Amit Narain

Focus areas - commercial strategies & international market access

Started the Boron sales office in India. Recruited a high performance sales and customer service support team. Responsible for market development strategies and delivering sales growth for the borates business of Rio Tinto in the South West Asia, Middle East and Parts of Africa. Started a Boron warehouse in the Free Trade Zone near Mumbai to augment sales and customer support. Additional responsibility of EU sales in 2021. Strong customer relationships across segment. Successfully navigated the business through various internal and external challenges without losing stakeholder centricity. The portfolio also required continuous advocacy efforts with various stakeholders in the GOI on multiple issues.

Was responsible to manage procurement spend of Rio Tinto in India as part of the Emerging market structure. As part of the portfolio managed engineering goods and services spend, sourcing needs of the local Rio Tinto India set up and also managed the procurement of the erstwhile Bunder diamond project of Rio Tinto. Recruited a skilled team of procurement professionals to deliver the outcomes. Successfully hosted the first ever Vendor Recogntion Event for Rio Tinto's esteemed vendors in India.

Was responsible to identify and pre-qualify large engineering companies in India and make them ready to participate in internal RFQs of Rio Tinto. This entailed visits to vendors and running a thorough pre-qualification audit. Assist the vendors to participate in global RFQs, help the business with ordering etc and then provide on-the-ground support (expediting, pre-dispatch inspection etc) for successful execution of orders.

Started as a trader for engineering goods. This entailed participating in global RFQs of mainly Aluminium smelters, steel companies and then sourcing the goods from the Indian vendor base. Identification of vendor base, ordering, pre-dispatch inspection and export logistics were part of the portfolio. Stepped up in the later part of the tenure to deliver mini hydel power projects in South East Asia. Was responsible to participate in bids for mini hydel projects against the Indian Line of Credit programme and then project managing the entire execution, installation and commissioning of the power plant. This required intense coordination with multiple vendors, project designers and export logistics.