Berjis Minoo Desai Appointed as Independent Director of Hikal
Members of Hikal Limited have approved the appointment of Berjis Minoo Desai and Ramachandra Kaundinya Vinnakota as Independent Directors of the Company for respective terms of 5 years with effect from October 1, 2023.
Berjis Desai has been practicing transactional and dispute resolution law for the last 43 years. Since 2003, Desai has been the Managing Partner, and from 2016, the Senior Partner, of J. Sagar Associates (JSA), a national law firm having more than 300 lawyers. He retired from JSA on April 1, 2017, upon turning 60. He is now an independent legal counsel engaged in Private Client Practice, that is, succession and estate planning for HNIs and promoter families through wills, trusts and family arrangements; resolving family, testamentary and business disputes through mediation and confidential fast-track arbitration; insolvency and asset reconstruction advisory. Mr. Desai is a director of leading listed and non-listed public companies in India including The Great Eastern Shipping Company Limited, Praj Industries Limited, Jubilant Food Works Limited, Man Infraconstruction Limited, Nuvoco Vistas Corporation Limited, NU Vista Limited, Star Health & Allied Insurance Company Limited, Chambal Fertilisers & Chemicals Limited, Emcure Pharmaceuticals Limited and Inventurus Knowledge Solutions Limited. A former working journalist, he is a writer and columnist. His books, ‘OH! THOSE PARSIS’ –A to Z of the Parsi Way of Life, and ‘The Bawaji’: Chronicles of a Vanishing Community’ has been on the bestseller list of Amazon Essay Books. His novel, ‘Towers of Silence’ has just been published. His other interests include the study of esoteric Zoroastrianism and comparative religion. He graduated with first-class honours from Elphinstone College and stood first in the University of Bombay in the LLB exam. He was awarded the Rotary International Scholarship to study postgraduate law at Cambridge University, U.K. where he secured a Starred First. He also stood first in the Solicitors’ Examination.
V. Ramachandra Kaundinya is an expert in the field of management, especially in the business of agriculture. He has experience of about 35 years at very senior positions followed by consulting experience of 9 years. He is an author, strategic management consultant, teacher, and policy analyst in India. He has served on the Boards of Axis Bank, Syngenta India and Axis Finance. He was the Chief Executive Officer at Advanta Ltd, Emergent Genetics India and Cyanamid Agro. He served as a member of the senior management team of Hoechst India for 13 years. He started his career as a marketing executive for Hyderabad Chemicals (Excel group). He has served as Chairman of the CropLife India and Agricultural Group of the biotech industry association called ABLE and was the Director of the Association of Seed Industry (ASI). He is currently the Director General of the Federation of Seed Industry of India. He teaches Agri-Business Strategy to Agri MBA students at IIM-A. He is a Graduate of Agricultural Sciences from the Andhra Pradesh Agricultural University and holds a Post Graduate Diploma in Management with specialisation in Agriculture from the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad.
