IDH, The Sustainable Trade Initiative has been working in India since 2009 to promote sustainable value chains across sectors including cotton, tea, spices, grapes, palm and apparel, by bringing together government, companies and CSOs in action-driven coalitions to jointly set ambitious targets and formulate co-investment plans that unlock scaling of sustainable production & trade to deliver large scale impact on the Sustainable Development Goals.

In the agro-commodities sector, we have worked with our partners to address issues related to responsible agrochemical use, smallholder inclusion and livelihoods, gender, sustainable agricultural practices and living income. Through promoting public-private partnerships, our projects aim to ensure quality of the produce and establish market linkages, as well as to improve smallholder farmers’ income and livelihoods.

India is also one of the largest net importers of commodities associated with global deforestation including palm oil. IDH’s market engagements in India work towards promoting responsible sourcing, through a commitment and disclosure from key market players, and collaborating with them to promote sustainable value chains. Our market programs have a direct impact on SDG12.

On manufacturing side, IDH is working with partners to address issues including worker safety and promoting sustainability in the apparel sector.

Businesses today recognize the impact that sustainable sourcing can have on their bottom lines. Transparency, traceability and ethical practices are becoming integral to business processes and IDH is engaging with different actors to design fit-for-purpose solutions to address sustainability challenges.

IDH Programs in India

Together with our partners, IDH is working in 16 states in India on approximately 40 projects, focusing on responsible agrochemical use, smallholder inclusion and livelihoods, economic empowerment of women and poor people, optimizing water use and social impact, sustainable manufacturing, worker safety and living income. We are currently working across five sectors in the state - Cotton, Tea, Spices, Palm oil and Apparel.

As a part of its ongoing engagement, IDH in India will continue to work towards creating an impact and bring in sustainable transformations across supply chains through program management, advisory services and investment services in agriculture, manufacturing and landscape programs.

 

Agriculture will continue to be the backbone of Indian economy, and hence a key area of intervention for IDH in India. IDH works in agricultural value chains across commodities with a focus on smallholder inclusion, innovative governance, gender empowerment and disruptive technology to drive sustainability in the sector.

 

 

IDH in India is working in the apparel sector in the country promoting  safe working environment for the workers in the sector. Using this as foundation, IDH will work with local factories and supply chain actors to promote sustainable manufacturing in India by working towards better working conditions, living wages and innovative finance.

 

 

Leveraging IDH global experience and positioning as a convener in landscapes, IDH in India is implementing landscape approaches in India, with a focus on water quality and quantity, restoration of soil health and establishing compacts. In addition, we are also working to link the Indian market to convene and drive responsible sourcing.

 

IDH engages with different actors to design fit-for-purpose solutions to address sustainability challenges and create sustainable models building local capacity, shared responsibilities, transparent progress reporting, and optimizing leverage to drive and sustain progress.

Our Annual Report for 2021-22 summarizes our work for the year. While most of our work in India was aligned with our goals for the year, it wasn’t immune to the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic. The field-level work was impacted in varying degrees in different regions. Together with our partners, we stayed agile and delivered around the impact goals.

Read our Annual Report 2021-22 here.

Aligning with IDH global impact themes

  • Smallholder Inclusion

    Smallholder inclusion is a critical focus area for IDH in India as smallholder farmers account for over 50% of livelihood today and 18% of the GDP.

    More info
  • Mitigation of Deforestration

    We are working to build the uptake of sustainable supply of commodities associated with global deforestation risk.

    More info
  • Living Wage and Working Conditions

    We support improved wages for the farmers through farm-level interventions.

    More info
  • Responsible Agrochemical Management

    Responsible agrochemical management will continue to be a key intervention in our agri interventions in India.

    More info
  • Gender Equality and Empowerment

    As gender inequality remains a significant challenge in India, we work towards gender empowerment through combination of our programs.

    More info

Initiatives

  • Sustainable Spices Initiative

    SSI pushes for interventions that create more farm level impact and cater to specific issues and geographies.

    Read more
    Sustainable Spices Initiative
  • Seeds of Prosperity Programme

    GAIN, Unilever, and IDH aim to improve the nutrition and health of tea farmers, workers and their families in the supply chains through the Seeds of Prosperity programme.

    Read more
    Seeds of Prosperity Programme
  • trustea

    A locally developed initiative to transform the domestic Indian tea industry; stimulating continuous improvement, and impacting the livelihoods of smallholders and workers.

    Read more
    trustea
  • UNICEF Partnership in Assam

    A ground breaking collaboration to help protect and change the lives of children and young people living in tea communities in Assam

    Read more
    UNICEF Partnership in Assam
  • Our journey with Better Cotton

    A global project portfolio managed with businesses, civil society and governments

    Read more
    Our journey with Better Cotton

The team in India

  • Jagjeet Singh Kandal

    Country Director - India

  • Jasmer Dhingra

    Director Programs - India

  • Mrinalini Prasad

    Manager - Communication

  • Vishal Gupta

    Manager - Finance

  • Sarobindo Malhotra

    Global Program Lead - LABS

  • Karanpreet Singh Bedi

    Assistant Manager - FFC & Helpline (LABS)

  • Abhishek Singh

    Manager - LABS

  • Ankith Hegde

    Program Manager - LABS, India

  • Dipendra Singh

    Program Officer - LABS

  • Saurabh Sinha

    Senior Manager – Food, Crops & Ingredients

  • Vishnu Reddy

    Project Manager

  • Sneha Maheshwari

    Assistant Program Manager - Markets

  • Jatin Bavishi

    Program Manager – TEA

  • Ruchir Pareek

    Manager, Food Crop & Ingredients

  • Pritam Kumar Nanda

    Program Manager - Landscapes

  • Kanti Nandi

    Assistant Program Manager – Tea

  • Shreejit Borthakur

    Senior Innovation Manager - Technology

  • Rishi Ahlawat

    Senior Factory Coordinator - LABS

  • Mitali Joshi

    Assistant Manager HR

  • Madhu K A

    Country Manager - LABS

  • Keerthiraj Siddapura

    Assistant Program Manager

  • Kamlesh Kumar Pal

    Program Officer - Alternate Materials

  • Anjali Krishnan

    Program Manager - Alternate Materials

  • Manvendra Pratap Singh

    Senior Program Manager

  • Jayavardhan C

    Senior Factory Coordinator - LABS

  • Manisha Majumdar

    Sr. Program Manager - WSAF

  • Kritika Gupta

    Assistant Program Manager - Communication

  • Abhinav Sen

    Senior Program Manager

  • Varun Sriperambudhur

    Assistant Program Manager

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    Bishal Chhetri

    Assistant Program Manager

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    Maryam Zameela

    Program Officer

  • Sandip Dutta

    Sr. Manager International Partnerships and Fundraising

  • Amit Mani Tripathi

    Program Manager

  • Rajni Jain

    Program Officer

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    Preity Khandelwal

    M & E Advisor

Join our team!

Here you will find our current vacancies in India. If we have no job opportunities at this moment we invite you to check again later.

Office details

Time Tower, Unit No. 318, 3rd Floor
MG Road Gurgaon 122002
Haryana, India