Methyl Iodide in Agrochemicals: Soil Sterilisation and Beyond

Gauri Desai is a senior HR leader with over 18 years of experience across the maritime, manufacturing, online advertising, and education sectors. At Calibre Chemicals, she leads strategic HR initiatives focused on talent, organizational design, and building an inclusive culture. A strong advocate for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI), she contributes to industry forums and serves as an MBA Selection Panelist.

She has previously held leadership roles at Seaspan, Legrand, VIBGYOR, and Affinity and is recognized for aligning people strategies with business outcomes.

Sunil Jain is a seasoned professional with over two decades of experience in R&D and Technology Transfer across leading chemical and CDMO companies, including UPL, Pidilite, SRF, Aditya Birla Group, and Gujarat Fluorochemicals. Skilled in leading cross-functional teams and driving technology development, process commercialization, and manufacturing excellence, he is recognized for shaping technology vision and strategy that align innovation with business growth.

An alumnus of the National Institute of Technology (NIT), Surathkal, Sunil continues to contribute to advancing technology-driven solutions in the chemical sector.

Rohit has over a decade of experience in finance, accounting and IT systems and functions in large corporations in India. Rohit has actively participated in the business extension of Asian Paints to Kitchens. Rohit is a Commerce Graduate and an alumnus of Narsee Monjee Institute of Management Studies, Mumbai.

Amit Vakharia, has over two decades of operations & projects experience with several marquee chemical/material companies in India like Aditya Birla Group, and Jubilant. He has enviable expertise in process optimization, EHS and compliance management and maintenance system designs.
Amit is an alumnus of Amravati Engineering College and Indian Institute of Management, Kolkata.

Ravindra has functionally diverse and deep experience in the chemical industry. Over the last two decades he has spent in the Chemical industry, Ravindra has managed plant operations, global sales and marketing operations of mid to large sized chemical companies in India. Prior to joining Calibre, Ravindra was leading the sales and marketing team of polymer business of Atul Ltd. Ravindra is an alumnus of Department of Chemical Technology and NL Dalmia Institute of Management Studies & Research, Mumbai.

Ravi has over 20 years of global leadership experience in the speciality chemicals, agriculture and industrial sectors. He brings expertise in mergers and acquisitions, product management and strategic communications, with a strong track record of driving profitability and customer success. As CEO of Calibre Chemicals, he leads the growth of iodine derivatives and other speciality chemicals, focusing on innovation, operational excellence and long-term value creation. Ravi holds a PhD in chemical engineering from MIT, MBA from MIT Sloan School of Management, B.Tech and M.Tech in chemical engineering from IIT Madras.

Trivik has over a decade of experience in strategic purchase and customer onboarding in the chemical industry. His business acumen has helped Calibre Chemicals grow tremendously in recent years.

Mr. Avnish Mehra is the Vice Chairman of Private Equity at Everstone, based in Singapore. He leads Deal Teams in the Tech Services sector, works on cross-border deals, and mentors MDs while serving as Co-Head of the Private Equity business. Prior to joining Everstone, he worked with Advent International Private Equity as a Senior Director and founded the India Business at Advent. He led multiple large deals including Crompton Consumer, TransUnion/CIBIL, Care hospitals and CAMS among others at Advent. He is a Chartered Financial Analyst, from AIMR, USA and holds a BA (Hons) Economics, MA (Cantab) from Queens’ College, University of Cambridge and BA (Hons) from St. Stephen’s College, University of Delhi.

Vijay is an eminent chemical industry professional and entrepreneur. He has over four decades of rich industry experience as a part of the Tata Group including MD of Rallies Ltd. and other Tata Group companies. Vijay is an alumnus of Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur.

Rikhil R. Bhavnani is a Professor in the Department of Political Science at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, where he serves as the Associate Chair and Director of Graduate Studies. He is also a Faculty Affiliate at the La Follette School of Public Affairs, the Elections Research Center and the Center for South Asia. Bhavnani previously served as the Faculty Director for the Center for South Asia.

Professor Bhavnani’s research and teaching focus on the political economy of development and migration, and on inequalities in political representation, mainly in India. Bhavnani’s papers have been published in various journals, including the American Political Science Review, the American Journal of Political Science, and the Journal of Politics.

Prior to starting at UW–Madison, Professor Bhavnani was a visiting fellow at the Center for the Study of Democratic Politics at Princeton University. He has worked at the Center for Global Development and the International Monetary Fund and received a PhD in political science and an MA in economics from Stanford University, and a BA in political science and economics from Yale University.

Rajesh is the founder & CEO of GoodGovern, a Governance start-up committed to bringing lasting change through best governance practices thereby raising the level of transparency, accountability and sustainability of “Business-India”. He is presently Chairman of Axis Trustee Services Ltd and serves on the Board of Max Life Insurance.

Prior to this, he was the Executive Director on the Board of Axis Bank Ltd and was responsible for multiple Governance functions under the Corporate Centre of the Bank. He is serving as a trustee on the board of trustees of Axis Bank foundation since 2015. Previously, he has served on the Boards of Axis Finance Limited and Axis PE.

Prior to joining Axis Bank, Rajesh spent 20 years at Tata Group across group companies, starting with Rallis India Limited where he handled various responsibilities in Manufacturing, Human Resources, Supply Chain Management, Institutional Sales, and Exports functions. He went on to head Tata Administrative Services (TAS) for the Tata Group.

Rajesh currently serves on SES Governance, ESG Advisory Board and is also a Member of the CII Climate Change Council.

Vishal is the Managing Director at Everstone Capital. He has over 18 years of experience in consulting and operations across diverse manufacturing and services sectors. Vishal has been leading the value creation teams of several investee companies of Everstone. Vishal is an alumnus of Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi and Indian School of Business, Hyderabad.

Dr. Raman Ramachandran was previously associated with PI Industries as the Managing Director and CEO. Before that, he was the Chairman & Managing Director of BASF India and Head of the BASF legal entities in South Asia (India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka). During his stint of nearly two decades with global chemicals major, Dr. Ramachandran held many positions of responsibility and led the strategic evolution of BASF as a leader in the agricultural products business in the Asia Pacific region.

Dr. Ramachandran was a member of the BASF’s Asia Pacific Business Board, Vice-President, Crop Life Asia and Chairman of Confederation of Indian Industries, Chemicals and Petrochemicals industry group. He was recently awarded FICCI’s Chemical and Petrochemical sector’s “Life Time Achievement Award for contribution to Agrochemical Industry”. He serves on boards of PI Industries and Proklean Technologies Pvt. Ltd.

Founder of RB Chemicals in 1978 and then Calibre Chemicals in 1984, Ranjit has over 40 years of diverse intellect and business experience in Chemicals, Dairy industry and investing. He has a deep understanding of electrochemical and chemical technology with a vision for sustainable systems and practices.

Ranjit is an alumnus of Indian Institute of Technology, Mumbai, Cornell University and Massachusetts Institute of Technology, USA. He is also on the board of Igloo Diary and Calimara Matters.