CropLife India has appointed Gyanendra Shukla, MD & CEO of Rallis India Limited, a TATA Enterprise, as Chairman of its Board, marking a new leadership phase for the crop protection industry body.
The appointment was announced at CropLife India’s 46th Annual General Meeting in New Delhi. Rajvir Rathi, Head of Agricultural Affairs & Policy at Bayer Crop Science, and Giridhar Ranuva, Business Director of BASF Agricultural Solutions India, have been named Vice Chairmen.
CropLife India represents 17 R&D-led companies in the crop protection sector. Together, its members account for about 75% of the domestic market and are responsible for approximately 95% of the crop protection molecules introduced in India.
Shukla takes over the chairmanship after serving as Vice Chairman since October 2025. He succeeds Ankur Aggarwal of Crystal Crop Protection, who led the association for two terms beginning in 2024 and oversaw its engagement with the Government on the Draft Pesticides Management Bill, 2025.
The Board also thanked Aggarwal and outgoing Vice Chairman Mohan Babu Boppana of Bayer CropScience for their contributions to the association.
Shukla brings more than 35 years of experience spanning crop protection and seeds across India, Asia-Pacific and Africa. Rathi has more than two decades of experience in regulatory and government affairs and has led CropLife India’s Advocacy & Communications Committee since its inception. Ranuva brings 23 years of industry experience, including 16 years with BASF Agricultural Solutions across multiple regions, and currently leads the company’s Agricultural Solutions business in India.
Setting out his priorities as Chairman, Shukla highlighted the need to raise agricultural productivity while accelerating innovation and technology adoption.
"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"; said Shukla.
"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."
Rathi placed farmer safety, product authenticity and traceability at the centre of his agenda.
"Safe use on the farm is what keeps food safe on the plate," said Rathi. "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."
Ranuva pointed to climate change as a growing challenge for pest management, with farmers likely to face changing pest patterns and greater pressure to respond quickly.
"Climate change is rewriting the pest calendar. Pests could now arrive earlier, stay longer and appear in regions they never reached before," said Ranuva.
"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."
Under its new leadership, CropLife India said it remains committed to working with the government, scientific community and farmers to build a safe, productive and sustainable future for Indian agriculture.
