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Profile of Speakers

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Mr. Akhilesh RathiJoint President, Federation of Madhya Pradesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry.

He is Managing Director of Savitt Universal Ltd. & Director of Bhaskar Industries Ltd. (Dainik Bhaskar Group) which is amongst the top 5 producers of Denim in the country. He is MBA Finance & an investment banker turned entrepreneur.

Mr Sameer KhareJoint Secretary, Ministry of Finance, GOI

Sameer Kumar Khare is an IAS Officer of 1989 batch belonging to Assam Meghalaya Cadre. After doing his schooling from K.V. Indore, he has completed B. tech in Mechanical Engineering from IIT Powai, Mumbai. While in service, he has completed his Post-Graduate studies in Business Finance as well as in Environmental & Ecology Management. He has attended many short-term professional courses in Infrastructure Development and Finance, Project Management, WTO & International Negotiations, Public Policy, Public Finance, Financial Markets, Defense & Security Studies & Debt Management from IIM –Ahmadabad, IIM –Bangalore, IIM –Indore, Indian Institute

of Foreign Trade, New Delhi, IILM New Delhi, National Institute of Public Finance and Policy, New Delhi, ASCI Hyderabad, Defense Resources Management Institute of Naval Post-Graduation School, USA, George Marshall NATO Centre for Security Studies, Germany and World Bank (India). Initially he started his professional career with private sector and later he joined IPS in 1988 and in IAS in 1989.

Mr A K VermaJoint Secretary, Ministry of Power

Dr. Arun Kumar Verma, 58 years, is Government Nominee Director on the Board of REC since October 6, 2015. He is an Indian Forest Service Officer of 1986 Gujarat Cadre and is a Joint Secretary in Ministry of Power. He holds a Master’s degree in Physics and is an Associate Member of Indira Gandhi National Forest Academy (AIGNFA) from FRI & C, Dehradun. He has done Ph.D in Tribal Development Policy. He has also done Post Graduate Programme in Public Policy & Management (PGPPM) from Indian Institute of Management, Bengaluru & Maxwell School of Citizenship and International Affairs, Syracuse University, USA. He has over 30

years of administrative and management experience. He has served the Power Sector earlier as Managing Director, Uttar Gujarat Vij Company Limited. Before joining Ministry of Power, Government of India he was posted as Member Secretary of Gujarat Ecology Commission, Gandhinagar and Project Director of the World Bank Funded Integrated Coastal Zone Management from July 29, 2011 to November 14, 2014. He is also a Government Nominee Director on the Board of Power Finance Corporation Limited and PTC India Limited.

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Mr. Hari BhaskarSenior Investment Operations Specialist, Investment Operations Department

Hari Bhaskar is a Senior Investment Operations Specialist, with a special focus on Energy Sector, at the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) since August 2016. He is responsible for preparing the investment projects, presenting the projects to AIIB’s Board for approval and for implementing the approved projects.

Prior to joining the AIIB, Hari has worked extensively with Alstom T&D, ABB and Siemens, the industry leaders in Power and Electricity T&D business, in India, Singapore, Vietnam and Indonesia managing projects and the project operations

delivering turnkey projects in Power and T&D space in South Asia and South-East Asia. Hari has a Bachelor’s degree in Electrical and Electronics Engineering from Madurai Kamaraj University in India and a Master’s degree in Business Administration from Nanyang Technological University (NTU), Singapore.

Mr Manu SrivastavaPrincipal Secretary, New & Renewable Energy Department, Madhya Pradesh

Manu Srivastava is Principal Secretary to Government of Madhya Pradesh, entrusted with the responsibility of Department of New and Renewable Energy. He holds a B.Tech. degree in Electrical Engineering and M.Tech. degree in Telecommunication from the Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi.

Manu has a diverse experience of over 26 years in the government sector. He has held the entire range of responsibilities in Government, starting with Sub-divisional Magistrate at the beginning of his career, and head of the district administration, to State Government and Government of India. He has worked in Government of

India, in the Ministry of Commerce & Industry(2004-06) looking after inter alia WTO issues, IPR, Free Trade Agreements, and Special Economic Zones, and in Ministry of Petroleum & Natural Gas(2006-2012) looking after all aspects of natural gas, including negotiations of transnational gas pipelines.

Subsequently, he has been working in his cadre state- Madhya Pradesh. He worked as the Managing Director of Madhya Pradesh Power Management Company and Chairperson of MP Discoms from the year 2012-15. In this role, he implemented the innovation of Reserve Shutdown (RSD) scheme in Western Region of the country, so as to ensure optimum operation of thermal power plants during low demand periods. The concept has been successfully practiced in Western Region since the last four years. On the basis of the same, RSD Regulations have been issued at the national level. The Scheme is a real-time solution for integrating Renewable Energy in the grid. He took initiative of open access on the basis of Reverse power flow, the first time in India, leading to enhanced utilization of transmission capacity over and above the approved Open Access.

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Mr K.K.Sharma, IAS (Retd)Advisor, ISA

Mr. Kewal Kumar Sharma, former Secretary to the Government of India in the Ministry of Human Resources Development, Department of Higher Education has made exceptional and outstanding contribution in ushering reforms in the higher education system of the country. New Regulations by the Universities Grants Commission to grant higher autonomy to well performing universities in the country to improve quality of higher education, new regulations to set up autonomous colleges, launching of a scheme for creating new educational Institutions of Eminence (10 each in private public sector) to reach among global 500 in next ten years, full

autonomy to the Indian Institutes of Management through a parliamentary Act, launch of country’s own MOOCs platform SWAYAM are among the major highlights of his tenure.

Mr Narayan Singh KushwahHon’ble Minister of New & Renewable Energy, Government of Madhya Pradesh

Narayan Singh Kushwah is an Indian politician and member of the Bharatiya Janata Party. Kushwah was a member of the Madhya Pradesh Legislative Assembly from the Gwalior South constituency in Gwalior district.

Ms Rita Roy ChoudhuryAssistant Secretary General, FICCi

Rita Roy Choudhury is presently Assistant Secretary General, FICCI, in-charge of the domains of Environment, Climate Change, Water, Sanitation, Renewable Energy, Power, and Coal. She has over 20 years of professional experience.

Rita has led FICCI’s expansion in the environment, climate change and renewable energy domains and has initiated FICCI’s foray in areas such as sustainable waste management, clean energy, biodiversity, sustainable finance, and corporate sustainability with stronger focus on regulatory and policy advocacy as

well as thought leadership in these areas. She is the focal point for FICCI’s Council on Sustainability, Energy and Water, and steers FICCI Committees on Environment, Climate Change, Solar Energy, Wind Energy, Bioenergy, Power as well as the FICCI Water Mission. She also heads the secretariat of the India Sanitation Coalition.

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Mr Subhomoy BhattacharjeeConsultant, RIS

Subhomoy Bhattacharjee, with twenty-two years of experience in journalism, is a Consulting Editor for Business Standard. His areas of interest include public policy, especially regulatory issues, finance and urban development. He is the author of Special Economic Zones (SEZ) in India: Myths and Realities. He has authored a study on the Land Acquisition Act, a project on comparative land prices in India’s selected districts and its relation with industrialisation, commissioned by GIZ, India, and TARI. He has previously contributed to other books, including Media at Work in China and India: Discovering and Dissecting (SAGE, 2015).

Subhomoy studied economics at Shri Ram College of Commerce and at Delhi School of Economics, both affiliated to the University of Delhi. He began his career as a civil servant, joining the Indian Information Service through the civil services exam. He has subsequently worked with The Economic Times and was until recently the deputy editor at The Indian Express while writing for The Financial Express too. Presently, he is also a consultant with Research and Information Systems for Developing Countries (RIS). He frequently appears on television and radio on economic news programmes and has lectured in several universities in India and abroad, on public policy.

Dr Vivek SharmaDirector, Energy & Natural Resources, CRISIL

Dr Rahul TongiaSenior Fellow, Brookings

Dr. Rahul Tongia is a scholar and researcher in areas of technology and policy, especially for sustainable development, and a Fellow at Brookings India (and the Brookings Institution), where he leads energy and sustainability studies. His areas of research are broad and interdisciplinary, spanning technology and policy, with domain expertise in energy/power and IT/telecom. His energy work has spanned seminal studies on India’s nuclear power program, importing natural gas, power pricing, smart grids, and political economy, and current areas of focus include Renewable Energy (RE), Smart Grids, access to energy, and reforms.

He was the founding Advisor to the Smart Grid Task Force, Govt. of India, and the India Smart Grid Forum, bodies he was instrumental in setting up. He is also an Adjunct Professor, Carnegie Mellon University, and was on the faculty at CMU for many years, with appointments in the Dept. of Engineering & Public Policy and School of Computer Science. Dr. Tongia has a Ph.D. in Engineering & Public Policy from Carnegie Mellon University in 1998 and a Sc.B. in Electrical Engineering from Brown University.

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Dr Gireesh ShrimaliDirector, CPI India

Dr. Gireesh Shrimali is the Director of CPI’s India program, and a Fellow at the Steyer-Taylor Center for Energy Policy and Finance at Stanford University. He leads CPI India’s team of analysts who work to increase investment for India’s renewable energy and green growth targets, by analysing barriers to investment, and developing policy and financial solutions to those barriers. Gireesh and his team work closely with the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy, the Ministry of Finance, and other policymakers to help advance India towards its clean development goals.

Dr Pradeep Perera Energy Head, India, South Asia Department, Asian Development Bank

Dr. Pradeep Perera has graduated with Degree in Electrical Engineering from University of Moratuwa Sri Lanka and PhD degree from Imperial College in Power System Economics. Prior to joining he has worked in the World Bank Group. He has been with ADB since 2003 and has worked in PRC, India, Viet Nam and Lao PDR. He is currently leading the ADB’s energy sector program in India.

Dr Kaushik DebBP Group, Economics Team

Trained as an applied economist, Kaushik Deb led analysis of the global natural gas markets, and macroeconomic developments in the Asia Pacific region in the Economics team in BP. Previously in IDFC, his portfolio included policy research and advocacy on infrastructure and environmental economics issues. With as a Doctor of Sciences from the ETH, Zurich, he has also guided and implemented research in applied economics in TERI University. He also was the Programme Director of the MBA Programmes in the University.

Mr Vinod KalaCEO and Founder, Emergent Ventures

Vinod Kala: is the Founder and Managing Director of Emergent Ventures India (EVI), a leading Advisory Firm in the area of Climate Change, Sustainability and Renewable Energy, with footprint of customers across 28+ countries. Vinod Consults with Governments, Development Financial Institutions, UN Organizations and Corporates. EVI has been involved with Projects with GHG Mitigation of 150+ Million T Co2e and 15 GW+ of Renewable Energy Projects in various capacities.

Vinod is known for promoting new concepts in Technology and Finance and helping their institutional deployment. He has pioneered design and launch of

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Aggregators for Renewable Energy (Wind, Solar, Hydro, Bio-mass), Energy Storage (Roadmap and Energy Storage Mission for Government of India), Smart Grids (Institutional Structure and Business Models for National Smart Grid Mission), Wind Solar Hybrids, Financial Instruments such as Carbon Credit backed Mezzanine Capital, Risk Guarantee Funds, Green Bonds, Infrastructure Investment Trusts, Debt Funds etc.

Dr Kaushik BandyopadhyayProfessor, IIM Lucknow

Prof. Kaushik Ranjan Bandyopadhyay, currently with Indian Institute of Management, Lucknow (IIML), is an economist and policy specialist with two decades of academic, policy research and administrative experiences. Prior to joining IIML he was engaged with the Energy and Climate Change Division of International Institute of Sustainable Development (IISD) as Senior Associate & Principal Policy Adviser. In this capacity he has also been leading UNEP India Mission on Measurement of SDG 12. c.1. Besides IISD he has also been associated as an Advisor with IL&FS IETS, as a Senior Consultant with Tata Trusts and as an expert with International Centre for

Trade and Sustainable Development (ICTSD), Geneva. Till recently, he was serving as MBA Programme Head at the Delhi based The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI) School of Advanced Studies, a deemed university, and as an Adjunct Senior Fellow with TERI, IHC Office in Delhi. Among various positions that he had held in the past, notable engagement includes serving as Member of the sub-group on transport sector formed by Government of India for providing inputs to the India Chapter of Energy Technology Perspectives 2010 brought out by International Energy Agency (IEA); columnist on energy sector with the Indian Express Group; visiting faculty with United Nations University (UNU-IIST); visiting faculty with Faculty of Management Studies (FMS), University of Delhi; visiting scholar with Asian Growth Institute (AGI), Japan under the aegis of Japanese Society of Promotion of Science (JSPS); invitee consultant with IEA/OECD for the 148th Roundtable on Vehicle Fuel Efficiency and Research Officer to erstwhile UN Special Rapporteur on Right to Development.

Dr. Bandyopadhyay has a MA and PhD in Economics from Centre for Economic Studies and Planning (CESP), JNU and a certificate in policy analysis and evaluation from University of Cornell, USA.

Mr Rohit KansalPrincipal Secretary (Planning), Govt of J&K

Mr Chintan ShahIREDA

Chintan Navinbhai Shah is the Director (Technical), Indian Renewable Energy Development Agency (IREDA). Prior to joing IREDA, Mr. Shah was the President and Head - Strategic Business Development, SUZLON Energy Limited. His main areas of expertise are in the field of policy & regulatory issues encompassing renewable energy projects and climate change. He has an extensive experience in tariff structuring, financial modeling etc.

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Dr Saon RaySenior Fellow, ICRIER

Saon Ray is Senior Fellow, Indian Council for Research on International Economic Relations (ICRIER), New Delhi. An economist specializing in industry and international trade issues, her areas of interest include global value chains, technological upgrading of Indian industries, free trade agreements and trade creation effects, technology transfer, foreign direct investment, efficiency and productivity of firms, energy and climate change related issues. She has published widely on these issues in books and journal articles. Her Ph.D. in Economics from the Jawaharlal Nehru University examined the role of intellectual property rights

in transferring technology to developing countries.

Mr H. S. PuriGeneral Manager (Finance), NHPC Limited

Mr. Puri is a 1986 batch Chartered Accountant, working in NHPC since May 1986, remained National scholarship holder of UP Govt. from 8th std to Graduation on the basis of merit worked in all areas of Finance like Financial Concurrence, Corporate Accounts, Commercial, Treasury, Internal Audit, Establishment, remained CFO of CVPPL joint venture of NHPC in Jammu and Internal Auditor of NHDC a subsidiary of NHPC in Bhopal. Actively involved in raising of bonds, term loan against CAPEX requirements of NHPC projects, short term investment. Remained guest speaker at ICAI on topic of “Professional Opportunities for fresh Chartered Accountants”.

He has 24 years field posting and for 10 years HOF of units/region.

Dr Anil KurchaniaDirector, Centre for Renewable Energy Rabindranath Tagore University

Dr Anil Kurchania is working in Rabindranath Nath Tagore University (Former AISECT University), Bhopal as Director of Centre for Renewable Energy. He is having experience of 38 years in teaching and research in the area of Renewable Energy including Solar Energy (Thermal & Photovoltaic), Biomethanation, Biomass gasification. He has successfully handled seven research projects and schemes independently as a Principal Investigator sponsored by MNRE, ICAR, PCRA. He has published 26 research papers and 6 books. He evaluated Bio-Energy Projects as Bio-Energy Expert and Research Project Evaluator for Ministry of New and

Renewable Energy, (Govt. of India). He is the Life Member of five scientific societies.

Mr Ashok Kumar RajputChief Engineer, Central Electricity Authority

Mr Ashok Kumar Rajput has more than 32 years of academic/professional experience in Indian Power Sector covering; Thermal Power Generating Stations - operation and maintenance, Planning & Development of Distribution Network, formulation of National Electricity Policy/National Tariff Policy/Rural electrification Policy, regulations on - Electricity Meters, Electric Plants and Lines, safety in respect of Electrical Plants and lines and also he has worked as a consultant to State Electricity Boards (SEBs) on Distribution System Augmentation.

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Ms Kanika ChawlaPolicy Specialist, CEEW

Kanika Chawla is a policy specialist, working at the intersection of India’s two revolutions: in renewable energy and in financial markets. As Senior Programme Lead at the Council on Energy, Environment and Water (CEEW) (one of South Asia’s leading think-tanks), Ms Chawla manages CEEW’s work on renewable energy policy, finance, and jobs and skills. Her current responsibilities include: analysing financial risks affecting renewable energy investments in India; changing market conditions and tax regimes and their impact on renewable energy; managing CEEW’s periodic surveys on RE jobs; and convening a high-level working group on renewable energy

finance (comprising investors, developers and manufacturers). She is actively engaged with private and public enterprises within and outside India to design and develop new financial de-risking instruments and new financial institutions, such as green banks. She also works on the political economy of renewable energy and energy transitions

Her research has been used within government, by electricity regulators, and by international agencies and strategic philanthropies. Kanika has also undertaken extensive research on the International Solar Alliance, work which has been used periodically by the Government of India and other countries. Her columns have been published in various newspapers. She also leads CEEW’s Women in Sustainability initiative to promote gender diversity. Prior to CEEW, she worked at the REN21 Secretariat in Paris, and was one of the authors of REN21’s Global Status Reports on Renewable Energy. She has also worked on distributed renewable energy, urban energy policy, and energy and climate policies in developing countries. She also previously worked with GIZ on sustainability reporting standards for industry. Kanika holds an M.Sc in Economics and Development Economics from the University of Nottingham and an undergraduate honours degree in Economics from Miranda House, University of Delhi. She is fluent in English and Hindi and speaks basic French.

Mr Jatindra Nath SwainManaging Director, SECI

Shri Jatindra Nath Swain IAS (Tamil Nadu 1988) is the Managing Director, Solar Energy Corporation of India (JS level) under the Ministry of New & Renewable Energy.

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Dr Usha RamachandraProf, Energy Area Chairperson, ASCI

Usha Ramachandra, Ph.D. (Economics) joined the faculty of Administrative Staff College of India (ASCI) in 1998 and has worked on infrastructure regulation, power sector reforms and the energy sector. She has worked in the South Asia region particularly in Bhutan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Pakistan as a resource person on energy and power sector related issues. She has also worked on consulting assignments with power utilities, state and central regulatory commissions and governments in areas that include including tariff filing, tariff analysis, demand and supply estimates, regulations and policy related issues. She has conducted specially

designed programmes Indian power companies in India and Sri Lanka.

She is an Independent Director on the Board of MIDHANI, a defense PSU and the Andhra Pradesh Gas Power Corporation (APGPCL) which is the first group captive power plant set up in the country. She is also a member of the State Advisory Committee of the Telangana State Electricity Regulatory Commission (TSERC).

Dr David MorgadoSenior Energy Policy Specialist, AIIB

David Morgado is a Senior Energy Policy Specialist at the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) since March 2018. He is responsible for supporting the implementation of AIIB’s Sustainable Energy Strategy, identifying investment opportunities and assisting with project preparation.

Prior to joining the AIIB, David worked at the International Energy Agency (IEA) providing energy efficiency policy advice and analysis to emerging economy governments such as Brazil, India and Mexico. In India, he was the lead author for

“India’s UJALA Story - Energy Efficient Prosperity” in collaboration with Energy Efficiency Services Limited, and was co-author of IEA’s Energy Efficiency Outlook for India (2016).

Before the IEA, David worked at the International Institute for Energy Conservation (IIEC) in Bangkok. His work focused on the design and implementation of renewable energy, demand-side management and energy efficiency projects and policies in countries across Asia-Pacific and Africa. He provided technical assistance to government agencies, utilities and international development agencies including the ADB, World Bank, IFC, UNDP, UNEP and APEC.

David Morgado is an Environmental Engineer with MSc in Environmental Sustainability from the University of Edinburgh.

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Mr Shalabh GoelED, Railway Board

Mr Arvind SinghatiyaExecutive Vice President, Public Policy and Legal, ACME Solar Holding Ltd.

Arvind Singhatiya Arvind Singhatiya is Executive Vice President Public Policy and Legal with India’s biggest Solar Power Developer; ACME Solar Holdings Ltd. Arvind in his current role heads the corporate affairs, and Legal. He is responsible for leading public policy initiatives of the organisation and manage all legal matters. Arvind was Vice-President – Corporate Affairs & Legal at Ola cabs before joining ACME. With more than 16 years of extensive work experience he worked in the areas of Transport technology, Solar Power, Renewal Energy, Skill development, E-commerce & modern retail trade. An alumnus of National Law University,

Jodhpur where he did Masters in Corporate Law, he also holds a Bachelors of Arts in Sanskrit Literature, Indian History & Indian Philosophy. He has authored a book for law school aspirants and is a contributor to CBSE’s class XI and XII retail management text books. His roles in previous organization include, Zonal Head - Corporate Affairs at METRO Cash & Carry India Pvt. Ltd. , Assistant Director, Retail & Food Processing at FICCI; Resident Director - Punjab & Haryana at PHD Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

Mr Rishabh JainSenior Manager, Corporate Affairs, Vikram Solar

Rishabh Jain part of the Corporate Affairs team at Vikram Solar. As a Policy Lead, he interacts closely with government and non-government organisations to address the policy and regulatory challenges that the sector face. He is a graduate in Master in Public Policy from Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy, National University of Singapore and has an in-depth understanding of the solar policies of India.

Dr. Priyadarshi DashResearch Associate, RIS

Dr. Priyadarshi Dash works as a Research Associate at RIS, New Delhi. His research interests broadly cover topics in foreign exchange reserves, macroeconomics, international trade and finance. He holds PhD in Economics from Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Bombay. He has participated in summer schools on international economics issues and global economic governance at University of Geneva, University of Padova and University of Milan. He was honoured with the “Award for Excellence in Thesis Work” by IIT Bombay in 2011. He was ‘Visiting Fellow’ at

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Korea Institute for Industrial Economics and Trade (KIET), Seoul during October 15-December 31, 2012 under the Asia Development Fellowship by the Asia Foundation. He is a member of the editorial board of Advances in Economics and Business and Journal of Studies in Social Dynamics and Change.

Mr Somit DasguptaMember (Economic and Commercial), Central Electricity Authority

Dr. Somit Dasgupta has had a long association with the power sector having worked for more than 22 years in various capacities in the Ministry of Power, Central Electricity Authority (CEA), the Delhi Electricity Regulatory Commission and also the Niti Aayog (formerly known as the Planning Commission). Dr. Dasgupta has also served in the Board of the Nuclear Power Corporation of India (NPCIL) and the Bharatiya Nabhikiya Vidyut Nigam Ltd. (BHAVINI). As Member (E&C) in CEA, Dr. Dasgupta looks after areas, such as, tariff determination,

all other financial and economic issues concerning the power sector, the electricity laws and its regulations including policies such as the National Electricity Policy and the Tariff Policy. Dr. Dasgupta was awarded his Ph. D degree in the year 2013 from the Jawaharlal Nehru University and the subject of his dissertation was ’Power Sector Reforms in India’.

Mr Ashwini KumarHead - Credit, Tata Cleantech Capital Limited

Currently working as Head of Credit with Tata Cleantech Capital Limited (since April, 2013). Prior to TCCL, he has worked with Srei Infrastructure Finance Limited (Head- Risk), HSBC Bank and Bank of Baroda. He has about 19 years of experience in the area of project finance, infrastructure finance, renewable energy sector, corporate banking, risk management, credit underwriting, administration & monitoring, and policy development & implementation. Ashwini is amongst the founding members of Tata Cleantech Capital Limited and has developed and implemented underwriting framework for the

Company. In his various roles in past, he has managed Credit, Market and Operational Risk of the Company. Developed and implemented Enterprise Risk Management framework. He has worked extensively in the area of project finance including financing to renewable energy sector. He has a Post Graduate Diploma in Banking & Finance from National Institute of Bank Management (NIBM), Pune; Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) from ICFAI, Hyderabad, Certified Associate of Indian Institute of Bankers (CAIIB)

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