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Dr Shukla appointed as CropLife India chairman
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Tuesday, 29 September, 2026, 13 : 00 PM [IST]
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Our Bureau, New Delhi
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Dr Gyanendra Shukla, MD & CEO of Rallis India Limited (a TATA Enterprise), has been appointed as chairman of CropLife India’s Board at the association's 46th AGM held in New Delhi. Rajvir Rathi, head of Agricultural Affairs & Policy at Bayer Crop Science and Giridhar Ranuva, business director of BASF Agricultural Solutions India, are the new vice chairmen.
CropLife India is an industry body that represents 17 R&D led companies in the crop protection sector. It represents about 75 per cent of the domestic market, and its members are responsible for about 95 per cent of the crop protection molecules introduced in India.
Dr Shukla moves up from vice chairman, a role he has held since October 2025. He succeeds Ankur Aggarwal of Crystal Crop Protection, who led the association for two terms from 2024 and steered its close engagement with government on the Draft Pesticides Management Bill, 2025. The Board thanked Aggarwal and outgoing vice chairman Mohan Babu Boppana of Bayer CropScience for their contribution.
Dr Shukla brings over 35 years of experience in crop protection and seeds across India, Asia-Pacific and Africa. Rathi brings over two decades of experience in regulatory and government affairs and leads CropLife India's Advocacy & Communications Committee, since its inception. With 23 years of industry experience, including 16 years at BASF Agricultural Solutions across regions, Ranuva currently leads the Agricultural Solutions business in India.
"Over the next decade, India will need to produce significantly more food from essentially the same land. Closing that gap will require science, innovation and faster adoption at scale. India must not only create the technologies of tomorrow, but also ensure they reach farmers faster. The industry in India is ready to move from making crop protection for the world to inventing it. For farmers to benefit sooner, the regulatory framework must also protect the safety and efficacy data companies generate to register new products in India. The Pesticides Management Bill gives the country that chance and our industry will work with the Government to realise it," said Dr Shukla.
"Safe use on the farm is what keeps food safe on the plate. Every Indian farmer should be able to buy crop protection with complete confidence, whether from the village dealer or a mobile app and know the product is genuine and traceable from factory to field. Science and stewardship will guide every position we take and we will work with regulators to make that confidence the standard across every channel," said Rathi.
"Climate change is rewriting the pest calendar. Pests could now arrive earlier, stay longer and appear in regions they never reached before. The farmer of the next decade will need to respond faster, with chemistry, biologicals, drones and digital advice working together. When a smallholder can protect a crop on time and with wider range of effective inputs, the harvest holds, incomes rise and the soil and water stay healthy for the next generation," said Ranuva.
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