Abhiram Seth is the Managing Director of Aquagri since 2008. Aquagri is an enterprise focused on promoting Aqua Agriculture through self-help groups, amongst the coastal communities. He is carrying forward the work originally initiated by Pepsico for manufacturing bio-stimulants for Agricultural application and Carrageenan an ingredient used by the food processing industry from the sea plants grown locally.

Till March 2008 he was the Executive Director – Exports and External Affairs for PepsiCo India. Starting in 1993 he led Pepsico’s exports and agricultural development efforts in India. In this role he worked on creating backward linkages with the farmers for sourcing raw material by leveraging a unique Public-Private partnership built with the Punjab Government and Punjab Agricultural University.  Pepsi’s Contract Farming model is now acknowledged as a major private sector initiative in the field of agriculture. He initiated Pepsi’s foray into Citrus cultivation and Seaweed Farming, which are unique models of backward integration.

In 2001, at Pepsico he took on additional responsibility of driving the sustainability agenda and external affairs.  In this period, Pepsi made great strides in the area of Water Management and Waste Disposal.  The positive water balance initiative launched in year 2002 is now being emulated by many industries and the Zero Waste Centre initiative is widely being acknowledged as a best practice.

He started his career with Hindustan Lever Limited in 1975 where he worked for seven years in the Sales and Marketing function. During this period worked on hair and skin reparations range and helped hair products range consisting of Sunsilk and Clinic shampoos attain market leadership position. He then moved on to the MGF group, where he looked after the industrial gases business.  He also helped put together a joint venture for the group with Citi Bank for factoring.

Abhiram graduated in Economics from Delhi University, and then went on to do his Master’s in Management studies from Jamnalal Bajaj Institute, Bombay University with specialization in marketing. He was a member of the QRT team constituted by ICAR to review post-harvest technology work being done by various research establishments.

Abhiram has Chaired the Water Committee of FICCI, has chaired Food Regulatory Committee of CII and has also been the president of CIFTI. He is also actively associated in the Foreign Trade and Agriculture/Food Processing work of various apex bodies of Chambers of Commerce.