates fully integrated textile mills in Murbad and Amravati, Maharashtra. TIIL is India’s largest producer of scaffolding and formwork, with nearly 70% of its production exported to markets including the US, Europe and Australia. Its products are used extensively in metro projects and major infrastructure developments across India. TIIL is also the world’s largest manufacturer of drum closures, with manufacturing facilities in Murbad and China. Through its subsidiary, Technosoft Engineering Projects Ltd., the group provides engineering design services with over 400 computer engineers operating in the US and Europe. TIIL has a global presence with manufacturing facilities in China, distribution centres across the US, UK, Poland, New Zealand and UAE, and business associates in nearly 30 countries.

MR. JAGAN GOPINATH

Founder & Managing Partner, Rainflo Consulting LLP

Jagan Gopinath is the Founder and Managing Partner of Rainflo Consulting LLP, a consulting firm specialising in commodity price risk management. An alumnus of the Indian Agricultural Research Institute (IARI), New Delhi, and the Indian Institute of Management Ahmadabad (IIMA), Jagan served on the Board of International Cotton Association (ICA), UK as the Director representing India from 2023 to 2026. Prior to founding Rainflo Consulting, Jagan spent a decade as Head of Cotton Sourcing at Arvind Limited, one of India's most respected textile firms. Earlier in his career, he served as Profit Centre Head for Olam International's East Africa business cluster, overseeing its Cotton and Sesame business.

DR. PRADEEP KUMAR MANDHYAN

Chief Executive Officer, CAI Laboratories

Dr. Pradeep Kumar Mandhyan, Chief Executive Officer of CAI Laboratories, has over 40 years of experience in the cotton and textile value chain. He holds a Ph.D. in Textile Physics from Mumbai University and has expertise in the evaluation of textile fibres, yarns and fabrics and development of value-added products from natural fibres. He has made significant contributions to the cotton and banana fibre value chains and has authored numerous research papers, articles, training manuals and reports. He has served as Principal Investigator of the All India Coordinated Research Project on Cotton and as a member of the Central Variety Identification Committee for cotton. He has also been associated with institutions such as DKTE, VJTI and SNDT and various BIS textile committees.

MR. RINTU K. PANDYA

Hon. Treasurer & Director, Cotton Association of India

Rintu K. Pandya is the Managing Partner of M/s. Siddhi Sales Corporation, Raw cotton ginner / Spinner and exporter of raw cotton and yarn. He is 2014 year gold award winner for the largest export for yarn count 50 and below from India. He is also year 2017 Silver award winner for 2nd largest export for yarn count 50 and below which was awarded by TEXPROCIL, Mumbai, INDIA. He is the youngest director on the Board of Directors of Cotton association of India and a member on many committees of the CAI.