Ayana Renewable Power, the India-focused clean tech platform of the UK government-owned development financial institution CDC Group Plc, has appointed Shivanand Nimbargi as its managing director and chief executive officer and Dr PJ Nayak as its chairman, a company statement said.
The renewable company, which was launched today, began hiring its key personnel from the last quarter only. The platform will focus on generating solar energy with up to $100 million in investment.
“Shiv has a successful track record in creating the green energy capacity that is vital to India’s long-term economic development. He has the skills and focus needed to help Ayana become a major provider of renewable energy, particularly in those Indian states that are in the process of attracting investment for green energy generation,†said Srini Nagarajan, head of South Asia for CDC.
“His experience and values will help build a strong team that can use CDC’s investment to create jobs, reduce carbon emissions and provide our secure energy supplies to our focused geographies. Dr PJ Nayak is a highly respected member of the Indian business community and will bring robust business acumen and high corporate governance standards,†Nagarajan added.
Ayana’s renewable energy will targets underserved Indian states and neighbouring countries in South Asia including Bangladesh, Nepal, Myanmar and Sri Lanka. Ayana is wholly owned by CDC and will be run by an independent board and management team, the statement said.
Along with the key positions of chairman and CEO, the company has also appointed Jayesh Desai, former investment head at Piramal Enterprises and Rahul Sankhe, founder of Agami Ventures as non-executive directors of the company.
An alumnus of Gulbarga University, Nimbargi started his career with energy and environmental technologies company Babcock & Wilcox as erection and commissioning engineer. Later, he moved to ABB ABL (now Alstom Projects India Ltd) where he joined as manager of sales and rose to become managing director and regional vice president in 2011. In 2011, he joined Sembcorp Green Infra Ltd as MD and CEO. In 2016, prior to his appointment at Ayana Renewable, he was MD and CEO at L&T Metro Rail Hyderabad Ltd.
A veteran with over two and half decades of experience, PJ Nayak was the former chairman and CEO of Axis Bank Ltd before joining Ayana Renewable. In his earlier stint, he has served as the chairman of Union Bank of Colombo Plc, country head at Morgan Stanley India and senior advisor at TPG Capital. Before moving to the private sector, Nayak was a senior official at the Indian Administrative Services and had also served as joint secretary for the Department of Economic Affairs in the Ministry of Finance.
In November last year, Ayana Renewable appointed Praveen Singh as general counsel for South Asia. Also, Rohit Chandak joined the firm as a chief financial officer, and Rengarajan Rajagopalan and Suresh Nathan came on board as the heads of business development and procurement, respectively.
