IN THE SPOTLIGHT

D Narain : A conversation on the evolution of Indian Agriculture

September 2021

Duraiswami Narain, or “D” as he is called by his colleagues, is the Senior Bayer Representative for South Asia, as well as the Managing Director & CEO of Bayer CropScience Limited. He is also the Global Sponsor for Bayer’s Smallholder Farming initiative, which aims to provide holistic and innovative solutions for smallholder farmers in developing economies to enable them to grow their farms into sustainable businesses. He is based at Bayer’s South Asia headquarters in Mumbai, India.

D’s work experience spans more than 30 years in the agricultural industry having previously worked for ITC Limited in India as part of its agribusiness start-up team. He joined Monsanto in 1998 as the Chief Financial Officer for the India Region and went on to hold various national, global, and international roles, including serving as CFO for Monsanto’s International Business and CEO for the India Region. He took over the role of Senior Bayer Representative, South Asia in December 2018 and played a key role in steering the India integration of Monsanto India Limited with Bayer CropScience Limited which was completed on September 16, 2019, following the close of local statutory approvals.

As a leader, D is a strong supporter of promoting inclusion & diversity in organizations and enjoys mentoring employees.

In his conversation with Shikha, D takes us through the Better Life Farming initiative and Bayer’s commitment to empowering 100 million smallholder farmers in developing regions by improving access to agronomic knowledge, products, services, and partnerships; the sustainability matrix that is encouraged at the firm; the digitalized ‘leap’ within the agricultural sector in India; and Bayer’s 125-year old legacy in India. Listen to D talk about the next level of evolution contributing to Indian agriculture and society at large in the video above!

Watch the full conversation between D Narain and Shikha in the video above!

Shikha Sheth
Vice President
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