New Delhi: Dr US Awasthi, CEO and Managing Director of IFFCO, has become the first person from the cooperative sector to have been nominated to the list of '50 Most Influential Indians' for 2020 in a survey conducted by Fame India, PSU Watch and Asia Post. Dr Awasthi has been nominated to the list because of his efforts towards strengthening the farming community in India, his public image and decisiveness. The '50 Most Influential Indians 2020' list includes ministers, politicians, bureaucrats, industrialists, actors and journalists.
Dr Awasthi first took over charge as IFFCO's Managing Director on February 1, 1993. With nearly 50 years of experience, Dr Awasthi has been instrumental in making IFFCO a global leader in fertilizer production. Under his leadership, IFFCO has made rapid strides on all fronts and has diversified into several sectors like General Insurance, Rural Telephony, Rural Retail, SEZ, amongst others. Dr Awasthi also serves on the boards of several Indian and global companies.
With over 50 million members in 40,000 member cooperatives, IFFCO is one of the biggest agricultural cooperatives in the world, generating over $5 billion of turnover. It supplies quality fertilisers and provides services to agricultural producers. The cooperatives operate five fertiliser production plants in India and hold participating interests in plants in the Sultanate of Oman, Jordan and Senegal, in addition to investing in Canada, Peru and Argentina. Through its various services for the farmers and rural India, IFFCO is recognised for its involvement in local communities in India, whether in the fields of education, health or drinking water supply
IFFCO's digital platform, "Indian Cooperative Digital Platform," is the largest pioneering effort by IFFCO in developing a vibrant online community. It is aimed at creating the single unified platform to serve multiple needs of a farmer.