Mr. Rajnikant Shroff (alias Mr. Rajju Shroff) is born in a family of entrepreneurs in a small town in Kutch, India. Passionate about chemistry and chemicals right from the beginning, Mr. Rajnikant Shroff, the CMD of UPL, pioneered Red Phosphorus manufacturing in 1969, giving an impetus to the indigenous chemical industry.

A committed visionary

Eager to do something different, Mr. Rajju Shroff has always taken the road less traveled. A graduate of Chemistry from the Bombay University, he established a novel process of manufacturing mercury salts in a plant at U.K. and was paid royalty for it by the British Company; a big achievement for any Indian way back in 1957. Soon after, he mastered red phosphorous and quickly moved on to the production of other chemicals like Aluminium Phosphide (fumigant) and Zinc Phosphide (rodenticide) for agriculture. In 1980s, UPL started launching an avalanche of crop protection products and is one of the leading total crop solutions providers in the world now.

Motivated to make a real difference

He believes that the prosperity of his company must be shared with not just the stakeholders but the society at large too. His wholehearted support encourages one and all at UPL to contribute to various social activities and actively work towards betterment of the people.

Looked up to by the world

His dedication to his company and his causes is unwavering. His many awards are a mere testimony of his legend.

Some of them are:

• AGROW Lifetime Achievement Award in September,2015 in London
• UPL listed by the World CSR Congress as one of the top ‘50 Most Caring Companies Award 2014’
• Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award (manufacturing) in 2013
• Rolta Corporate Award 2010
• Indian Chemical Council’s Lifetime Achievement Award for the entrepreneur in 2010
• Lifetime Achievement Award by Chemexil in 2008
• Shri. Rajju Shroff, Chairman and MD of UPL was bestowed with the Lifetime Achievement Award in the year 2015 by AGROW
• UPL won the Friendly Green Factory for Year 2016 (7) at Vietnam ‘s ‘BRANDS FOR ENVIRONMENT’ UPL won the first position in the Agrochemical Sector awarded by Dun & Bradstreet India's Top 500 Companies in 2016. Mr. Rajju Shroff, CMD-UPL received the Award
• UPL India, Brazil & Mexico are awarded 'Great Place to Work' certificate by GPW, India.
• UPL Jhagadia won the silver ‘EKDKN Exceed Award 2017’
• UPL announces the acquisition of Arysta
• Mr. Rajnikant Shroff honoured with the Mexican Order of the Aztec Eagle

Mrs. Sandra Shroff, is the Vice Chairman of UPL. She is also at the helm of Enviro Technology Limited and Bharuch Enviro Infrastructure Limited as Director.

A problem-solving industrialist

Apart from the growth of her company which is her top priority, she has been closely associated with ICMA (now known as ICC), FICCI, Assochem and CHEMEXCIL. Instrumental in resolving the problems faced by the chemical industry throughout India, over the last three decades she has been a major contributor to the rapid industrial growth at Ankleshwar and Vapi.

Driving social welfare with gusto

Mrs. Shroff’s social contribution is at par with her contribution to the growth of the Indian Chemical industry. Actively promoting social infrastructure such as hospitals and schools, she is renowned for the establishment of institutions that are ranked among the best in South Gujarat. As a Trustee of the GnyanDham Vapi Charitable Trust, the Ankleshwar Industrial Development Society, Sandraben Nursing College and the Ankleshwar Rotary Educational Society, she spearheads their various social upliftment projects.

Mrs. Shroff’s sensitive mind and emphatic attitude towards life are also evident from the fact that she has adopted the Model Eklavya Residential School at Ahwa, which is a school for tribal children in the Dang district. She is also involved in umpteen social and welfare activities such as building of village schools, providing tube-wells to villages and helping the tribal farmers with better methods of farming and agriculture.

She was also the President of the Burns Association of India and had the honour of being a member of the National Integration Council which is attended by the Prime Minister and chaired by the Home Minister.

Jai Shroff is the Global CEO of UPL Limited. He is a well-recognized global leader in the Chemical & Agri-Inputs industry with over 30 years experience in India and internationally.

UPL group is focused on strengthening the food security in over 130 countries by offering world class technologies and solutions for sustainable agriculture production. Under Jai's leadership, UPL has been one of the fastest growing agri-input companies in the world with strong presence in the Seeds, Plant Nutrition, Crop Protection and Post Harvest, +Biologicals food preservation value chains. He has driven the transformation of UPL from a largely domestic player to a truly global Indian multinational organization.

Jai believes in the power of collaboration and inter-sectoral partnerships. He is actively involved in the global development agenda, including the World Economic Forum's Grow Africa and Grow Asia initiatives, IFPRI's Sustainable Agriculture and Global Food Security Initiative, WBCSD, Chicago Council, IGD and ICAR.

Vikram Shroff is part of the leadership team of UPL, he has been passionately driving continuous organizational improvement with his dynamic leadership, sound strategic insights and outstanding people management skills.

Blessed with the ability to look into the minutest details, Vikram has set challenging cross-functional aspirations for the company, leveraging the organizational values towards excellence. He is instrumental in making strategic decisions for the Company, leads many of the functions and has been responsible in the execution of several projects of the group.

A philanthropist to the core, Vikram is very enthusiastic about the social development projects and the educational endeavors of the Shroff family that benefit more than 5,600 students annually. He believes in spreading the light of knowledge through innovative learning methods and leads a team that constantly strives for the same.

Mr. Arun Ashar, UPL’s Director of Finance, blends knowledge and love for nature. Apart from being a highly successful Chartered Accountant with a rich experience of 42 years, he is also a member of the National Society of Friends of Trees and Giri Vihar, a well-known mountaineering club. He is known to handle matters of audit, taxation, legal, purchase and business development with the same grace with which he climbs peaks.

He is a member of The Institute of Chartered Accountants of India, completed his graduation from the University of Mumbai and obtained his CA degree from The Institute of Chartered Accountants of India.

Mr. Pradeep Goyal is a qualified engineer, having completed his B. Tech (Metallurgy) from Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur (1978) and S.M. (Materials Science and Engineering) from the world renowned Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, USA, (1980). He was trained at Mukand Limited, India and Degussa International, Germany. He also worked at Air Products and Chemicals Inc., USA for 3 years at various positions, before he joined as Whole Time Director of Pradeep Metals Limited in the year 1983. He was promoted as Chairman and Managing Director of the Company on August 31st, 2001. He is also currently on the Board of Directors of Munak Engineers Private Limited, UPL Limited, Uniphos Enterprises Ltd, Hind Rectifiers Limited, IIT Bombay Research Park, Technology Development Board and NIFFT. He has been a Trustee of ASM International, USA (2005-2008), a Fellow of the ASM International. He is also a Member of Indo- German Chamber of Commerce, Indian Merchants Chamber and Thane Belapur Industries Association. He is also the Chairman of Ekal Abhiyan of India, an NGO which operates over 1,00,000 tribal schools in India. He is also a developer of patented innovative technologies using high temperature microwaves.

Double doctorate in Chemistry from Allahabad University & France, Dr. Reena Ramachandran, former CMD, Hindustan Organic Chemicals, currently Independent Director in the Board of ‘United Phosphorus Ltd.’ (Now UPL Ltd), served as Member of Task Force, Performance Management Division, Cabinet secretariat; Member of the Board of Governors, IIT (Kanpur); Senior Scientific Officer, Ministry of Science and Technology; Member – Governing Board, Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR); Expert Member, Technical Advisory Committee on HR, Reserve Bank of India; Member of the Expert Committee of HRD Ministry for devising Policy perspective for Management Education; Member, Film Censor Board. She has over 40 years of experience across petroleum, petrochemicals and cement industry (GM, ONGC /Ex. Director PCRA/ GGM, Cement Research Institute, Ballabhgarh) & over a decade of experience in Management Education.

She was awarded as ‘Mahila Shiromani’ by Vice President of India,1989; ‘Best Communicator’ by Press Council,1989; ‘Manager of the Year’ by ONGC, 1987; ‘Energy Man of the Year’ by IBPL, Urja Research Foundation,1997; Elected Fellow of Indian National Academy of Engineering (INAE) & All India Management Association (AIMA); Dewang Mehta Life Time Achievement Award, 2009; “EXEMPLARY LEADER AWARD-2010” by CMO Asia, Singapore; Life Time Achievement Award in Higher Education by Higher Education Forum in 2011; Distinguished Alumni award by Allahabad University Alumni Association in 2015; “Life Time Achievement Award” by the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas for outstanding contribution to Oil and Gas industry during ‘Urja Sangam – 2015 “

She is the Founder President of the Forum of Women in Public Sector (WIPS). She has been associated with Women Leadership initiative in All India Management association (AIMA) for over 25 years and earlier CII committee on gender issues. She is the Founder member of the “Foundation for restoration of National Values” lead by Mr. Shreedharan, Ex-Chairman, Delhi Metro, Member of the core committee of “Centre for Governance” lead by former Cabinet Secretary, Mr. Prabhat Kumar, Associated with Non-Executive Directors in conversation Trust lead by Former SEBI Chairman.

Mr. Hardeep Singh is BA Hons in Economics from Pune University and Advanced Management Programme Kellogg School of Management.

He was Executive Chairman of Cargill South Asia until 2006 and was responsible for all Cargill companies’ businesses in India and Pakistan. Cargill Inc is a global leader in the agriculture/ food domain. He has served as Chairman Amalgamated Plantations, a Tata Enterprise. APPL holds all of the erstwhile Tata Tea plantation assets in Eastern India. He has also served as Non Executive Chairman of HSBC Invest Direct India Limited and Invest Direct Financial Services India Limited. Mr. Hardeep Singh started his career with the Tata Group and rose through the ranks to be Director – Agrochemicals Rallis India Limited. During his stewardship Rallis Agrochemicals become the largest Agrochemicals business in India with unique assets and capabilities.

Mr. Hardeep Singh has chaired Confederation of Indian Industry [ CII ] national task force on food security and is a past member of National Council of CII and the National Committee for Agriculture of FICCI.He is a keen observer and practitioner in the Global and Indian Agriculture and Food arena. He has been an invited speaker on food and Agriculture at Global Forums including the World Bank, US Department of Agriculture Global Conference, International Food Policy Research Institute [ IFPRI ] in Washington DC, Imperial College UK. He has been a guest lecturer at IIM Ahmedabad.

Vasant P. Gandhi is Ph.D. from Stanford University and a Professor at the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad (IIMA). He holds a Post-Graduate Diploma in Management (MBA) from IIM Ahmedabad and a Bachelor of Science in Agriculture from Pantnagar. He has been Chairman of IIMA's Centre for Management in Agriculture, a Board member of IIMA, and the founder Chairman of IIMA's Post Graduate Programme in Agri-Business Management which is ranked no.1 agri-business programme in the world. Dr. Gandhi has worked with the World Bank and the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) in Washington, and at the grassroots level in agriculture and development in India. He has been Visiting Professor at University of Sydney, and James Cook University in Australia, and is adjunct Professor at the University of South Australia. He has produced numerous books and over 100 research papers on issues ranging from economics, finance, food & agriculture policies, institutions & technology in agriculture, as well as markets & agribusiness. A well-known economist and management expert, he has been on a Prime Minister's Task Force, and consultant & advisor to numerous public and private organizations and, is on the Boards of several companies.

Ms. Usha Rao-Monari is a seasoned investment professional with almost 30 years of investment experience, particularly in the infrastructure area. Ms. Rao-Monari is currently a Senior Advisor to Blackstone’s Infrastructure Group. Prior to that, she served as Chief Executive Officer of Global Water Development Partners, a Blackstone portfolio company. Prior to Blackstone, she held several senior positions at the International Finance Corporation, part of the World Bank Group. Her last position there was Director of the Sustainable Business Advisory Group. Other positions included Global Head of the Water and Environmental Group, Head of Utilities and Public Partnerships, and experience in the petrochemicals and manufacturing business areas. Ms. Rao-Monari was instrumental in founding and establishing the 2030 Water Resources Group, a public-private partnership platform, which is now part of the World Bank Group. Prior to that, she was with Prudential Bache in the corporate finance and mergers and acquisitions areas in New York and London. Ms. Rao-Monari has held a number of Board and advisory positions including on the Veolia Sustainability Committee to the Board, WaterHealth International Board, and Co-Chair, Steering Board, 2030 Water Resources Group, and chair/cochair of several World Economic Forum councils including Water, Natural Capital and Biodiversity and Environmental and Natural Resource Security.