Deepak Ramaswamy

Deepak Ramaswamy

Deepak Ramaswamy represents the third generation of family management at the ICSA Group which has interests in Integrated Logistics, Poultry Farming, Agriculture, Tyre Retreading & Angel Investments. The Group has recently forayed in to software development mainly in the area of automating Logistics processes.

He holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Economics from Loyola College, Chennai & a Masters in Business Management from the Asian Institute of Management, Manila, Philippines.

He is also a Customs Authorized Signatory under Rule 6 of the present Customs House Agents Licensing Regulations & certified in the Dangerous Goods Regulations for Air Cargo Transport.

Since 2008 when the flagship of the group was converted from a partnership firm to a private limited company under the name of International Clearing & Shipping Agency (I) Private Limited, (ICSA) he had served as its Managing Director under the Chairmanship of his father K. J. Ramaswamy & subsequently on his demise in July 2018, has taken independent charge in the same capacity.

He has an industry experience of over 25 years in Logistics, starting his career as a trainee in 1994, obtaining valuable hands on working experience across the Ship Agency & Customs Clearance divisions before being appointed as a partner in 1998. Since then, with the support & assistance of a highly professional & skilled management team, the group has forayed into numerous new areas such as Air & Sea Freighting, Multimodal Transport, Warehousing & Distribution, Port Terminal Operations, while strengthening its two core verticals. He is also credited with the founding & development of the Group’s trucking division which from a mere 3 trucks in 1998, grew to a fleet of over 150 vehicles in less than 15 years. He also personally oversaw the establishment of the company’s overseas partner network wherein today ICSA is present through these partners in over 100 countries & gives it the capacity to provide seamless door to door services for its clients to virtually anywhere across the globe.

The group continues to remains a closely held family owned entity with top priority on maintaining the highest levels of ethics & values in its activities which the family holds very close to its heart. He is hands on & actively involved in the day to day affairs & at the forefront of his efforts, remains a continuous & never ending endeavour to move the group from a traditionally family owned & managed entity, to a more professionally run & managed organization, commensurate to international standards. Testimony to this effort is the ISO 9001 – 2015 certification received by the organization in 2016, & very recently, a certification & recognition of the Indian customs as an Authorized Economic Operator for the Logistics Operator Category (AEO-LO).

He is an active member of the Confederation of Indian Industry, & has held the post of Chair for the Chennai Chapter of Young Indians (an integral part of CII) for the year 2014 – 2015. He has held the post of Secretary for the South Indian Chapter of the Association of Multi Modal Transport Operators Association of India (AMTOI) & also as its Southern Regional Convenor.

In his personal capacity he is actively involved with the Alumni of Two Schools & the Asian Institute of Management, & is actively working with start ups in Chennai including in the capacity of an angel investor.

He has a passion for travelling, motorcycling, and his most treasured hobby is Aero-modelling & Radio Controlled Cars.

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Vicky Chandhok

Vicky Chandhok

Vicky was the President of the Federation of Motor Sports Association of India (FMSCI) for 7 out of the 10 years from 2003 to 2013. He is the Vice President of the Madras Motorsports Club and a trustee of the Madras Motorsports Trust which governs India’s international race track in Madras.

He has been in the business of Automobile spare parts and Motorsports for many decades.

  1. Started Motor Racing in 1972 at the Sholavaram Race Track in an Ambassador and raced till the year 2001.
  2. Raced Formula Ford in 1982 and graduated to Formula 2 from 1983 till 1989. Raced at Sholavaram in Madras, Safdarjung in Delhi and Barrackpore in Kolkatta.  Has had the pleasure of racing against the likes of Vijay Mallya in a Formula 1 car, the Late Maharaj Kumar of Gondal in a F5000 car, the late S Karivardan in the Formula Atlantic and various other luminaries like Jim Crawford. Tiff Needell, Ajit Thomas, David Pieris etc.
  3. Also raced the F3 in 1993.
  4. Has participated in many National rallies and races and ended his driving career after winning the South India Rally in the year 2000.
  5. Has taken part in perhaps close to 500 events of all kinds in this country and had a collection of 360 trophies over the years. He donated 200 plus trophies a few years ago to the various poor schools in Madras which they used for their sports day activities.
  6. He also had the rare privilege of taking part in the 2 Wheeler National Rallies of over 3800 kms in length as the official Factory rider for Royal Enfield and Vijai Scooters. He also won the first motocross championship in India on an Enfield 200 motorcycle. WSRF also launched the Maruti 1000 into the Motorsport scene and with it won the toughest South India Rally in Kodaikanal on its debut.
  7. Vicky has rallied all over India including doing the Himalayan rally in an Ambassador, Fiat and Mark 2 Ford Escort.
  8. In 2005 he had the privilege of leading the Asean Rally delegation of 60 vehicles on behalf of the FMSCI as directed by the Office of the Prime Minister of India. This event of 21 days covered India, Burma, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam, Malaysia, Singapore and Indonesia. This was done to establish a road link over 8800 kms in the Asean region.
  9. Vicky also served on the Motorsport governing body which is the FIA as the Deputy Delegate from India as well as a Member of the FIA –CIK Karting commission.   He was the Vice Chairman of Sports Operations at the Inaugural Indian F1 GP and continues to serve in an advisory capacity to the JPSI who are the owners of the Buddh International Circuit
  10. In the past many years he has organized to bring down various international events to India some of which are the Formula Campus, Porsche Supercars, Formula Asia, Formula 3 and many other such events.
  11. He formed the MRF Motorsport team in 1982 when they made their debut in racing and rallying and ran their motorsport programme until 1989.  From 1993 until 2001 he ran the JK Tyre motorsport programme and WSRF also prepared seven cars for the National Rally championships of which the team won it for 5 years.
  12.  In the year 1987 along with the late S Karivaradhan WSRF put together 30 of the single seater Formula Maruti cars which formed the backbone of all single seater racing in India and transformed track racing.
  13. He today plays a very active role in the promotion and organization of  Motoring events & officiating at International events.

 

 

 

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Prasanna Rajagopalan

Prasanna Rajagopalan

“Opportunities knock on people who understand how to solve problems.“

Prasanna Rajagopalan is a second-generation entrepreneur- with 20+ years of experience in running successful MSME businesses. He is a Creative strategist, eternal optimist, loves challenges and always finds an out of the box solutions, and offers a different perspective to solving any situation that presents in front of him.

He brings with him a diverse experience in various industries and his strong and unique ability to Collaborate, Create and Connect refers to the ways in which he enables growth opportunities by creating a perfect environment to collaborate with expertise, forging smart partnerships, and creating innovative solutions for all business needs. His strength is his network and very well respected in multiple circles, Public Forums, Trade bodies, Industry Associations, etc….

Expertise and Experience:

Strategy and Business Development in Shipping, EXIM Trade, and Logistics

ROI-based solutions in new technology, Business Ideas accelerator, and Growth Enabler.

He has wide experience in various international markets such as USA, SE ASIA, India, and the UK and has worked overseas at Senior management levels in Large Commodity Trading Houses, Shipping Companies in Singapore, USA

Public Forums and Leadership:

An active member of the Confederation of Indian Industries. He has held multiple leadership roles over the decades. Southern Regional Chairman: Young Indians by CII, National Council Member, Vice-Chair of International Linkages, Lead the Mystic South Book initiative first of its kind for CII to promote Industries in the Southern Region of India. The book was released by the 6 Chief Ministers.

Represented India through Cii -Young Indian on Global Platforms such as G20 Young Entrepreneurs Forum, and Lead the delegation at the Commonwealth Asian Alliance of Young Entrepreneurs (CAAYE).

A committed member of the Rotary Club of Madras – District 3232.

Qualification:

Bachelor’s in Commerce (BCom) – Loyola College Chennai India | MSc Intl. Shipping Trade & Finance -City University Business School, London United Kingdom

Authorized Signatory under Regulations 8 of the present Customs House Agents Licensing Regulations 2004

Special Interests and Hobbies:

Avid Golfer / Tennis / Widely Travelled / Actor & Model / Loves Swimming

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Chaitaly Mehta

Chaitaly Mehta

“Logistics is a simple word but with a complex connotation – it has so many branches that interconnect, overlay, yet is a strong invisible thread that ties the World Economy together like Spiderman’s Web! “

Chaitaly Mehta, has 25 years of experience as a 3rd generation customs broker and a 2nd generation Freight Forwarder. She is also popularly known as the Helicopter Lady of India and is the 1st lady to handle Helicopter Logistics from start to finish. She is at the helm of all Strategic Business Engagements at her company – EKF Global Logistics Pvt Ltd, Mumbai, previously called Express Kargo Forwarders Pvt Ltd.

Chaitaly’s inherent ability as a natural problem solver and keen observer allows her to quickly learn the trade and carve out a niche for herself in this dynamic sector. Her expertise in the Air Cargo and Projects will add immense value to the group.

Public Forums and Leadership:

Chaitaly was also the 1st woman office bearer for ACCAI Western Region – Air Cargo Agents Association of India, a National Association representing the Air Cargo Industry in India.

She was invited to be a member of the Illustrious CEO Forum, which comprises more than 120 CEOs, Directors from the Top Companies of India and the World like Zydus Cadila, HCL Technologies, Raymond Group, Savex Technologies, Della Group, etc.

Recognitions and Achievements:

Bhandarkar Shipping Times, Entrepreneur Excel – Entrepreneur of The Year, Mumbai Air Cargo Customs, India Business Group, and Navi Mumbai Chamber of Business & Industries. Her articles have been published in leading Cargo magazines not only in India but also in North America.

Qualifications :

BA Economics – HR College of Commerce and Economics / LLB- Bachelors in law- New Law College, Pune India

Hobbies and Special Interests:

She is a TEDx speaker – and her inspirational talk entitled “The Accidental Entrepreneur” can be found under the TedX Versova series, wherein she sheds light on how she started her career in the Logistics Industry.

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Subramanian Balachandran

Subramanian Balachandran

Balachandran is an experienced Senior Management member with 25+ years of experience in logistics verticals such as Ship Agency, Customs Clearance, Freighting both Sea & Air, Warehousing, Trucking, & Multi-Modal Transport at various levels. Visionary thinking for building company infrastructure, and products from the ground up and spearheading profitable growth. He possesses strong multi-tasking skills with the ability to simultaneously manage all verticals of logistics activity.

He is MBA Graduate & also a Customs Authorized Signatory under Rule 6 of the present Customs House Agents Licensing Regulations & certified in the Dangerous Goods Regulations for Air Cargo Transport.

His varied experience provides valuable perspective to management cultivating a sense of partnership across all verticals in the company, strengthening teamwork, setting targets at all levels, vision focus, and strategies that produce the best possible business results.  He is trying balanced the drive for growth with focused responsibility & emphasis on generating the highest possible ROI.

He began his career in ICSA in 1993 to handle air freight activity, CHA basics, subsequently, he moved to the Bangalore office to start the air freight division.

In 2000, he played a vital role in obtaining IATA approval in ICSA’s name & started air freight activity in Bangalore. He also played an active role in extending the ICSA Customs licence to the Bangalore office in 2005 & obtained a separate new CHB licence in the name of the associate company M/S Deepak Agencies Private Limited in 2010. He has also handled a shipping agency for Mitusi O.S.K. Lines & Zim Integrated Container lines at Bangalore location for nearly one decade.  Later, he took over the branch operation from 2005 which includes CHB, freighting, liner agency & transportation.

In 2013, he was promoted as General Manager with overall responsibility to handle CHB, Freighting.  Later, transport & CFS activities as operational Head.

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