Environment and Energy Conclave 2023

Mr. Gautam Ray

President Designate and Chairperson, Energy Environment Water Committee, The Bengal Chamber of Commerce and Industry and and Executive Director (HR and Admin), CESC Ltd. and President, HR Group, RPSG.

Mr. Gautam Ray, 62, Fellow of The Institution of Engineers, graduated in Electrical Engineering from Calcutta University (erstwhile Bengal Engineering College, Shibpur, presently IIEST) in 1981 and completed Post Graduation in Electrical Power System, from the same Institute in 1983. Presently, he is Executive Director of CESC Limited, age-old power utility serving the city of Kolkata for more than 100 years. He is also President (HR), Power Group of RPSG. Mr. Ray has an experience of 38 years of working in Power System operations and load dispatch, before he migrated to HR & Admn. He is responsible for HR and Administration for CESC, along with the entire HR process for the new initiatives under CESC, which includes, new power projects and new distribution businesses, training initiatives, collaborative efforts etc. He was instrumental in working on a collaborative project with Singapore Power for improvement in Distribution Sector. He also established AIPM (Asia Institute of Power Management) under CESC, which imparted training and consultancy services for many power utilities of India and neighboring countries.

He is the Chairman of National Safety Council - West Bengal Chapter, Former President - Calcutta Management Association for 2015-16 and 2016-17, Senior Vice President & Managing Committee Member - Bengal Chamber of Commerce & Industry, Chairman - Energy & Environment Committee of Bengal Chamber of Commerce & Industries, Chairman - (HR & IR Committee) - CII (ER), Member of National HR & IR Committee - CII. Presently he is serving as Vice Chairman of IIEST Alumni Cell and Executive Committee Member and Co-Chairman of Energy Committee of Indian Chamber of Commerce & Industry.

He is married to Mrs. Aditi Ray, Architect by profession and is blessed with two daughters - Shamayeeta, post-doctoral research fellow in Harvard University and Arthita, engaged as journalist in WION TV, Zee Media.

Shri Ujjwal Kanti Bhattacharya

Director (Projects), NTPC Limited, New Delhi

Shri Ujjwal Kanti Bhattacharya is an Electrical Engineering Graduate from Jadavpur University, Kolkata and Postgraduate in Management from MDI, Gurgaon. Besides many technical training from time to time, he has attended training in Leadership Development in Singapore and completed short term course on Strategic Management from Harvard Business School in USA.

He joined NTPC in the year 1984 as Ninth Batch of Engineering Executive Trainees. He started his career in Green Field Project Construction in 2600 MW Korba STPP, followed by 2100 MW Farakka STPP working in the areas of Project management, Power Plant Operation & Maintenance, Renovation & Modernization, Environment Management, Technical Services, Fuel Management etc. at 1600 MW Farakka STPP.

In the year 1996, he moved to Talcher Thermal Power Station (460 MW), an Old and Underperforming asset, taken over by NTPC from Orissa State Electricity Board. He, along with his team, created history in turning around the station, which went on to become a top performing station in India for years thereafter, till as recent as 2021.

Thereafter in 1999, he was assigned Corporate Function in Delhi wherein he significantly contributed to NTPC's vertical & horizontal business diversification as well as Mergers & Acquisitions growth through inorganic route. During the stint of almost 14 years, he had an illustrious career in Business Development function of NTPC in Domestic as well as International Arena. Some of the achievements include NTPCs diversification into hydroelectricity, acquisition of 800MW Koldam Hydro Project, Creating subsidiary company NESCL for electricity distribution business, Structuring and setting up Trincomalee Power Company Ltd., in Joint Venture with Srilanka, Winning multiple consultancy bids overseas, Setting up a Renewable Energy Company in Joint Venture with ADB & Japan etc.

He has been at the forefront of JV formulation, Project conceptualization, Project financial closure and on ground implementation for 1320 MW Maitree Power Project at Bangladesh with USD 2 Billion investment.

Prior to taking over the position of Director (Projects), he worked as MD and CEO of BIFPCL (Bangladesh India Friendship Power Company Limited), ED (Business Development) and ED(Projects) in NTPC. As Director(Projects), he is directly responsible for entire portfolio of Project Management, Contracts & Materials Management, Engineering Division, Project execution, R&D, Dispute Resolution, Digitalization & IT and International Business Development (IBD) activities, as functional Director of these major important verticals of NTPC.

Apart from being a member of NTPC board, he is also Chairman in Patratu Vidyut Utpadan Nigam Limited, NGSL (JV between NTPC and GE) & NBPPL (NTPC-BHEL Power Projects Pvt Ltd), Vice Chairman in Fertiliser JV Company Hindustan Urvarak & Rasayan limited, and Director on the Boards of Trincomalee Power Co. Ltd, Bangladesh India Friendship Power Company (Pvt.) Limited (BIFPCL) , Mini Ratna Companies like Tehri Hydro Development Corporation Limited (THDCIL) and North Eastern Electric Power Corporation Limited (NEEPCO).

He is Managing Committee member of Chamber of Commerce and also Member on the Advisory Committee of the Centre for Indo-Pacific Studies, Osmania University. Very recently, he has been nominated as 'Chairperson' of the Research Council(RC) for CSIR-Chennai.

He is an avid reader and likes to read fiction as well as non-fictions. He believes in continuous learning and takes keen interest in Training & Development of people including taking sessions himself. True to his ethos of being Friend, Philosopher & Guide for his team members, he keeps on taking the role of Mentor regularly.

Dr. Ajay Mathur

Director General, International Solar Alliance

Dr. Ajay Mathur is the Director General of the International Solar Alliance (ISA). Dr. Mathur has spearheaded the implementation of solar energy projects and capacity building projects in many developing countries, and the publication of annual progress reports on solar technology, markets and investments.

Prior to joining ISA, Dr. Mathur was Director General of the Energy and Resources Institute (TERI) and earlier, of the Indian Bureau of Energy Efficiency. He mainstreamed energy efficiency in India through initiatives such as the Star Labeling program for appliances, the Energy Conservation Building Code, and the Perform, Achieve & Trade program for energy-intensive industries. He was a leading climate change negotiator and was the Indian spokesperson at the Paris climate negotiations. He served as the interim Director of the Green Climate Fund during its foundational period.

Dr. Mathur was a member of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) which was awarded the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize. He was appointed a Chevalier de l'Ordre national du Merite by the President of France in recognition of his outstanding commitment to preserving the environment and coping with energy related challenges. He was a member of the Prime Minister of India's Council on Climate Change from its foundation in 2008 till 2016, when he resigned on his election as DG of ISA. He has been the co-chair of the Global Energy Transitions Commission and the Clean Cooling Initiatives of the One Planet Summit.

Dr Mathur received a Bachelor's degree in Chemical Engineering from the (then) University of Roorkee, and a Master's and PhD degrees from the University of Illinois. He has also received the Distinguished Alumnus Awards from both his alma maters.

Shri Ghanshyam Prasad

Chairperson, Central Electricity Authority.

Shri Ghanshyam Prasad (DoB: 15/05/1967) is presently holding the post of Chairperson and Ex-Officio Secretary to the Government of India, Central Electricity Authority, Ministry of Power from 15th July 2022. He is also the Member, ex-officio, of the Central Electricity Regulatory Commission. He belongs to the Central Power Engineering Services batch of 1989. He is also the 1st Executive Director of the BIMSTEC Energy Centre (BEC).

Prior to this he was holding the post of Joint Secretary in the Ministry of Power from 1st June 2020. He has served in the Ministry of Power for around 9 years in various capacities, i.e. Director (OM, Transmission) and Chief Engineer (OM, Transmission, Reforms & Restructuring and Regulatory Compliance Monitoring).

He did his graduation in B.Tech (Electrical Engineering) for IIT/BHU, Benares Hindu University. He holds a M.Tech in Energy and Environment Management from IIT, Delhi and also a MBA(Finance) from IGNOU, Delhi.

He has served 32 years in power sector and three years in the Bokaro Steel Plant, SAIL. During 32 years in power sector, he has worked and contributed in the areas of generation including the renewable energy, transmission, distribution, power market development/trading of power, Reforms & restructuring in power sector, energy efficiency, regulatory commission experience, disaster management in power sector, data analytics and information management system. A number of measures were taken to reduce the cost of power, ease of doing business, simplification of the procedures for approvals, bringing competition in power sector, power market, etc.

He has also served in Haryana Electricity Regulatory Commission for around six years, during 1999 to 2006 and brought out new regulations essential for regulating the power sector.

He also has corporate experience and was Government Nominee Director of Power Grid Corporation of India Limited (PGCIL), a Maharatna Company; Power System Operation Corporation Limited (POSOCO), now renamed as Grid Controller of India Limited; and Jammu and Kashmir State Power development Corporation Limited (J&KPDCL). Presently he is the Director on the Board of Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited in an ex-officio capacity.

Mr. Vivek Kumar Dewangan, IAS

Chairman & Managing Director, REC Limited.

Dr. Kiran Bedi

Former Lieutenant Governor of Puducherry.

Dr. Bedi will show a video on case studies already implemented. The project may be replicated in other places as well. This is a case study which has diverse advantages on environment, society and governance by channelizing resources for addressing one of the major challenges in today's context - water, besides eliminating detrimental agents which may be involved in the process through transparent structure of implementations.

Dr. Kiran Bedi (born 9 June 1949) is an Indian social activist, former-tennis player who became the first woman in India to join the officer ranks of the Indian Police Service (IPS) in 1972 and was the 24th Lieutenant Governor of Puducherry from 28 May 2016 to 16 February 2021. She remained in service for 35 years before taking voluntary retirement in 2007 as Director General, Bureau of Police Research and Development.

As a teenager, Bedi was crowned the national junior tennis champion in 1966. Between 1965 and 1978, she won several titles at various national and state-level championships. After joining the IPS, Bedi served in Delhi, Goa, Chandigarh and Mizoram. She started her career as an Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) in the Chanakyapuri area of Delhi, and won the President's Police Medal in 1979. Next, she moved to West Delhi, where she brought about a reduction in crimes against women. Subsequently, as a traffic police officer, she oversaw traffic arrangements for the 1982 Asian Games in Delhi and the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting 1983 in Goa. As Deputy Commissioner of Police of North Delhi, she launched a campaign against drug abuse, which evolved into the Navjyoti Delhi Police Foundation (renamed to Navjyoti India Foundation in 2007).

In May 1993, Dr. Bedi was posted to the Delhi Prisons as Inspector General (IG). She introduced several reforms at Tihar Jail, which won her the Ramon Magsaysay Award in 1994. In 2003, Dr. Bedi became the first Indian and first woman to be appointed head of the United Nations Police and Police Advisor in the United Nations Department of Peace Operations. She resigned in 2007, to focus on social activism and writing. She runs the India Vision Foundation. During 2008-11, she hosted a court show Aap Ki Kachehri. She was one of the key leaders of the 2011 Indian anti-corruption movement, and joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in January 2015. She unsuccessfully contested the 2015 Delhi Assembly election as the party's Chief Ministerial candidate.

Ms. Rebecca Berry

Climate Adviser, British High Commission, New Delhi.

Ms. Debra Martin

Commercial Officer, U.S. Commercial Service, U.S. Embassy.

Debra Martin has been a Commercial Officer with the U.S. Commercial Service in New Delhi since 2022. In India, Debra primarily focuses on helping U.S. companies identify export opportunities and address challenges in the energy, environmental, and infrastructure sectors.

She also manages the travel & tourism, consumer goods, and franchising portfolios for North India.

Before joining the Commercial Service in 2022, Debra enjoyed a 20+ year career in public service at the state government level, serving as the State Director of the West Virginia Small Business Development Center and as an International Trade Manager with the West Virginia Development Office.

She earned her Bachelor of Arts degree in International Studies from West Virginia University and did graduate work in International Relations at the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs at Syracuse University.

Mr. Deb A Mukherjee

Former President, BCC&I and Managing Director, Cenergist Energy Private Limited.

An entrepreneur, professionally qualified as a lawyer, with over 38 years work experience in diverse business domains, engineering systems, information technology solutions and later in energy services for the last 15 years.

He was Executive Chairman of Eaga Energy India Pvt Ltd (subsidiary of Eaga plc UK FTSE250 company) until 2012. He is Managing Director of Cenergist Energy Private Limited which is wholly owned subsidiary of Cenergist Ltd UK, which has operations in the UK, Spain, Germany, Italy and now India.

He has served on various Trade Committees in India and the UK and spoken at several international seminars on Sustainability Issues, Energy Efficiency, Renewables, Water Management and on Business Strategies.

Mr. Asim Prasad

Chief General Manager (Corporate Strategy, Planning, and Advocacy), GAIL (India) Limited.

Asim Prasad is currently Chief General Manager(Corporate Strategy, Planning, and Advocacy) at GAIL's Corporate Office, New Delhi. His responsibility includes Corporate Strategy, MOU, Budgeting, Expenditure Planning & Monitoring, New Initiatives, etc.

Asim Prasad has 29 years of professional experience in the Natural Gas Sector and has been involved in the country's growth of the Natural Gas Market. He worked in different positions in diverse business verticals like gas transmission, gas marketing, pipeline project management, operations & maintenance during his professional career at GAIL (India) Limited. He has been involved in the execution of several prestigious projects of GAIL for Natural Gas Transmission and Distribution and LPG Transmission.

In his prior assignment as Zonal Chief General Manager, GAIL Kolkata Zonal Office, he established the natural gas market in the eastern states to promote a transition towards a gas-based economy and enhance sustainable socio-economic development in Jharkhand and West Bengal. He was instrumental in commencing Natural Gas Supplies to the Matix Fertilizer Plant, Panagarh, WB, and HURL Sindri Jharkhand. He guided teams to commence gas supplies through pipeline & virtual mode for City Gas Distribution Projects in the Geographic Areas of Jharkhand and West Bengal in Jamshedpur, Ranchi, Dhanbad, Bokaro, Sairekela-Kharsawa, Charta-Palamu, Burdwan, Howrah, Nadia, South 24 Parganas, and Kolkata under City Gas Distribution Projects. He conceptualized and implemented the project to run 100 Tons BEML Make BH100 dumper trucks into Dual Fuel LNG mode. Two dumper trucks have been converted, and the trial run on Dual Fuel LNG Mode at MCL Lakhanpur mines is in progress. He advocated to establish CNG Corridors, Gas Based Industrial Parks, and Compressed Bio Gas plants along the pipeline route in West Bengal to promote a gas-based economy.

Mr. Prasad holds a B.Tech Degree in Mechanical Engineering from IIT Kanpur, Post Graduate Diploma in Project Management, and a Master in Business Administration. He is a Fellow at the Institute of Engineers India Kolkata; holds membership of Project Management Institute, New York; Life member of Administrative Staff College of India, Hyderabad, NITIE Mumbai, and NIPM Kolkata.

Mr. Pramod Singh

President - Regulatory & Commercial, India Power Corporation Ltd.

With post-qualification experience of more than 28 years of extensive experience in power & infrastructure sector across the breadth of responsibilities in corporate strategy, business development, policy & regulatory affairs, power sales and techno-commercial management, Pramod Singh, is presently heading the Regulatory & Commercial in India Power.

In the past he has worked in different industrial sectors like Electricity incl. Clean Energy, Manufacturing, EPC and Value-Added Services & Telecom. He has worked in two of the largest private sector power companies in India (i.e. Tata Power & BSES across various segments of the sector including Power Generation and Distribution.

He has a Bachelor of Engineering degree from the REC, Rourkela (now NIT), and a Post Graduate Program in Management from IMI, Delhi.

Ms. Shaila Lee

Global VP - HR, Husk Power Systems.

Ms. Shaila Lee, is a corporate professional with extensive and varied experience in Human Resource Management and Industrial Relations. She has a 25+ years of experience traversing through BFSI, Information Technology, Telecom, Media & NGOs.

Ms. Shaila Lee is currently working in Husk Power Systems as Global Vice President (HR) from July 2018. Her role is to build HR systems and processes for the global organization. Enable a world class talent acquisition and intern programme and generate a pipeline of technical staff across countries. Develop the Competency development framework to fasciliate a Learning organisation. Implement an effective appraisal system to enable a high performance attitude and culture. She assigns her real educational credits to the various companies she had the opportunity to work with Bussan Auto Finance, a Mitsui Japan, Bharti Airtel, HSBC, Times Of India & Catholic Relief Services to mention some key ones.

She had the most remarkable start in the Personnel and HR function with a media giant in the endearing city of Kolkata. She is an alumnus of Loreto and The Xavier's Institute Of Social Service (XISS), Ranchi.

She has an in-depth experience in developing and implementing HR strategies, policies and processes to support businesses and has an ability to assess, plan and execute in a culturally diverse and highly matrix environment within limited time frames.

Other competencies Ms. Shaila Lee possesses are management of HR operations on broad array of organization effectiveness methods, including compensation and payroll management, organizational diagnosis, strategy formulation and implementation, organization design, team development, change management, employee engagement and executive coaching. She Designed, developed and implemented management development programs. She is actively involved in developing content, delivering training modules and evaluating post training learning.

Her key talent is acquisition and management and to build credible HR in pressured and volatile environment.

Mr. Sourav Daspatnaik

Managing Director, Swach Environment Limited.

An engineering and management professional with 35 years of cross-functional experience, Sourav Daspatnaik is currently Managing Director, Swach Environment Private Limited. He also serves as the Director, Nangloi Water Services, established under PPP for supplying 24x7 water as a concessionaire of Delhi Jal Board, Government of NCT Delhi, Director, Haldia Water Services, established to provide 24x7 water services as utility under Haldia Development Authority, GoWB. He also serves as an independent director in several Indian companies and mentors social enterprises in the area of innovative and clean technologies for water supply and sanitation.

During his professional career spanning over 35 years, he has worked with leading organisations such as Tata Motors, Jamshedpur , Tata Steel Ltd, Mercer HR Consulting. He is the one of the founding members of National Water Alliance of India supported by Industry bodies and part of the India-Israel Innovation Bridge for commercially developing technologies thru start-ups. He has proven track record of building businesses along with operational excellence.

Daspatnaik has worked closely with different Governments both states and Central Government in India to put clean drinking water and waste water as the main agenda on the table for industry and Society. He has been a thought leader in the space of Water and Waste water and developing Indian and Global partnerships.

In the recent past, Daspatnaik has served as Chairman, Skill Development Task force and Co-Chair Infrastructure Committee of Bengal Chamber of Commerce and Industry and national board member for the National HRD Network, an apex body for human resources professionals. He was a founder director of the Indian Iron & Steel Sector Skill Council, under the NSDC. He has played a vital role in the launch of the India-Myanmar Solar Energy Forum and India Myanmar Trade & Commerce including Border Trade with a view to strengthen the bilateral trade ties between the two governments and people.

Daspatnaik has a bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering from the Birla Institute of Technology, Mesra, Ranchi and holds a master's degree in operations management from the Stevens Institute of Technology, New Jersey, USA.

Mr. Sudip Nag

Executive Director, NTPC Limited.

Ms. Devyani Hari

Director, Centre for Responsible Business (CRB)

Ms. Devyani Hari is a Director at Centre for Responsible Business (CRB), a think tank with a vision that businesses integrate sustainability into their core operations. At CRB, she manages the projects for SMEs and sustainability, sustainable value chains, the interface between SDGs and the private sector, sustainable finance and circular economy particularly relating to circular apparel.

She has a post graduate degree in finance and started her career with JP Morgan in 2000. After her stint at JP Morgan, she moved into the field of sustainability through her work with renewable energy financing consulting. In her previous role as a technical expert with GIZ, Ms. Hari was responsible for working with small and medium enterprises (SMEs) and SME bankers to increase lending for sustainable investments especially for clean energy projects.

Ms. Pallavi Ahuja

SME Climate Hub

A climate visionary, Pallavi spearheads We Mean Business's initiatives in India, including the transformative SME Climate Hub. Her mission is to propel Indian businesses and policymakers to the forefront of climate action. Bringing over 9 years of experience, Pallavi's impressive background includes collaborations with the Government of India and various international non-profits. Her dedication to climate-focused programs is driving real change.

For any social media amplification in the run up to the event, may we request your team to please tag the SME Climate Hub and We Mean Business Coalition through our social media handles. My colleague @Disha Ramanan can coordinate with your comms experts as she leads our India communications and outreach, please.

Dr. Debalina Sengupta

Coastal Resilience Program Director, Texas Sea Grant at Texas A & M University

Dr. Sengupta's research focuses on sustainability in the context of process systems engineering. She has worked on process design, integration, intensification, optimization, life cycle assessment and other related concepts for Sustainable Supply Chain Design of Biofuels, Natural Gas, and Consumer Products, and decision-making in Sustainability using metrics and indicators. She has also been actively involved in the development of educational modules for sustainable manufacturing. Dr. Sengupta is currently appointed as the Associate Director of the TEES Gas and Fuels Research Center, Water, Energy and Food Nexus Coordinator at Texas A&M Energy Institute, and Lecturer at Texas A&M University, Artie McFerrin Department of Chemical Engineering.

Dr. Sengupta serves as co-PI or senior personnel on several multi-million-dollar Department of Energy (DOE) research projects from the RAPID Manufacturing USA Institute (Process Intensification) and the CESMII Manufacturing USA Institute (Smart Manufacturing). At RAPID, she is working on process systems using desalination for shale gas wastewater treatment. She was also integral to the successful National Science Foundation planning grant, "Engineering Research Center for Resiliency Enhancement and Disaster-Impact Interception (READII) in the Manufacturing Sector." Following up from that work, her current research interests are related to resilience in the process industrial sector under disaster conditions. She has organized five workshops funded by the National Science Foundation in the area of disaster resilience and is also working on several publications that capture the impact of disasters in the manufacturing sector.

She has authored two books, "Chemicals from biomass: integrating bioprocesses into chemical production complexes for sustainable development" by CRC Press (2012), and "Measuring Progress towards Sustainability" by Springer (2017). Apart from this, she has several peer reviewed journal publications, book chapters, and conference proceedings. She has been an invited speaker at many national and international conferences. Dr. Sengupta is extremely well connected through the American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE). She has held official positions of highest order at AIChE's Environmental Division (Past Chair), and Fuels and Petrochemicals Division (First Vice-Chair). She has been responsible for programming for the AIChE Environmental Division with more than 20 oral and poster session arrangements and interacting with many chairs and co-chairs. She is also an active member of AIChE's Institute for Sustainability, Center for Energy Initiatives and is part of many other activities with the organization. She was the inaugural recipient of the Early Career Award from AIChE Environmental Division in 2016.

Dr. Sengupta has been an invited panelist at TERI's World Sustainable Development Summit 2020 in the Thematic Track: Energy management solutions for SMEs. She has also been invited keynote speaker at the ProBioRefine 2018 conference in Bangkok, Thailand. She has been invited speakers and panelists at several of AIChE Annual and Spring conference sessions and special workshops, including recently, the Fuels &Petrochemicals Division Executive Panel - Embracing the Challenge: Meeting the Global Demand for More and Cleaner Energy, AIChE Spring Meeting 2019, and Industrial Water Use and Reuse Workshop, AIChE Annual Meeting 2019. She has also organized and is in the standing committee for the Natural Gas Utilization series of workshops from the AIChE Center for Energy Initiatives.

Dr. Sengupta is a critical thinker, and likes to blog, read, and write in her spare time. Her interests also are in cooking, traveling, and photography. She enjoys spending time with family, friends. Her favorite places are New Orleans, Louisiana, USA, and Kolkata, West Bengal, India, her hometown.

Ms. Pavithra Mohanraj

Founder, Infinitive.

Ms. Pavithra Mohanraj is the Founder of Infinitive, an advisory firm working to accelerate the adoption of Circular Economy in India through communications, capacity building, research and ecosystem development projects. As a pioneer in the space, Infinitive has played a key role in shifting mindsets and shaping the evolving conversation around Circular Economy in India, in collaboration with a number of agencies and think tanks.

Pavithra graduated from the National University of Singapore with a Bachelor of Science - Life Sciences. She has over a decade of experience leading projects in sustainability and Circular Economy across Singapore and India, and has worked with industry, as well as bilateral and multilateral agencies. Her recent work also includes co-authoring and co-editing a first-of-its-kind book on Circular Economy Innovation in India, capturing the emerging landscape of innovations in the country through the lens of developments in policy, finance, entrepreneurship as well as business and social innovation. Most recently, Pavithra has also completed a year-long stint at the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) as a Consultant supporting projects under the Sustainable and Circular Textiles portfolio of the UNEP India Office.

Ms. Kritika Chauhan

Assistant Manager, Communications and Sustainability Innovations, Shahi Exports.

Kritika Chauhan is an Assistance Manager within the Communications and Sustainability Innovations Team. She holds an undergraduate in Life Sciences and post graduate in Climate Sciences. She has industry experience in the areas of sustainability innovations and reporting. Her key focuses at Shahi include making the company's annual sustainability report, building valuable industry partnerships, and scouting and implementing innovations in the areas of circularity, water, and digitization.

Mr. Vinay Jaju

Co-Founder and Managing Director SwitchON Foundation, Kolkata.

Vinay Jaju is the co-founder of SwitchON Foundation where he has led projects in partnership with various Ministries of Govt of India and agencies like US Embassy, GIZ, UNDP, GE, WWF etc. He has received the "Global Entrepreneurship & Leadership Award'' from AIESEC and has been awarded the CSA Fellowship from Packard foundation, Paragon Fellowship (FYSE) and BYCL Fellowship.

Vinay Jaju is part of the ISEP Expert Group at John Hopkins University and member of the LVDC Panel at Bureau of India Standards. Vinay is a Guest Faculty at leading institutes and judge and mentor to multiple B-Plan Contests. Vinay has been featured in NDTV, CNN-IBN, Outlook Business amongst others.

Vinay has a Business Management degree from SP Jain, Mumbai, and Bachelors in Commerce from St Xavier's College and Diploma in Business finance from ICFAI and has previously worked with GE Australia and Grameen Shakti Bangladesh.

Mr. Arjun Dutta

Founder, Greenlife IQ Ponics.

Passionate tech enthusiast & strategic thinker. Strong leader with proven team-building success. Founder & Product Architect at IQApex Labs, Curator at Greenlife IQPonics & Former Entrepreneur in Residence at Brickview Studios at Nasscom10k Warehouse-Kolkata. Specialized in strategic planning, research, pricing, project management, R&D. 3+ years work exp, 20+ scientific publications in sci-journals, international conferences, 2 UGC approved books published.

Mr. Muralidhar Seelam

Founder, Kheti Samajh.

Muralidhar S, founder of Kheti Samajh, an Agri-tech startup focused in the areas of Smart & Precision farming. He graduated in Electrical & Electronic Engineering (EEE) from GITAM University, Visakhapatnam. Has around 7 years of industrial experience and worked closely with MNCs and Startups throughout his career. His experience lies in the areas of 3D Printing and building Industrial IoT applications for companies & providing solutions to their ongoing challenges. Through Kheti Samajh we are helping farmers achieve higher yields with reduced usage of fertilizers & pesticides, with our primary goals focused to improve the efficiency, traceability & sustainability of Indian farms. Also protecting the environment by bringing down the pollution caused by agriculture.

Mr. Atin Tyagi

Head-ESG, Sustainability and Carbon Projects, Jain Irrigation Systems Ltd.

Mr. Deb A Mukherjee

Former President, BCC&I and Managing Director, Cenergist Energy Private Limited.

An entrepreneur, professionally qualified as a lawyer, with over 38 years work experience in diverse business domains, engineering systems, information technology solutions and later in energy services for the last 15 years.

He was Executive Chairman of Eaga Energy India Pvt Ltd (subsidiary of Eaga plc UK FTSE250 company) until 2012. He is Managing Director of Cenergist Energy Private Limited which is wholly owned subsidiary of Cenergist Ltd UK, which has operations in the UK, Spain, Germany, Italy and now India.

He has served on various Trade Committees in India and the UK and spoken at several international seminars on Sustainability Issues, Energy Efficiency, Renewables, Water Management and on Business Strategies.

Jae Hyung Kwon

Head - South Asia Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency, World Bank Group

Jae Hyung Kwon is MIGA's Head of South Asia, based in New Delhi, responsible for developing MIGA's credit enhancement and risk insurance business in India, Bangladesh, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Bhutan, Maldives, Pakistan and Afghanistan.

Jae Hyung Kwon joined MIGA in 2012 as an underwriter in the Infrastructure team based in Washington D.C., focusing on the water and transportation sectors. In 2016, Jae moved to Seoul, South Korea to lead MIGA's business origination efforts in North Asia region and in 2020 moved to Singapore to oversee South Asia.

Prior to joining MIGA, Jae Hyung Kwon worked at Standard Chartered Bank in Singapore and Seoul, where he provided project and export finance solutions for infrastructure projects in Asia, Middle East and Africa. Jae also worked at Samsung C&T in the Project Development team from 2004 to 2006.

Jae Hyung Kwon earned an MBA from INSEAD in 2009 and a BA in Political Science and Economics from Yonsei University in 2004.

Mr. Vaibhav Singh

Executive Director, Clean Energy, PwC India

Vaibhav is an Executive Director with Management consulting practice in PwC and brings more than 12 years of experience in Clean Energy and emerging areas like Electric mobility, Battery storage and Green hydrogen.

Vaibhav has worked with important stakeholders in the industry including with policy makers, public & private sector consumers, project developers and various multilateral and bilateral agencies. He has designed and managed line of credit from various agencies like ADB, World Bank, KfW, JICA, etc.

He has worked with various developers and consumers in structuring of clean energy projects, often involving complex transactions and mechanisms. He has assisted several domestic and global companies in assessing their carbon footprint and subsequently develop strategies to decarbonise.

He did his MBA from IIM Lucknow and engineering from IIT Kharagpur. He has several publications in reputed International Journals, International conferences and magazines.