MAM
Ankur Aggarwal elected chairman of CropLife India during 44th AGM
Mumbai: CropLife India announces a significant leadership transition with the election of Crystal Crop Protection Ltd, managing director, Ankur Aggarwal as the new chairman of the board during its 44th Annual General Meeting. Aggarwal succeeds K. C. Ravi, who served as chairman for the past four years, bringing his extensive expertise to guide the organisation’s mission of advancing sustainable agriculture in India.
The AGM also re-elected Sumitomo Chemical India, vice president, Anil Kakkar as vice chairman for a fourth consecutive year. Additionally, Bayer CropScience, chief operating officer for India, Bangladesh, and Sri Lanka, Mohan Babu joins the leadership as the second vice chairman of the board.
Aggarwal emphasised the challenges facing India’s agriculture, stating, “India is confronted with a pressing challenge: decreasing agricultural landholdings alongside a growing population, which is increasing at about 0.8 per cent annually. This scenario heightens the demand for food production, putting pressure on food systems and necessitating innovative solutions for food security. To address this, the adoption of sustainable agricultural practices, efficient resource management, and responsible use of crop protection solutions will be essential for maximising productivity on existing farmland. As the Chairman of CropLife India, we remain committed to improving the lives of Indian farmers. We are dedicated to providing them with science-based solutions that ensure effective and sustainable crop protection.”
CropLife India, secretary general, Durgesh Chandra expressed confidence in the new leadership, stating, “It will be our earnest endeavor in collaborating closely with Ankur Aggarwal and the board of directors, to fulfill our responsibility in delivering the latest and safest innovations. Together, we aim to educate farmers on the safe and responsible use of crop protection solutions, ensuring they can effectively protect their crops while prioritising safety and sustainability.”
With its members working closely with farmers, the scientific community, and policymakers, CropLife India continues to tackle both current and future agricultural challenges. Member companies have pledged to invest 10 billion Euros in precision agriculture by 2030, along with another 4 billion Euros in biopesticides development, reinforcing the commitment to sustainable growth.
The new leadership is set to steer CropLife India towards a more resilient agricultural future, prioritising innovative technologies and sustainable practices to help farmers meet growing demands.
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IICT partners with Gativedhi to bring studio production tools to students
New MoU lets students explore AI-driven production pipelines for AVGC-XR
MUMBAI: The Indian Institute of Creative Technologies (IICT) has teamed up with Gativedhi Technologies to give students a front-row seat to modern studio production. The collaboration will integrate Gativedhi’s AI-powered production intelligence platform, Shotrack, into academic programmes, letting students experience the workflow systems used by animation, VFX and gaming studios.
Under the MoU, faculty, students and researchers will get hands-on access to Shotrack through beta programmes, pilot deployments and academic evaluations. This will allow them to explore simulated production pipelines, understand asset management, track tasks and monitor schedules, essentially seeing how complex projects come together behind the scenes.
Shotrack is designed to tackle a key industry challenge: when multiple studios work on the same project, differing internal systems often create bottlenecks, slow approvals and complicate version control. The platform provides a unified production environment, enabling smoother collaboration across distributed teams while generating operational insights and predictive analytics to optimise crew allocation, forecast schedule risks and manage costs.
The collaboration also opens doors to Gativedhi’s wider ecosystem. Upcoming tools include StudioTrack, for studio operations management covering budgeting, recruitment and IT infrastructure, and WorkTrack, which measures workflow efficiency and team productivity across industries.
IICT plans to embed these tools into programmes covering animation pipelines, VFX workflows, gaming production and media project management. Students will also benefit from guest lectures, masterclasses, workshops, internships and research projects that connect academic learning with real-world studio practices.
IICT CEO Vishwas Deoskar, said the partnership provides “An environment where production pipeline tools can be explored, tested and refined while students gain insight into how large-scale productions are organised.”
Gativedhi Technologies founder & CEO Senthil Kumar added, “This collaboration introduces students to real-world studio management tools and helps us improve our platform with academic feedback.”
With Shotrack in classrooms, India’s future animators, VFX artists and gaming producers will get a taste of studio life long before they step into one.
