Elets creates history with first-of-its-kind Marketing Innovation Summit, Maha CM Fadnavis marks his presence at the do

Elets Marketing Innovation Summit

Elets Technomedia organised first of its kind, Marketing Innovation Summit, discussing innovation in cotton and agro commodity markets, in Mumbai on 23rd July, 2019.

Marked by Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis as the chief guest, the programme was chaired by Nawin Sona Natesan, Secretary to Government of Maharashtra & Managing Director, The Maharashtra State Coop Cotton Growers’ Marketing Federation Ltd (MSCCGMFL). Anoop Kumar, Principal Secretary, Marketing and Animal Husbandry, Dairy Development & Fisheries Department, Government of Maharashtra, mentored the event.

Dr Ravi Gupta, CEO, Elets Technomedia Pvt Ltd, Program Chair Nawin Sona Natesan, Secretary to Government of Maharashtra & Managing Director, The Maharashtra State Coop Cotton Growers’ Marketing Federation Ltd (MSCCGMFL) , Pramit Chanda, Country Director, India, IDH The Sustainable Trade Initiative, Headquartered in Netherlands, and other special guests kicked off the event as they lit the lamp.


Congratulating the company for organizing the event, chief minister Fadnavis said, “Today though industry can sustain without innovation, but by leveraging technology we can create a platform which can help every single stake holder in taking their business to next level. He congratulated government of Maharashtra for partnering with all the who’s who of cotton and agri business market.” He also emphasized on the need to connect farmers to the market place.


Welcoming all the dignitaries Nawin Sona Natesan shared details about his upcoming project named smart cotton initiative.


Speaking at the inaugural session on Changing World of Cotton & Agro Commodities Marketing, Pramit Chanda, Country Director, India, IDH The Sustainable Trade Initiative, Headquartered in Netherlands, shared how his initiative was spreading footprints in food and spice sector and talked about their upcoming effort regarding fire, electrical and structural safety in the organisations.


Sritanu Chatterjee, Senior Policy Advisor for Agriculture, Nature and Food Quality, Consulate General of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, said, “Already it has been mentioned that the Netherlands government is taking initiative in the cotton sector, but there are other programmes also globally that the Dutch government is taking when it comes to this sector of cotton.” He added that the Dutch government was committed to work towards achieving sustainable goals till 2030.


Sharing his views, Program Mentor Anoop Kumar focussed on not just cotton commodity specifically, but also talked about some changing issues related to agricultural marketing. He talked about farmer suicides in cotton producing areas in Maharashtra and Telangana stressing on the nedd of Farmers’ income revolution.


As the inaugural session got over, Nawin Sona Natesan, gave a presentation on Need for Innovations in Marketing: Role of New Technologies, BIGFAB6 and Policy Reforms. He stressed on the need of cloud computing and how it was the need of the hour today.
Following that, Pankaj Pipariya, Sales Leader, India-South Asia, The Weather Company, an IBM Business gave a presentation on Weather Intelligence: Making Smarter Decisions in Agro Commodity Market, at the summit. Talking about technology improving the efficiency of the system, Pipariya called for pro-active approach. He also talked about 100+ assignments as IBM and agriculture joined hands, informing that agriculture was the reason behind 90% of the crop loses today.
As the second panel discussion on ‘Farm to Fashion – Leveraging Technologies for Better Market Linkages’, started, Deepak Pareek, CEO, DigiAgri, talked about importance of sustainability and how it can double up the farmers’ income. Shedding light on their projects, Pareek shared about its initiatives like DNA mapping, Pareek told how his company reduced the use of fertilizers and increase farmer income.


Speaking at panel discussion on Fintech Led Transformation in Cotton & Agro Commodities Sector: The Present, The Future & the Role of Commodity Exchanges, Nawin Sona Natesan, said, “The way if doing business in the US and other countries is different. We still need to catch up especially at the collective level.” He talked about price risk for cotton adding how a farmer can get a guarantee for price.
Speaking in concurrence, Sunil Kumar, Senior Manager, Multi Commodity Exchange of India Ltd (MCX), talked about their price risk and how MCX was helping farmers trace real time prices.


S C Mudgerikar, Director, Central Warehousing Corporation, talked about the logistics and supply chain management to ensure holistic development of commodity spectrum, at the event. He called for steps to cut down logistic cost and increase farmer income. He also stressed on steps needed to reduce wastage during storage and transportation and curb inflation. He also shared that the corporation was working to bringing mandis to doorstep of farmers and create barrier free market. He also talked about upcoming logistics infrastructure like dedicated fright corridor and other industrial corridors that could ease the situation.


Speaking on the same topic, Sachindra Pratap Singh, Managing Director, Maharashtra State Warehousing Corporation, talked about importance of warehouses and why farmers were restricted to store their products there. He added that to facilitate famers over this, the Maharashtra government was coming up with a greater platform of all warehouses that will help not just farmers but industrialists al well.


H K Sharma, Secretary, Cooperative Department, Government of Sikkim, while speaking at the Elets Marketing Innovation Summit, said, “It is the only organic state in India and with that, comes a lot of ground work. We have very limited agricultural product like fruits or green vegetables and whatever we produce goes to army. We are planning expansion and modernization. Transportation is a huge problem.” He suggested that policies for hill areas should be different from rest of India, to improve the situation.


India’s ‘Cotton Man’ Suresh Kotak, Chairman, Kotak Group of Companies also marked the event. He expressed his happiness to be at the event. Throwing light on opportunities and challenges in cotton market, he also talked about the concept of demand related supply adding that if we supplied better quality cotton, we could get better goods. He also called for better transport and warehouse facilities.


Speaking about best practices of commodity marketing across India, Nitin Bhadauria, District Magistrate, Almora, Uttarakhand, talked about irrigation facilities, movable fencers in different areas, and increasing production of indigenous Himalayan products, among others, taken by the state authority.


G Lakshmi Bai, Director, Telangana State Agricultural Marketing Board, praised Elets Marketing Innovation Summit. She shared Telangana’s steps towards improving farmer income, direct marketing and reasonable vegetable prices for consumers.
Swati Bhadauria, District Magistrate, Chamoli, Uttarakhand, shared problems related to location, wild animals etc, faced by the state. Giving details about the measures taken, she talked about new techniques, crops and seeds along with integrated value management system, being adopted by the state.
P D Patoduia, Chairman & Managing Director, Prime Urban Development India Limited addressed the audience on how Maharashtra is showing way in cotton and Agro Commodities marketing with innovation and technology, at Elets Marketing Innovation Summit.


Meanwhile, the special occasion also saw the launch of eGov magazine special issue. Elets Founder and CEO Dr Ravi Gupta, did the honours, in the presence of Maharastra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, Nawin Sona Natesan, P D Patoduia, Tang Guocai, Hon’ble Consul General of the People’s Republic of China in Mumbai, among others.
Tang Guocai, Hon’ble Consul General of the People’s Republic of China in Mumbai, expressed happiness to be a part of the event as he shares his views on marketing innovation and technology in cotton and agro commodities marketing.


Atul S Ganatra, President, Cotton Association of India, said, “Today Maharashtra farmers are facing problems related to production. To solve the issue we have started Cotton farmer training school. For that we have allocated two big offices in our Mumbai building and a budget of Rs 125 lakh.”


Md Lutfor Rahman, Hon’ble Deputy High Commissioner, Bangladesh Deputy High Commission, speaking at Elets Marketing Innovation Summit, said, technology was very important in business. In developing countries like India, Bangladesh and China, there is likelihood that agriculture was neglected. He called for the sector’s improvement as it was very important for the countries’ growth and development.
In the end, Elets CEO presented mementos to all the guests and speakers, as the event ended on a high note.

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