Board of Directors

• He retired as Secretary to the Government of India in the Department of Food & Public Distribution on June 30, 2005 after 37 years of Civil Service.
• Chairman of Swaraj Mazda Limited and Abhishek Industries Limited and ex-chairman of CWC
• Acted as a Consultant to the Word Bank
• He was awarded the “Dayanand Munjal Award” for “Manager of the Year” by the Ludhiana Management Association.

Mr. Surender Kumar Tuteja is presently the Chairman of Swaraj Mazda Limited and Abhishek Industries Limited, both listed Companies, as an Independent Director. In addition, he is also the Chairman/Director on some other public and private limited companies.

He retired as Secretary to the Government of India in the Department of Food & Public Distribution on June 30, 2005 after 37 years of Civil Service. He was a member of the 1968 Batch of the Indian Administrative Service (IAS), Punjab Cadre.

He started his career as a Lecturer in Commerce in the Shri Ram College of Commerce, Delhi where he was earlier a student. He holds Masters degree in Commerce from the University of Delhi, with first position in the University. He is also a Fellow of the Institute of Company Secretaries of India, New Delhi.

Mr. Tuteja has earlier served on different posts in Government of India, Government of Punjab and in the Public Sector, such as Secretary, Ministry of small scale Industries and Agro & Rural Industries, Development Commissioner, Small Scale Industries and Secretary, Public enterprises Selection Board, Government of India, Chairman Central Warehousing Corporation, Principal Secretary industries and Commerce and Principal Secretary Finance, Government of Punjab and Managing Director, Punjab State industries Development Corporation Ltd. & Chairman, Punjab State Electricity Board. For the year 1992 he was awarded the “Dayanand Munjal Award” for “Manager of the Year” by the Ludhiana Management Association.
 
Mr. Tuteja has also acted as a Consultant to the Word Bank of the design of a data bank system for selection to the Board of Directors and Chief Executives of Public Enterprises in Uganda and to the UNIDO as International Consultant on “Strategy & Technological Partnership” with the International Center of Medicine Biotechnology, Moscow and for the “Programming Mission on Indian Experts” to Minsk to develop Belarus/India Partnership Programme in the area of commercialisation of new technologies and innovations.

Mr. Tuteja has contributed to a number of national/international seminars/conferences in India and abroad. He participated as a Member of the India Delegation in the Fourth Ministerial Conference of WTO held in Doha, Qatar and was a member of the Executive Committee of the International Sugar Organisation, London and the International Grain Council, London.

He was also the Chairman of the Committee on Revitalisations of the Sugar Industry constituted by the Government of India in 2004 and is presently a member of the Group of Experts constituted by the Govt. of India on Sugar Sector. He is also the Chairman of the Pay Commission of the Government of Punjab.

A widely traveled person, Mr. Tuteja is also involved with a number of institutions in the field of Academics, Research and Corporate Management.

• Vision: Markets for the Masses
• Innovator of modern financial markets through PPP model
• Founder of MCX - the world's 8th largest commodity futures exchange. Also DGCX, GBOT, IEX, and SMX among others
• Driven to bring Wall Street to Man on Street
• Ranked among the 'Top 30 Global Innovators in e-finance' by Institutional Investors in 2008
• Listed among 'Dominant Financial & Futures Industry Leaders for 2008' by Futures Industry Association (FIA), Washington
• Recipient of Ernst & Young Business Transformation award
• Recognised by CLSA as one of India's top 20 entrepreneurs and inducted in their Hall of Fame

Mr. Shah is the founder, Chairman, and CEO of the Financial Technologies Group, a US$ 1.84 billion global leader in creating and operating technology centric financial exchanges for stocks, commodities, currency, and bonds among other asset classes.

Mr. Shah is often called the ‘Innovator of modern financial markets’ for his role in creating a successful public private partnership (PPP) model to build world class financial institutions from emerging economies. His vision is to bring ‘Wall Street to the Man on the street’ and drive inclusive and equitable growth through technology. He launched MCX in 2003 to create ‘Markets for Masses’. MCX is the world’s 8th largest commodity futures exchange as per the UNCTAD.

MCX’s success has inspired several countries and government entities to partner with Financial Technologies and promote various global exchanges such as Dubai Gold and Commodities Exchange (DGCX), Indian Energy Exchange Limited (IEX), IBS Forex Limited (IBS Forex), National Spot Exchange Limited (NSEL), Safal National Exchange of India Limited (SNX), Global Board of Trade (GBOT) in Mauritius, Singapore Mercantile Exchange (SMX) in Singapore and other commodity ecosystem ventures.

Mr. Shah is a recipient of the ‘Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year’ award for business transformation. He has been recognized by CLSA as one of the ‘Top 20 Indians’ who can change the face of world business and has been inducted in their Hall of Fame. He has been honored with the ‘US-India Businessman of the Year’ and has been chosen by the World Economic Forum (WEF), Geneva, as the ‘Young Global Leader’. He has been presented with the ‘Global Social Entrepreneur’ award by Rotary International.

Mr. Shah is deeply passionate about the role of markets in corporate social responsibility activities (CSR) and has launched initiatives such as ‘Gramin Suvidha Kendra’ in association with India Post and ‘Pragati’ with Rotary International to empower underprivileged communities with education and training within the group.

• MD and CEO of NBHC
• Over 23 years of experience in banking and business management
• Handled major assignments in areas such as credit, international and branch banking
• Nominated by CII on its National Council on Agriculture
• Led NBHC to become the leading provider of complete commodity management solutions in India

Mr. Choudhary is Managing Director and CEO of National Bulk Handling Corporation Ltd. (NBHC), an initiative of Financial Technologies India Ltd. Under his leadership, the company has catapulted to international standards with enhanced competitiveness. Mr. Choudhary has conceived and implemented the NBHC brand identity as India’s leading provider of complete commodity management solutions.

Mr. Choudhary joined NBHC in December 2005, after having been initially deputed by SBI to MCX as Vice-President (Banking & Collateral Lending). A banker by profession, he has handled numerous challenging and high-profile assignments in areas such as credit, international and branch banking. He headed the San Jose (California) office of SBI and has to his credit the opening of a new office in Central Valley (Fresno) of California and making it profitable in a short time. He has worked extensively in branches in rural and semi-urban areas dealing with farm and SME credit.

Mr. Choudhary has over 23 years experience in banking and business management. He has held various leadership positions with SBI and MCX. He has been nominated by CII on its National Council on Agriculture. He led a CII delegation to the Parliament’s Standing Committee on Food, Consumer Affairs and Public Distribution, to present the industry’s viewpoint on the Warehousing (Development & Regulation) Bill, 2005.

Mr. Choudhary has played a crucial role in NBHC’s successes such as: the ISO 9001:2000 and ISO 22000:2005 certification (the only company of its kind nationally to have been ISO 22000-certified); Food Corporation of India (FCI) consultancy and assignments related to procurement, hedging and disposal of agro commodities; successful procurement of paddy in Madhya Pradesh for FCI and wheat in Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan for NAFED; membership of GAFTA and NPMA; and tie-ups with a growing number of leading public and private sector banks including regional and rural banks, and District Cooperative Banks for collateral management and allied services

• Director - Strategy, Financial Technologies Group
• Instrumental in setting up MCX and DGCX
• Former Chief Technology Officer, Financial Technologies Group
• Ex-Asst. Vice-President - Systems Department, NSE
• Former Head-Technology, BSE

Mr. Hariharan is Director (Strategy) of the Financial Technologies Group. He steers the company’s strategy and corporate development efforts, including mergers, acquisitions, divestitures, and global expansion partnerships. He leads corporate efforts like intellectual property (IP) licensing, venture capital, community services, and partnerships. His responsibilities also include customer intelligence and corporate affairs. He has been instrumental in setting up new exchange ventures such as Multi Commodity Exchange (MCX), Dubai Gold & Commodities Exchange (DGCX), and others in the Middle East and South-East Asia. Since joining Financial Technologies, he has been working to chart the company’s roadmap and has been ensuring that the company continues to build on its leadership in innovation and growth. Before stepping into his current position, M r. Hariharan served Financial Technologies as Chief Technology Officer, responsible for the strategic planning and marketing of the company’s brand portfolio.

Prior to joining Financial Technologies, Mr. Hariharan was vice-president of the systems department at the National Stock Exchange of India (NSE). He has also worked with NSE.IT, a subsidiary of the NSE, as a group head and handled the operations of the NEAT trading system. He was also a part of the automation and implementation team for the BOLT® trading and back-office systems at the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE).

Mr. Hariharan is a postgraduate in statistics and a gold medalist from the University of Calicut, and has attended various training programmes in the digital trading environment, fault-tolerant systems, and operations at Tandem and Stratus Computers, US.

• Responsible for Financial Technologies’ end-to-end solutions for any multiasset exchange
• Instrumental in Financial Technologies attaining the ISO 27001:2005 and 9001:2000 certifications
• Responsible for Financial Technologies' HR initiatives
• Implemented Organizational Growth Commitment (OGC) plan for Financial Technologies Group
• Designed HR policies that won the India Brand Summit - 'Employer Branding Award 2007' for Financial Technologies Group

Mr. Ajmera, a computer science engineer, has been closely involved in product design and engineering efforts at Financial Technologies to suit its trading solution needs and to optimize system performance for the user. He possesses a unique combination of deep technical skills and extensive electronic trading experience enabling him understand, design, and apply technology from a trader’s perspective. He is responsible for all delivery operations for Member’s/Institute Dealing Room Solution including control over projects, reviews, staffing, customer escalation handling, enforcement of methodologies, productivity management and efficiency improvements.

Mr. Ajmera is responsible for all end-to-end solutions required for any multi-asset exchange including solutions for order management, matching, risk management, surveillance, and clearing house operations. He leads a team which provides solutions with practically zero downtime for trading activities for exchanges such as MCX, DGCX, SNX, and IEX. As a director of NBHC, a Financial Technologies Group company, Mr. Ajmera’s strong credentials and domain knowledge in providing IT solutions for development of new generation markets, have added immense value to NBHC’s efforts in delivering value-added IT enabled solutions to the clients.

His expertise in MIS, initiation of cost control measures and lead role in streamlining account handling processes have added immense value to the organization. He has played a significant role in helping Financial Technologies achieve ISO 27001:2005 and 9001:2000 certifications.

Mr. Ajmera is also responsible for the Group’s HR initiatives, including workforce development and organizational effectiveness, talent enablement, succession planning, and information management. Under his stewardship, the Group was able to bag the India Brand Summit - ‘Employer Branding Award 2007’ for the best HR strategy in line with business, and the Asia Pacific HRM Congress - ‘Global HR Excellence Award 2008’, for ‘innovative HR practices’ and the NASSCOM innovation awards 2007 for its Distributed Order Matching Engine (DOME).

Mr. C. Subramaniam has been a Director with the Company since December 1990. Mr. Subramaniam is a self-employed entrepreneur with over 24 years of experience in the financial services industry, ranging from resource mobilization to all other aspects of merchant banking. Mr. Subramaniam graduated with a Masters Degree in Commerce and an additional professional qualification in Management and Cost Accountancy. His other Directorships include Compuage Infocom Limited, Multi Commodity Exchange of India Limited, TickerPlant Infovending Ltd, National Bulk Handling Corporation Ltd., atom technologies Ltd. and Riskraft Consulting Ltd.

• World-renowned authority on Commodity Markets
• Former Chief of Finance, Risk Management, and Information in the Commodities Branch, UNCTAD, Geneva
• Senior Advisor, International Task Force on Commodity Price Risk Management of World Bank
• Member of the Board of Advisors of the International Investment Group, LLC, a US$ 400 million hedge fund specializing in Trade Finance

Mr. Rutten is the Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of Multi Commodity Exchange of India Ltd. (MCX).

Mr. Rutten has served as the Chief of Finance, Risk Management, and Information in the Commodities Branch of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), Geneva. He joined UNCTAD in 1990 with the responsibility of developing its work on commodity price risk management and structured finance. He was associated with UNCTAD till June 2006, excluding the duration of 2000-2001 when he worked as a Senior Advisor with the International Task Force on Commodity Price Risk Management of the World Bank and during the period from January to April 2002 when he was with the Common Fund for Commodities. Earlier, he had worked on grain trade and collateralized grain finance in Mali.

Having been a team member of Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and World Bank, Mr. Rutten has extensive experience in country-level advisory work on issues related to Commodity Trade, Risk Management, and Finance. He has drafted over 40 papers on these issues and has spoken at well over 100 seminars. In his personal capacity, he has been a member of the World Bank’s International Task Force for Commodity Risk Management in developing countries, which
is convened by its President to revitalize global efforts to address the problem of Commodity Price Risk.

Mr. Rutten has taught Commodity Marketing and Risk Management at the Institute of Banking and Financial Management of École des Hautes Études Commerciales, the University of Lausanne, Switzerland. He is also a member of the Board of Advisors of the International Investment Group, LLC, a US$ 400 million hedge fund specializing in Trade Finance.

Mr. Rutten holds a postgraduate (Honours) degree in International Economic Management from the Tilburg University, Netherlands.

Mr. Sriram is the GM Rupee Markets and Global Markets at nation’s premier bank State Bank of India (SBI).With an experience of more than 28 years in various departments of SBI, Mr. Sriram has exposures in handling credit division, IT & Branch operations. He has also worked in various roles in domestic as well as in international markets at SBI. His qualifications include a degree in M.Sc., an AIMA diploma in management and a CAIIB certification.

• Vast experience in the food and agribusiness sector in India
• Founder, Indian Agribusiness Systems Pvt. Ltd.
• Founder, Indian Society of Agribusiness Professionals
• Founder Director, Rural Marketing Association of India
• Founder Director, Mission Biofuels India Pvt. Ltd.

Mr. Khairnar is a vastly experienced professional in the food and agribusiness sector in India. He has keen interest and is deeply involved in integration of small and marginal farmers into market systems and also works towards optimum utilization of IT and Internet Applications in Agriculture and Rural Development. His knowledge and expertise stands him in good stead to drive the Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) activities and Public Affairs for the Financial Technologies group. His mandate includes conceptualizing and implementing CSR projects. The focus is on creating replicable, scalable and sustainable models which create synergies amongst various state and non-state stakeholders catering to rural communities. The Public Affairs work focuses on engaging with policy makers on achieving the goal of unleashing the power of technology for the masses through the various exchange platforms and ecosystem ventures of the group.

Prior to joining Financial Technologies, Mr. Khairnar worked in the food and agribusiness sector in India for more than 14 years. After working in various commercial functions with the Godrej group and Cargill Inc for 7 years, he conceptualized and set up Indian Agribusiness Systems Pvt.. Ltd.(www.agriwatch.com), a reputed player in food and agribusiness information and consulting services domain. He founded Indian Society of Agribusiness Professionals(www.isapindia.org) which works in agriculture and rural development in 18 Indian states. ISAP was awarded "the most innovative social enterprise award 2002" by Digital Partners, USA and the National e-governance in Agriculture award from Govt. of India in 2007.

Mr. Khairnar has been on various committees connected with agriculture at the Planning Commission, Prasar Bharti and various Govt. Departments. He contributes on the advisory boards of development journals and an agricultural university. He was elected to the Ashoka Fellowship of the Ashoka Foundation in the USA in 2001. He is on the boards of a large livelihood based Micro Finance organization based in Hyderabad and a company setting up an Ultra Mega Food Park in Karnataka. He was the founder director in an Indo-Australian joint venture for bio diesel from jatropha called Mission Biofuels India Pvt.. Ltd. and also the founder members of Rural Marketing Association of India.

Mr. Khairnar is a graduate in Agriculture Engineering and a Post Graduate in Management from IIM, Ahmedabad.