Agarwal, a senior officer of the Indian Revenue Service (IRS), has a special penchant for the shipping sector. As an IRS officer, he has served as the Commissioner of Income Tax in Mumbai and Calicut, and had been deputed twice in the ministry of shipping.

He has served as the Senior Deputy Director General of Shipping in Mumbai for five and a half years. He is now serving as the chairman of Mormugao Port Trust with additional charge of Kandla.

“I have penchant for the shipping and port sector, for these fast growing sectors are the mainstay of the country's economy and with my long stay in these sectors has given me a fair insight here, be it multi modal and inland water transport besides ports and shipping," said Agrawal.

Agrawal is also a member of the National Shipping Policy Committee and is closely connected with the formulation of policy guidelines for the growth of Indian shipping. He is also associated with the World Trade Organisation's Negotiating Group of Maritime Transport Services.

He said his immediate priorities at the Kandla Port Trust (KPT) would be to ensure the smooth running of the port by reducing congestion and properly tackling dredging.

“I went round the port-town and found the roads in a bad shape. I would now be paying attention to these things,” he said, adding that he was fortunate that he had come here when the port was heading towards regaining its number one position in traffic handling among the country's major ports.

“My efforts would be to see that the port handles the maximum possible cargo in the remaining one month to close the traffic handling figure to an all time record of 62 million tons,” he said.

He further said though he held additional charge as chairman here, he would be spending 25 days of a months here, as this was a very important port. “I have been at Goa for the past more than two and a half year and have settled things there. Hence Kandla which is likely to be national topper, will be receiving my main attention,” he said.

Bhagwan Mansukhani, the grand old man of the shipping world at Kandla, and president of the new stevedores Association said they were fortunate to get a chairman who had knowledge of the problems being faced by the port trust and the township.

“I had a talk with several heads of the department of KPT with whom he (Agrawal) held his first meeting soon after his taking over the charge. He apparently told them that the initiative for solutions of the problems faced by the trade or the port-town should come from the port trust itself. This has never happened before. People in Goa also speak highly of him,” he said.