Board Members

Adv. Sangeetha Viswanathan has assumed charge as the Chairperson of the Spices Board on 2nd April 2025. She has been actively involved in various leadership roles, including serving as the Central Secretary of the SNDP Yogam Women's Wing, the State Vice President of BDJS, and the State General Secretary of BDMS.

A native of Koorkenchery, Thrissur, Sangeetha Viswanathan holds an LLB from Calicut University and an LLM from MG University. She is an accomplished advocate with expertise in family, labor, civil, and criminal law, practicing at the courts in Thrissur and the Kerala High Court.

Shri. Ramesh Chandappa Jigajinagi is the current Member of Parliament in the Lok Sabha representing Bijapur Parliament Constituency, Karnataka. Earlier, he served as Union Minister of State for Drinking Water & Sanitation during 2016 to 2019 Currently, he is the Member of parliamentary committee on Social Justice & Empowerment. He has also served as the Member in various Parliamentary Committees such as Consultative Committee of Ministry of Defence, Standing Committee on Chemicals and Fertilizers, Perliamentary Committee on Commerce, Parliamentary Committee on Home Affairs and its Sub Committee on Personnel Policy of Central Para-Military Forces, etc.

Ms. S. Jothimani is the current Member of Parliament in the Lok Sabha representing Karur Parliament Constituency, Tamil Nadu. Currently, she is the Member of parliamentary committee on Defence. Earlier, se has served as the Member in various Parliamentary Committees such as Consultative Committee, Ministry of Women and Child Development, Standing Committee on Industry, Committee on welfare of Other Backward Classes. She was Councillor of K. Paramathi panchayat Union for two terms. She was Member of Tamil Nadu Censor Board from 2006 to 2009.

Shri. C. Sadanandan Master is an Indian educator and politician from Kerala, known for his resilience and long public-service career. In 2025, he was nominated by the President of India as a Member of the Rajya Sabha, India’s upper house of Parliament, acknowledging his dedication and contributions.

M. S. Manivannan is an Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer of the 2005 batch belonging to the Assam-Meghalaya cadre. He has served in several key administrative positions in the Government of Assam, including as Commissioner & Secretary handling departments such as Personnel, General Administration, and Animal Husbandry & Veterinary. He also served as the Chief Executive Officer of the State Innovation & Transformation Aayog (SITA), Commissioner of the Upper Assam Division, and Deputy Commissioner of various districts in Assam, contributing significantly to governance, public administration, and policy implementation in the state.

Shri V Ashokan is a progressive farmer from Vilpatti village of Kodaikanal, Dindigul District,Tamil Nadu. He is currently performing extensive integrated farming cultivating Pepper, Cardamom, Cloves, Kandari Chilli, Hill Garlic, Coffee, Avocado, Hill Banana, Orange. Own indigenous cows. He is the founder and Managing Trustee of Nature Care Trust.

Shri. Kothuri Venkata Subba Rao is a distinguished agriculturalist, businessman, and public representative from Andhra Pradesh. He owns and cultivates 19 acres of agricultural land, where he has been actively engaged in farming for the past 8 years. His major crops include, Rice, Red Gram, Chilli . With strong hands-on experience in agriculture and farmer welfare activities, he has been contributing significantly to the farming community. Currently, he is a Boad member of Andhra Pradesh Builders Welfare Board. In addition to his public service, he is also a successful businessman and holds a Raymond Cloth Store in Guntur.

Shri Shaji Raghavan Nair is progressive spices grower and the founding member of the Cardamom Planters Federation. He is a recepient of the prestigious National Award (Ministry of MSME, Govt. of India), from the President of India for exemplary and meritorious service. A native of Elanthoor in Pathanamthitta district, he served as an official in the Central Khadi and Village Industries Commission. He Possesses over 40 years of extensive, hands-on, and invaluable experience in traditional, sustainable, and eco-friendly farming of high-quality cardamom and pepper, with specialized expertise in innovative, cutting-edge, and internationally recognized organic farming techniques.

Shri Prasanna Kumar K. R. is a progressive pepper grower from Kerekai village in Karnataka, known for his active involvement in agriculture and rural development. With hands-on experience in modern and sustainable pepper cultivation, he represents the farming community at a broader policy level. He served as a Director of the Karnataka Planning Board from 2020 to 2024, where he contributed to state-level planning initiatives, particularly in areas related to agriculture and rural growth, bringing practical grassroots insights into policy formulation. He also served as Secretary of the Karnataka State Kisan Morcha from 2019 to 2023, playing an active role in advocating farmers’ interests and strengthening agricultural outreach across the state.

Shri. Basker Chockalingam, popularly known as “VNC Basker,” is a distinguished industrialist, planter and philanthropist from Karur, Tamil Nadu. He is the Managing Paner of the VNC Group, established in 1983, which has grown under his visionary leadership into one of South India’s leading diversied business groups. He holds degrees in Commerce and Law from the University of Madras and was the recipient of the prestigious Rt. Hon’ble Madhavan Nair Award for outstanding academic peormance in Law. Basker Chockalingam has held several senior leadership roles in prominent industrial, social, and spos bodies. He served on the Board of Rotary International (2017–2019) representing South Asia, contributing to global service initiatives and leadership development. His work has earned him numerous recognitions from universities, government institutions, and non-governmental organisations for his contributions to industry and society.

Shri. Sourabh Banka is an entrepreneur and businessman associated with the spice and agro-products trade sector in Karnataka. He is the proprietor of Jai Balaji Bhandar, a business engaged in wholesale, retail, manufacturing and trading activities, particularly in spices and related commodities. Public GST records indicate that the firm operates from Mysuru and Kodagu districts of Karnataka and has been active since 2017. Apart from his proprietorship business, Shri Sourabh Banka is also associated with several private companies as Director, including Jai Balaji Bhandar Private Limited, Jai Balaji Extractions Private Limited and Jai Balaji Oil Reclaimers Private Limited.

Shri Nileshkumar Rasiklal Patel is the Chief Executive Officer of M/s. AB Spices and the Associate Partner of M/s. Victoria Spices. He is also actively involved in his family business operating under the name M/s. Patel Amritlal Bhikhabhai, established since 1958. He has been a Board Member of the Unjha Chamber of Commerce since 2009 and Served as a President of Unjha Chamber of Commerce. He serves as the Founder President of Jan Chetana Foundation-Unjha, a youth organization dedicated to promoting social equality. He is currently serving as the President of the Unjha Spices Cleaning Factory Association since 2023. He also serves as a President of M N Patel Mahila Vikas Trust, associating in Khadi weaving from cotton yarn, by providing employment to more than 100 women in surrounding villages.

Mr. Ashvinkumar Nayak, a native of Unjha, is a senior figure in India’s agri-export sector with over three decades of experience in spices and natural products. He is the founder of Kanaiya Exports Pvt. Ltd., a Government-recognized Star Export House, with exports spanning over 100 countries. He has served as Chairman of SHEFEXIL (Ministry of Commerce & Industry, Government of India) and as Founder Chairman of the Federation of Indian Spice Stakeholders (FISS). He has also served as a Member of the Task Force Committee of the Spices Board of India, and has held roles with the GCCI, IOPEPC, and FIEO.

Smt. Bhagwati Mahesh Baldwa has been instrumental in establishing India's leadership in the global botanical and nutraceutical sector. As Chairperson of Ixoreal and Kartikeya Group and Director of Ixoreal Biomed (USA), she built Ayurveda's first Unicorn, positioning Indian Ashwagandha to command over 65% of the global market. Her work in elevating Indian botanicals earned recognition from Prime Minister Modi in "Mann Ki Baat." The highest taxpayer in Telangana and Andhra Pradesh since 2019, she brings governance experience from serving as Independent Director at NMDC Limited. Rooted in Indian values, she champions inclusive growth with 70% women in her workforce. A dedicated philanthropist, she has made significant contributions to rural development, education, healthcare, and welfare of the underprivileged and persons with disabilities across India.

Shri Shankharavh Sarkar is an income tax lawyer and tax consultant in Berhampore Income Tax Jurisdiction. He also supervises the marketing and production activities of M/s Babin Agro spice and food products. He has done his bachelor’s degree in commerce and LLB from Kalyani University.

Dr. Raka Saxena is presently working as a Programme Director (Agriculture Policy) at NITI Aayog. She has served as the Head of the Division of Technology & Sustainable Agriculture at ICAR-NIAP. With over two decades of distinguished service in agricultural economics, she has made substantial contributions to research and policy formulation. Her expertise encompasses agricultural & food policy, marketing, trade, and growth & development. With over 135 research papers and policy documents, she has also worked as a consultant for national and international organizations. She has also significantly contributed to capacity-building activities within the national agricultural research system and institution-building activities across various organizations. (Tenure: 22.04.2026 to 21.04.2029)

Rajesh Kumar Mishra is a 1995 batch IRS-C&IT Officer and holds the post of Additional Director, Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) in the rank of Joint Secretary since 2022.

Dr. Parvatam joined the Central Food Technological Research Institute (CFTRI) as a scientist in 1999 and progressed to become the Director of CSIR-CFTRI in September 2025, marking a significant step in his career within the domain of food science and microbiology. Dr. P. Giridhar has made substantial contributions to the fields of Biotechnology, Bioactive Secondary Metabolites, and Food Sciences & Technology throughout his distinguished research career. Dr. Giridhar is associated with BIS, Govt. of India, as a member of the Flavour and Fragrance Section committee (PCD-18), a scientific panel member of FSSAI (SP1), and also as a Nodal Scientist for the National Biodiversity Authority at CSIR-CFTRI, Mysore, during 2021-2025. He has also served as Director of the Referral Food Laboratory at CFTRI, Mysore, from January 2024 to September 2025

Dr R Dinesh, Director, ICAR- Indian Institute of Spices Research, Kozhikode has made significant contributions in soil fertility/ soil biochemistry/ soil microbiology of arable soils, soils under tropical forest and mangrove ecosystems. His contributions in the area of plant-microbe interaction and their influence on nutrient cycling and nutrient use efficiency in soils under perennial horticulture has opened up new areas of research. He is the co-inventor of the smart and novel delivery system for agriculturally important microbes through encapsulation (biocapsules) which is the first of its kind in microbial delivery to crops. He has also co-developed designer micronutrients and PGPR formulations which have been non-exclusively licensed to many private companies for commercialization. He has six patents and allof which have been commercialized through non-exclusivelicensing. He was also involved in the development of Spice FeRT, decision support system for soil test-based fertilizer recommendation including nutrient management plans for spice crops. He has also co-developed IISR-eZn Probe, a database of metal related genes, antibiotic resistant genes, metal homeostasis genes and biofilm related genes regulated by microbial communities in heavy metal polluted soils.He is a Fellow of National Academy of Agricultural Sciences (NAAS), New Delhi and recipient of several awards like Young Scientist Award of the Indian Society of Soil Science, New Delhi- 1999 , Young Scientist Award in Soils, Water and Environmental Sciences of National Academy of Agricultural Sciences (NAAS) -1999-2000, NAAS Recognition Award-2018 in Soils, Water and Environmental Sciences etc for his outstanding contributions in the field of in soil fertility, soil biochemistry& soil microbiology. He has published more than 50high impact research publications of national/ international repute.

The officer has been serving in the Central Government since 1992, working in key Ministries and organizations, including the Planning Commission (now NITI Aayog), Ministries of Housing & Urban Affairs, Agriculture & Farmers’ Welfare, Finance, and the Central Insecticides Board & Registration Committee. He has contributed to major initiatives of the Government such as the Delhi Metro Project, implementation of the Insecticides Act, 1968, and financial inclusion schemes viz., Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana and Atal Pension Yojana. He has also handled cadre review, vigilance, banking policy, and regulatory functions across departments, and contributed to employee welfare in Faridabad. Presently, he is handling Industrial Relations and implementation of the Industrial Relations Code in the Ministry of Labour & Employment.