Mr Chandra Das s/o Rajagopal Sitaram
Mr Chandra Das s/o Rajagopal Sitaram is our Non-Executive Chairman and Non-Independent Director and he was appointed to our Board on 23 December 2013. Mr Chandra Das has been the managing director of NUR Investment & Trading Pte. Ltd., a company engaged in trading and investment activities in India, Singapore and Myanmar since 1986. He also served as the Chairman of an investment company, Southern Africa Investments Pte. Ltd., a subsidiary of Temasek Holdings (Private) Limited, from 1997 to 2011. From 1997 to 2006, Mr Chandra Das was a Director with CIES Food Forum (Paris), an association of food retailers. Prior to that, Mr Chandra Das served as the Chairman of the then Singapore Trade Development Board (now known as International Enterprise Singapore), which is a Singapore governmental agency tasked with driving Singapore’s external economy, from 1983 to 1986. He was also the Managing Director of Intraco Limited, an integrated solutions trading company listed on the Mainboard of the SGX-ST, from 1976 to 1986. From 1980 to 1996, Mr Chandra Das also served as a Member of the Parliament in Singapore. Between 1970 to 1971, Mr Chandra Das was the Singapore Trade Representative to the then Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR).
Mr Chandra Das graduated from the then University of Singapore (now known as the National University of Singapore) in 1965 with a Bachelor of Arts (Hons) In Economics and holds a Certificate-in-Education from attending the former Singapore Teachers’ Training College from 1958 to 1960. Mr Chandra Das was the Chairman of the Government Parliamentary Committee (Defence & Foreign Affairs) from 1985 to 1990 and was also the Chairman of the Government Parliamentary Committee (Finance, Trade and Industry) from 1990 to 1991. Mr Chandra Das has won several awards and allocades in his career including the Distinguished Service Award in 2001 and the Distinguished Service (Star) Awardin 2005, both awarded by the National Trades Union Congress. He was also conferred Honorary Doctorates by University of Newcastle, Australia and by St John’s University, New York, in 2005.