Complete Event Schedule
Day One
Tuesday, 7 April 2026
Sessions begin at 14:00
14:00 – 14:05
Welcome Address
- Speaker: Sh. Niraj Shirgaokar, President, ISMA
14:05 – 14:10
Context Setting
- Speaker: Sh. Deepak Ballani, Director General, ISMA
14:10 – 15:00
Session 1 – Driving Efficiency in Sugar Industry Through Technology
- Chair: Prof. Ashutosh Sharma, IIT Kanpur
15:00 – 16:00
Inaugural Session
- Chief Guest: Sh. Pralhad Joshi, Hon'ble Minister, Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food & Public Distribution & New and Renewable Energy
- Guest of Honour: Sh. Sanjeev Chopra, Secretary, DFPD
- Sh. Niraj Shirgaokar, President, ISMA
- Sh. Madhav B. Shriram, Vice President, ISMA
- Sh. Deepak Ballani, Director General, ISMA
16:00 – 16:20
Tea Break
16:20 – 17:50
Session 2 – Factory Processing: Juice Extraction
- Chair: Sambhaji Kadupatil, Director General, VSI
- Moderator: J.J. Bhagat, Managing Director, STM Projects
- Speakers:
- • Ashok Baraskar, Uttam Sucrotech International Pvt. Ltd. (USIPL)
- • Karthik Ranganathan, Praj Industries
- • Pramodkumar Belsare, Indiana Sucro-Tech
19:30 Onwards
Networking Dinner & Cultural Evening
- Dinner and Cultural Evening
- Connect with industry leaders and peers
Day Two
Wednesday, 8 April 2026
Sessions begin at 09:45
09:45 – 10:00
Keynote Address
- Speaker: To be announced
10:00 – 11:30
Session 3 – Factory Processing: Juice Processing to Sugar Handling
- Chair: Samir Somaiya, Godavari Biorefineries
- Moderator: Sunil Singhal, Chemical Systems
- Speakers:
- • Gavin Smith, G Smith Consulting, South Africa
- • Anup Kesarwani, Chemical Systems – Liquid Sugar
- • Satyajai Mayor, Permionics – Membrane-based separation technologies
11:30 – 13:00
Session 4 – Factory Processing: Energy Efficiency
- Chair: Sh. Saurabh Diddi, Director, Bureau of Energy Efficiency (BEE)
- Moderator: Prof. Narendra Mohan, Advisor, ISMA
- Speakers:
- • Vivek Verma, SEDL – Futuristic approach in juice processing
- • Anurag Goel, ISGEC
- • Shiva Kumar, Avant Garde – Energy management in the Indian sugar industry
13:00 – 13:45
Lunch Break
13:45 – 15:15
Session 5 – Automation, Digitalization & AI-Driven Optimization
- Chair: Deepak Ballani, Director General, ISMA
- Moderator: S.C. Kalia, SI Energy Ventures
- Speakers:
- • Boris Morgenroth, IPRO Industries, Germany
- • Sumant Basu, Visionaize
- • Speaker TBA
15:15 – 16:45
Session 6 – By-product Valorisation, Zero Waste & Water Efficiency
- Chair: Sh. Ashwini Srivastava, Joint Secretary (Sugar), DFPD
- Moderator: Dr. Sangeeta Srivastava, Godavari Biorefineries
- Speakers:
- • Padma Shri Prof. G.D. Yadav, ICT – Green hydrogen and dimethyl ether production
- • Dr. Anjan Ray, Navam Capital – Water reuse strategies
- • Abhishek Tripathi, Paques – Waste treatment solutions
16:45 – 17:00
Tea Break
17:00 – 18:05
Session 7 – SugarNXT Hackathon
- Chair: Aditya Jhunjhunwala, KM Sugars
- Moderator: Sameer Sinha, Triveni Engineering & Industries Ltd.
- Teams will present innovative solutions including:
- • High-impact cane preparation
- • Micro-filtration for juice clarification
- • Advanced molecular separation
- • AI-driven cane-to-bag manufacturing
- • Converting flue gas waste into energy
- • AI for cane quality assessment
- • Advanced cooling systems for sugar recovery
- • Value-added fuels from sugar by-products
18:05 – 18:30
Concluding Session
- Hackathon Award Ceremony
- Address: Sh. Madhav B. Shriram, Vice President, ISMA
- Vote of Thanks