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Southern Dairy Summit-2025

Organised by: Indian Dairy Association - South Zone, Bangalore

Date : January 9th - 11th 2025
Venue: NIMHANS Convention Centre, Hosur Main Road, Bengaluru – 560 029.

Our Speakers

Dr. Ashok Pattanaik

Vice President & Head R&D (Animal Feeds)
Godrej Agrovet

Dr. Ashok Pattanaik is presently working as Vice President & Head R&D (Animal Feeds), Godrej Agrovet Limited. He did his M.V.Sc and PhD in Animal Nutrition from Indian Veterinary Research Institute (IVRI), Izatnagar, and post-doctoral from University of Adelaide, Australia. He was a recipient of the Internationally coveted Fulbright Fellowship for advanced post-doctoral research on gut health at University of Illinois, USA. He has published 177 research papers in high impact journals and edited 40 books/compendia/conference proceedings. He has been one of the founder editors and subsequently Editor-in-Chief of Animal Nutrition and Feed Technology journal. He has bagged the University Best Teacher Award besides a recipient of several national and international awards/recognition/travel grants including the Hari Om Ashram Trust Award of ICAR. He has played important roles as Member/resource person in various committees/boards at the National level including BIS, APEDA, ICAR, UPSC, ASRB and USIEF, etc. He has guided more than 25 students of Post graduate and PhD programs. Dr. Pattanaik has been associated with several professional societies at national and international levels and is a Fellow of the National Academy of Veterinary Sciences and National Academy of Dairy Sciences. He is the first scientist in India to start research on pet nutrition, and has established excellent infrastructure facilities at ICAR-IVRI, Izatnagar.

Dr. S. Bharathidhasan

Veterinary Surgeon, Animal Husbandry Department,
Tamil Nadu

Dr. S. Bharathidhasan is presently working as Veterinary Surgeon, Animal Husbandry Department, Tamil Nadu. He is a distinguished veterinary professional and animal nutritionist with over 20 years of expertise in livestock nutrition and feed additives. He holds an M.V.Sc. in Animal Nutrition from the ICAR-National Dairy Research Institute, Karnal, with a focus on heavy metal contamination in feed resources and its impact on animal health. With extensive experience in feed supplements formulation, production, and quality control, Dr. Bharathidhasan has played a pivotal role in enhancing dairy production and productivity. He has conducted several technical training programs for farmers, veterinarians, and industry professionals, bridging the gap between research and field application. He has numerous publications in national and international journals of high repute. He has rich experience in the area of Feed additives and its impact on dairy animals.

Dr. Basavaraj K.S

Dr Basavaraj K S is a veterinary graduate with MBA degree and having around 32 years of the active services across different milk unions of Karnataka. He started his career as Assistant Manager and later promoted as Deputy Manager at Ballari milk Union. Subsequently he occupied the posts of joint Director and Additional Director Marketing Division where he contributed significantly in the marketing of long shelf milk products and the distribution and expansion of depots across the country for Nandini products. Later he took over as Managing Director of Shivamogga milk union and finally he was promoted as the Director of Animal Husbandry in the Karnataka Milk Federation. During the long stint of over three decades he has attended and actively contributed towards the development of dairy sector in many national and international seminars/workshops and training. He currently leads the Animal husbandry activities of the Karnataka milk federation as Director and is mainly involved with the procurement and providing of input services for the animal Husbandry sector

Dr. Baldev Raj Gulati

Director
ICAR-NIVEDI, Bengaluru

Dr. Baldev Raj Gulati is presently the Director of the prestigious ICAR-National Institute of Veterinary Epidemiology & Disease Informatics (ICAR-NIVEDI) at Yelahanka, Bengaluru. After his PhD in Veterinary Microbiology from CCS Haryana Agricultural University, Hisar, India, Dr. Gulati did his Post Doctoral Fellowship in Veterinary Virology, from College of Veterinary Medicine, St. Paul, University of Minnesota. Before joining as Director he served as Principal Scientist at ICAR-NRC Equines at Hisar. He has worked extensively on zoonotic diseases and has been acclaimed for his research in this area. He has been conferred Fellow of several prestigious societies like Indian Association of Veterinary Microbiologists, Immunologists and Specialists in Infectious Diseases, Indian Society for Veterinary Immunology & Biotechnology, Indian Virological Society, National Academy of Veterinary Sciences to name a few. He has handled several National and International projects and has travelled extensively. He is a member of several professional societies and has more than 120 research papers in high impact Journals.

Dr. Dinesh Tukaram Bhosale

Vice President - West India, Poultry Federation of India
Vice President (West Zone) of Animal Nutrition Association

Dr. Dinesh Tukaram Bhosale has done his M.V.Sc., Ph.D in Animal Nutrition, besides having a Diploma in Business Management. He has been on several committees viz., Member of Extension Council and Research Council of Rajasthan Veterinary University and Maharashtra Animal Fisheries Sciences University; Skill Advisory Board for Dairying, ASCI; BIS animal feeds committee; Editorial board of Journal of Animal Nutrition and Feed Technology; and Management Committee of ICAR - National Institute of Animal Nutrition and Physiology. He was the Chairman of CLFMA of India, an association of Indian livestock sector and also served as Hon’ Secretary. He was the Organizing Secretary of 2ndnational conference of Association of Avian Health Professionals at Pune, He is presently working actively with Poultry Federation of India as Vice President - West India and is Vice President (West Zone) of Animal Nutrition Association. Dr. Dinesh has rich experience working with leading organizations like Venkateshwara Hatcheries Ltd., American Soybean Association, Alltech Biotechnology Pvt. Ltd. and as Regional Commercial Director – South Asia for AB Vista, British Company for 17 years. He is presently working as freelancer with NGOs, companies, farmers, students and startups to promote Animal Husbandry as source of livelihood and as entrepreneurial activity.

Dr. C. Kathirvelan

Professor and Head
Department of Animal Nutrition
Veterinary College and Research Institute, Udumalpet
TANUVAS

Dr. C. Kathirvelan is currently working as Professor and Head, Department of Animal Nutrition, Veterinary College and Research Institute (Tamil Nadu Veterinary and Animal Sciences University), Tamil Nadu. He did his B.V.Sc and M.V.Sc (Animal Nutrition) from Madras Veterinary College, Chennai and Ph.D from NDRI, Karnal. He started his career as Assistant Professor at Department of Animal Nutrition, Veterinary College and Research Institute, Namakkal, and has more than 16 years of service. He is actively involved in Teaching, Research and Extension activities. He has published more than 60 research papers in National and international journals of repute and has attended several workshops / conferences in India and abroad. He is a life member of several scientific societies. As an expert in the area of applied nutrition for dairy and poultry, he has done commendable work on commercial dairy nutrition including feed formulation, feed safety and feed manufacturing technology and advisor for start-up feed mills. Besides livestock nutrition, he has worked in the area of laboratory animal nutrition.

Mr. A P Madhukumar

Stellapps

Mr. A P Madhu Kumar has 15 years of experience in the dairy sector. He specializes in dairy herd management, milk procurement operations, and product management. He spent 4 years optimizing procurement processes in Akshayakalpa and 11 years in Stellapps technologies Pvt Ltd managing software products tailored to the dairy industry, leveraging technology to enhance operational efficiency. His expertise lies in bridging traditional dairy practices with innovative solutions to drive sustainable growth and improve productivity across the dairy value chain. The company he works for M/S Stellapps has been pioneering in bringing automation in dairy management through AI and Machine Learning.

Dr. P. Muraly

Dr P. Muraly, an alumnus of the College of Veterinary and Animal Sciences, Mannuthy, Kerala (1984 Admission) and Post Graduate Diploma in Rural Development Management from Institute of Rural Management, Anand -IRMA(1995). He has served Trivandrum Regional Cooperative Milk Union (Milma) in various capacities viz Veterinary Officer, Asst. Manager and Manager (Procurement & Input) since 1990 subsequently Joined Malabar Regional Milk Union(MRCMPU- Milma) as Managing Director in 2021. Currently serving as the Managing Director of Trivandrum Regional Milk Union (Milma) on deputation since 2023.

Dr. Nayee Nilesh Giridharbhai

Senior Manager (AB)
National Dairy Development Board, Anand

Dr. Nayee Nilesh Giridharbhai is presently working as Sr. Manager (AB), National Dairy Development Board, Anand. He did his M.V.Sc and PhD in Animal Breeding. He has been working in the area of Developing methods for new trait recording in small holder condition and Estimation of Genomic and Traditional breeding value and related data analysis. He has developed custom genotyping chip for Indian cattle and buffalo population and has developed genomic selection approach for HF Crossbred cattle in India using female reference population. He has visited several countries and has got advance training in the area of traditional and genomic breeding value estimation and SNP data handling at Aarhus University, Denmark and for handling sequence data and variance discovery at USDA, USA. He is member of several National and International committees. He has very good research publications in high impact journals and has collaboration with leading national and international institutions

Dr. Rajalakshmanan Eswaramoorthy

Senior Scientist
Kemin Industries South Asia Pvt. Ltd. at Chennai

Dr. Rajalakshmanan Eswaramoorthy is presently working as Senior Scientist at Kemin Industries South Asia Pvt. Ltd. at Chennai. Before joining Kemin he worked as Professor, Department of Biomaterials, Saveetha Dental College and Hospitals, Saveetha Institute of Medical and Technical Sciences, Saveetha University, Chennai, and as Associate Professor, Department of Applied Chemistry, School of Natural Sciences, Adama Science and Technology University, Adama, Ethiopia. Dr. Rajalakashmanan did his PhD (Chemistry), from Loyola College, University of Madras, Chennai, India and Postdoctoral research fellowship at Nano-biomaterials and Stem cell research Center, Institute of Internal Medicine, National Cheng Kung University, Tainan, Taiwan, ROC. He has extensively worked on Development of metal ion based nanoparticles as transfection agents and his research has been widely acclaimed particularly in the area of stem cell differentiation and drug delivery and process of extraction of bio-active compounds exhibiting anticancer property from cymodocea serrulata. He has several patents to his credit and has published more than 50 research papers in peer reviewed journals. He has supervised several Post graduate and PhD students and has been invited to Chair several conferences in India and abroad. He has not only visited several countries but also resided in Taiwan, USA, Ireland and Ethiopia.

Mr. Ramamoorthy Sundaram

Executive MD of R.G. Sundar & Co and
RGS Kamadhenu Feeds and CEO of R.G.S Vet Nutraceuticals

Mr Ramamoorthy Sundaram is a highly accomplished entrepreneur and is the Executive MD of R.G. Sundar & Co and RGS Kamadhenu Feeds and also CEO of R.G.S Vet Nutraceuticals. He has done his PGDMM and PGDBM (Marketing). He has designed a conference for Dairy Industries of Tamil Nadu in the name of DAIRY CONNECT and launched a first in house cattle health magazine to farmers in the name “KAALNADAI AROKIAM”. With his creative thinking he has conducted more than 95 training programs in various Schools, Colleges, Teacher training institutes and corporate sectors. He is a member of several institutions including Indian Dairy Association and CLFMA and he was also the Chairman of IDA Tamil Nadu chapter. He holds several key positions like President, Vice President and Convener of several renowned institutions. He has won several awards and recognitions and notable among them is the News 18 Business excellence award Zone outstanding Business area project award.

Dr. Sathish Kumar

General Manager (Technical)
Krishi Nutrition Company Private Limited, Erode, Tamil Nadu

Dr. Sathish Kumar, is a graduate of Madras Veterinary College and did his post graduation in Animal Nutrition, at Indian Veterinary Research Institute, Bareilly (UP). He started his career in 1998 as Animal Nutrition Officer, in Cattle Feed Plant, Kerala Cooperative Milk Marketing Federation (Milma), Palakkad. In 2001, he joined National Dairy Development Board (NDDB) and worked in various Southern States in different capacities. In 2008 he started as an entrepreneur and associated himself with dairy farming and farm consultancy services. From 2018, he is working with Krishi Nutrition Company Private Limited, Perundurai, Erode one of the leading Livestock Feed Manufacturers in Southern India as General Manager (Technical). His passion is dairy farming and farm consultancy services and serving the livestock farmers.

Dr. V Sridhar

Senior General Manager
NDDB

Dr.V.Sridhar, is presently working as Senior General Manager (Cooperative Services) at the National Dairy Development Board (NDDB). He is a professional in the field of dairying with nearly 27 years’ experience. He has a Masters degree in Veterinary Science and an MBA and has rich experience in both the private and public sectors. He has handled several responsibilities spanning technical services, Research and Development, Product Management roles in the Animal Health, Animal Nutrition and Dairy Cooperative sectors. In addition to his role in NDDB, he continues to head the Vidarbha Marathwada Dairy Development (VMDD) Project, a joint project of the Government of Maharashtra and NDDB as its Project Director. As the Senior General Manager at NDDB, Dr.Sridhar handles the prestigious ‘White Revolution 2.0’ project of the Government of India (GoI) and also the 10,000 FPO scheme of GoI. In addition, he handles several key portfolios including training of key personnel from the dairy sector (both national and international) as well as the ‘Giftmilk’ programme of NDDB. Dr.Sridhar was also involved in implementation of the National Dairy Plan- a mega dairy development project of the Government of India and the World Bank spread over 18 states of India. He has visited several countries abroad and also participated in National and International conferences and Symposia.

Dr. Sachin Joshi

Chief Thematic Programme Executive – Animal Genetics, Breeding & Genomics
BAIF Development Research Foundation

Dr. Sachin Joshi is a post graduate in Veterinary Medicine and working as Chief Thematic Programme Executive – Animal Genetics, Breeding & Genomics at BAIF Development Research Foundation. Since 2014, he is working as Coordinator in implementing the piloting of the most important area of sorted semen under varied production environment in India and understanding the success rates (conception rates and calf sex ratio) and adoption of sorted semen among the small holder dairy farms in India. He is also engaged in BAIF’s Livestock Genetics work aiming towards Multi-breed and Multi-trait Genomic Selection. He has 23 years of working experience in the area of livestock research and development. In addition, he has notable experience of managing a large organized commercial dairy farm for the captive quality milk production. He is the author and co-author of over 45 research publications in various reputed journals.

Dr. Sukesh S

Stellapps

Dr. Sukesh S is a veterinarian and rural management professional from India. He holds a degree from Kerala Veterinary and Animal Sciences University and an MBA from Xavier Institute of Management, Bhubaneswar. Currently, he is the Strategic Program Manager at Stellapps Technologies Private Limited, where he oversees the farm improvement services division. In this role, he develops and executes strategic initiatives to enhance the profitability and productivity of dairy farmers supplying milk to Stellapps. His responsibilities include strategic planning, stakeholder engagement, and implementing sustainability strategies to improve outcomes for dairy farmers. His expertise spans veterinary insurance, rural banking, and collaborating with farmer producer organizations (FPOs) and developmental organizations to support livestock development initiatives. Dr. Sukesh began his career at Allianz Cornhill, Trivandrum, managing veterinary health insurance claims for UK clients and monitoring fraudulent claims. In Ujjivan Small Finance Bank, India, he focused on developing unsecured loans for agriculture and allied activities. His contributions involved re-imagining product offerings, conducting market research, implementing loan origination system etc. His experience includes projects with Indian developmental organizations like PRADAN and Kudumbashree, where he explored market studies and livelihood opportunities.

Dr. Iddya Karunasagar

Advisor, FAO Reference Center for Antimicrobial Resistance and Aquaculture Biosecurity, Nitte University, Mangalore.

Affiliation
Advisor, FAO Reference Center for Antimicrobial Resistance and Aquaculture Biosecurity, Nitte University, Mangalore.
Education
Masters and Ph.D degrees in Microbiology from Mysore University Postdoctoral Research at University of Maryland, USA, University of Sendai, Japan, Natural Resources Institute, UK, and University of Wuerzburg, Germany, Humboldt Scholar (1991-92) and visiting Professor.

Dr.Neerja Hajela

General Secretary
Gut Microbiota and Probiotic Science Foundation (India), New Delhi

Affiliation
General Secretary Gut Microbiota and Probiotic Science Foundation (India) New Delhi
Education PhD (Biotechnology)
Professional Experience
More than 20 years
Positions held
1. General Secretary, Gut Microbiota and Probiotic Science Foundation (India) 2. Scientific Committee of the Probiotic Association of India 3. Governing Council member of the ILSI-India Knowledge Center for Functional Foods, Gut Health and Immunity (IKFHI) 4. Member of Asian Federation of Societies for Lactic Acid Bacteria (AFSLAB)

Dr.Rajiv Chawla

Director
CALF Laboratory, NDDB, Anand

Affiliation
Director
CALF Laboratory, NDDB, Anand
Education
Master & Doctorate in Animal Nutrition from National Dairy Research Institute (NDRI) Karnal.
Professional Experience
20+ years of in the analytical field covering the area of compositional & nutritional analysis, contaminants testing i.e. pesticides, mycotoxins and antibiotics.
Chemist in the food testing laboratory and has joined CALF laboratory of National Dairy Development Board in 2008.
Part of team, responsible for setting up various cutting-edge technologies at NDDB’s laboratory like Dioxin & furan analysis, Triglyceride based milk fat adulteration test and Honey Authenticity testing. Apart from the testing, his other core strengths are method validation and implementation of ISO I7025. He is a member of BIS committee and also member of IDF committee.

Ms. Nivetha S

Technical Officer FSSAI, Bengaluru

Affiliation
Technical Officer
FSSAI, Bengaluru
Education B.Tech (Food Technology), Anna University, Chennai
MSc (Food Technology) (CSIR-CFTRI), Mysuru
Professional Experience
Senior Associate Scientist, R&D - Cavinkare Pvt Ltd., Chennai.Assistant Professor, Bannari Amman Institute of Technology, SathyamangalamTrainee Manager –R&D - Nagarjuna Fertilizers and Chemicals Limited, Hyderabad

Sri. Bijithesh Mallik

Education
MBA from Leeds Beckett Business School, UK
Professional Experience
Seasoned Brand Consultant and the Founder of BrandVak, a consulting firm specializing in delivering impactful branding solutions tailored to meet business needs.
With over 15 years of experience, has worked extensively with MSMEs and Family-Owned Businesses, enabling them to realize their brand’s potential and achieve sustainable growth. His strategic approach to branding ensures alignment with core business objectives, fostering transformative results.
Career spans across India, Sri Lanka, and the United Kingdom, where he has built a robust reputation for delivering high-impact branding and marketing strategies. Played a pivotal role in Retail Brand Strategy and worked closely with leading brands to shape their retail and shopper marketing strategies. He has partnered with senior leadership teams of renowned brands like PepsiCo, Marico, GSK, Britannia, and ITC, leading projects that have enhanced brand positioning, fortified market presence, and delivered tangible results.

Sri. CP Charles

Director, ABT Industries Ltd., Coimbatore Director, Tedmag Training Academy, Bengaluru

Affiliation
Director, ABT Industries Ltd., Coimbatore
Director, Tedmag Training Academy, Bengaluru
Education BBSc., IDD (DT), MSc (Dairy Microbiology), Dip in Mgt (IGNOU), Genl Mgt (IRMA) Professional Experience
Rich and Vast Experience of 43+ Years in NDDB, Corporate Dairy Sector and Training Current Assignments
Academy side (Skill development),
Consultant in Dairy Sector
National Level Resource Person, FSSAI
Dairy Plant Auditing

Sri. Kaushal Vaishanav

Heads Dairy Sales at Novonesis – South Asia based out of Mumbai

Affiliation
Heads Dairy Sales at Novonesis – South Asia based out of Mumbai Education
Bachelor of Dairy Technology
Professional Experience
20+ years of experience in area of Techno-Commercial roles Worked with organisations like Amul, Kemin, IFF and Novonesis in various roles like operations, technical services, sales, business development & marketing and business management.

Sri.Kirit Patel

Founder and CEO of Flavi Dairy Solutions, Ahmedabad

Affiliation
Founder and CEO of Flavi Dairy Solutions, Ahmedabad
Education Bachelor of Technology in Dairy Technology from Anand Agricultural University, Anand. Professional Experience
R20 Years of Experience in Establishing, Cheese, Paneer and Ghee Plants in the Dairy Industry
Achievements
• Boosted up the production of Emmental cheese by 2 fold through time and technological synchronization.
• Conceptualized & developed a way of using stretch water generated during mozzarella cheese manufacturing, thereby saving 40 kg of ghee/day. • Developed and designed with fabricator, a Paneer dicing machine with very low cost with improved features.
• Designed and modified old cheese vat with the same futures which are having with imported cheese vats, with technician.
• Completed the draft of SOPs (Standard Operating Procedures) for the newly commissioned Automated Processed cheese plant within a stiff time schedule.

Sri. Sachin Achintalwar

Co-founder, Legalwrax Business Solutions Private Limited, Bengaluru

Affiliation
Co-founder, Legalwrax Business Solutions Private Limited, Bengaluru Education
B.Tech in Food Sciences from VNMKV, Parbhani, Maharashtra.
Professional Experience
Distinguished Food Technologist with over 23 years of diversified experience in the field of food safety, Quality assurance & Regulatory affairs with Food conglomerates like Coca cola, Novartis Medical Nutrition (Its acquired by Nestle & now its Nestle Nutrition), Reliance Retail, Parle Agro, Bharti Delmonte (Field fresh Foods), Veetee Fine Foods, Britannia Industries & AB Mauri India.
Last assignment was Head of Product Compliance & Government Relations of Cloudtail India Private Limited (Part of Prione Business services - An Amazon & Catamaran JV - PE arm of Infosys co-founder - Mr. Narayan Murthy) where he was responsible for Product compliance & Quality Assurance across business categories of Cloudtail (one of the largest seller on Amazon India marketplace).

Sri. Walmik Kardile

Head Alliances & Business Development Revelations Biotech Pvt. Ltd., Hyderabad

Affiliation
Head Alliances & Business Development
Revelations Biotech Pvt. Ltd.,
Hyderabad
Education M.Tech and B.Tech in Food Science and Technology Professional Experience
17+ years of technical expertise in product development, quality control, and application innovation across the food, beverage, and nutraceutical sectors. Skilled in sugar replacement formulations, functional ingredients, and protein-enriched products, with hands-on experience in regulatory compliance, technical support, and scaling production processes. Proven track record in leading cross-functional teams, delivering innovative solutions, and driving technical excellence for business growth

Mr. Komal Anand

Managing Director at Lotte Havmor ice cream.

Affiliation
Co-founder, Legalwrax Business Solutions Private Limited, Bengaluru Mr. Anand is a business strategist and people leader with an impeccable track road of business turnarounds. He has been instrumental in multiple business re-engineering and change management projects that have delivered strong, consistent business and people results. He considers himself fortunate to have had the opportunity to learn and lead functions such as Sales, Marketing, Supply Chain, and quality during his career. This, he says, helps him understand the finer nuances of business better as he can relate to the issues and reality with a lot more empathy. He started his career with Dabur India and has worked with large global companies such as PepsiCo beverages, Frito lays & Reckitt. He was a part of the Reliance retail start-up team in 2004 and swears by the group's entrepreneurial culture of willingness to learn & adapt, agility, speed, and hunger to do more.
Komal believes that great businesses are built with strong teams that have clarity of purpose, and work with robust systems and processes driven by speed, agility, and innovation.

Dr. Sunil.R

Deputy manager (AH/AI)

Dr. Sunil.R presently working as in-charge Deputy manager (AH/AI) for Bengaluru Urban, Bengaluru Rural and Ramanagara district Milking co-operative societies under Karnataka Milk Federation(KMF) He is the project in charge of disease control through alternative methods (DCAM), earlier mastitis control popularization project (MCPP). He has masters in bacteriology and Mycology and specialized in Isolation and molecular profiling of anaerobic organisms. For his masters work, he has received 2 international conference awards as well. He is currently engaged in dairy activities viz., CMT testing and online reporting, antibiotic residue testing aflatoxin testing, Somatic cell count(SCC) testing, sampling for AMR surveillance, online reporting for ailments, EVM efficacy, and cost benefits study in coordination with the National Dairy Development Board (NDDB), Anand, Gujarat.

Dr. Sudhindra Tatti

Co-founder and CEO, Prompt Innovations

Dr. Sudhindra Tatti has a B. Tech from IIT Kharagpur and Ph. D in Materials Science from University of Texas at Austin and over 25 years’ experience in the semiconductor industry in US and Asia - covering new products development, quality, commercialization of new technologies (particularly for rural applications).
He started his career at Motorola Semiconductor and has since worked in semiconductor foundries in Thailand and Singapore. He was also involved with Amberwave Systems, an MIT spin-off in Boston pioneering the commercialization of strained silicon technology.
He has been involved with Dairy industry for past six years and he is currently the Co-founder and CEO of Prompt Innovations. His interests are in commercialization of new technologies for improving the lives of rural masses and in sustainable energy solutions. He is in charge of Innovation and facilitating collaboration with strategic partners.

Dr Hemanth Giri Rao

Dr Hemanth Giri Rao is post graduate in Biotechnology from IIT Madras, India, Class of 2010. He earned his PhD in Biology focusing on the structure and function of natural biopolymers from the National Centre for Biological Sciences - Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Class of 2016. He is currently the General Manager R&D – Biopolymers & Food Ingredients at Sea6 Energy Pvt Ltd, India. He has more than 14 years of research and industry experience in biopolymers and in developing sustainable solutions using seaweed- based polysaccharides. He currently specializes in developing food applications of seaweed, including sustainably sourced texturizers and stabilizers for dairy products.

Prof Suresh Honnapagol

Prof. Suresh.S. Honnappagol, born in 1959 obtained his B.V. Sc (1982), and M.V. Sc (1985), from UAS, Bangalore and his PhD (1992) from Indian Veterinary Research Institute, Bareilly, U.P.
His area of research both at masters and PhD was on Buffalo Reproduction, focused on Synchronization of Estrous and Fertility in Buffalo heifers during summer and Postpartum anoestrus in Surti buffaloes He started his academic carrier as Instructor at Veterinary Collage, Bidar and rose to the position of Dean in the same institute within a span of 20 years. After establishment of Veterinary Varsity in Karnataka, he served as Founder Registrar, Director of Research and Second Vice Chancellor of KVAFSU, Bidar. He was one of the youngest officer to occupy the chair of Vice Chancellor.
Later he joined the ICAR as Assistant Director General for Quality Assurance & Reforms at Education Division and contributed towards excellence in higher agricultural education. He then occupied the most coveted position as Animal Husbandry Commissioner/ CVO, Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare, Govt of India, New Delhi In total he has put in 35 years of his active service in various academic and administrative positions.
As Animal Husbandry Commissioner he was responsible in designing the flagship programmes of Government of India like Rashtriya Gokul Mission, NDP-II etc. Prof. Honnappagol has immensely contributed to the all-round growth of veterinary profession in the country in particular and Buffalo development in general
Prof. Suresh S Honnappagol has been widely honored for his meritorious research / development contributions and leadership in Science (Veterinary). He is the recipient of five national level Fellowships and more than 25 other awards of national and international repute. He is the recipient of Best Undergraduate Teacher, Young Scientist, Best Veterinarian Award, Dr. R. D. Nanjaiah Memorial-KVA Life Time Achievement Award, Karuna Award, Matsya Ratna Award and Life Time Achievement award of IAAVR, ISACP etc, He is still professionally active and is the UK nominated Board of Director of Brooke India- New Delhi and a Member of National Advisory Committee of Govt of India and other professional organizations.

Photo of Dr. Palegar

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