Ashutosh Sharma
Senior Principal Consultant - SEMELA
DNV, Dubai

Ashutosh Sharma is working with DNV in capacity of Senior Principal Consultant, Grid Asset Management, responsible for Southern Europe, Middle East, Latin America & Africa, he is based in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. His specialization is asset management, Asset Condition assessment, power failure investigation, risk management and technical due diligence. He has led and delivered numerous projects in his area of specialization internationally. He is a certified project management professional (PMP). Mr. Sharma is an excellent presenter and trainer as well. He has presented many technical papers and case studies in international seminars. He has been the recipient of the distinguished paper awardee of GCC Cigre. His 38 years of experience spans working in India with NTPC and internationally with Aluminium Bahrain and with DNV.

Akhilesh Kumar Ambasht
Member
Delhi Electricity Regulatory Commission

Mr. Akhilesh is a Member at Delhi Electricity Regulatory Commission (DERC). Akhilesh Kumar Ambasht, Indian Forest Services (IFS), (Retd.) Pr. Chief Conservator of Forest, UT of Andaman and Nikobar Islands is having around 29 years of administrative experience.

Alok Kumar
Secretary
Ministry of Power

Alok Kumar (IAS) is honourable Secretary in the Ministry of Power on Monday. Prior to taking over as Secretary, Ministry of Power, he was serving as Principal Secretary (Power) of the state government of Uttar Pradesh. He was also Chairman of UP Power Transmission Corporation Limited. With his new assignment, Kumar has replaced Sanjeev Nandan Sahai (IAS), who superannuated on January 31. Kumar is a 1988-batch Indian Administrative Service Officer (IAS) officer of the Uttar Pradesh cadre. He completed his B Tech from IIT, Roorkee and also has an MBA in Finance. During his career of 30 years as an IAS Officer, he has held various administrative positions in revenue, transport, power, housing, urban planning and handicrafts sectors. Before, taking the charge as Principal Secretary of the Energy and Additional Sources of Energy, Government of Uttar Pradesh, he was serving as Development Commissioner of Handlooms in the Ministry of Textiles. He also has held as Chairman of State Public Sector Undertakings under Energy Department, Government of Uttar Pradesh.

Alok Mishra
Business Lead
DNV, Asia Pacific

Alok Mishra is an Electrical Engineer with more than 12 years of experience & knowledge in the energy industry. As the business Lead in DNV, he is responsible for the Power Grid business in the Asia Pacific.  He specialises in Power System Study, Asset Management, and Power Failure Investigation. His other skill set includes Onshore Wind, Offshore Wind, Solar, Storage, Hydrogen and other emerging technology. He is one of the authors of India's first offshore wind grid integration study report under the FOWIND project.

Anand Menon
Advisor - Digital Energy and Corporate Strategy
Powerledger

Anand Menon is currently the full-time Advisor for Digital Energy and Corporate Strategy at Powerledger. He supports the implementation of innovative technology solutions in digital energy markets in addition to strategic guidance on the development of new platform products and business growth. Over the last thirty-eight years, he has served major multinationals of Siemens and ABB as well as premier power utility Tata Electric Companies, India. His experience and expertise in the areas of Operational and Information Technologies in the power sector spans across five countries of Western Europe, South East Asia, Middle East and India. He has held several key positions including Chief Technical Officer, Eng. and Technology, in Energy Management of Siemens for the ASEAN region, and Head of the Department for Electrical Protection as well as Global Product Manager, Protection Solutions at ABB, Switzerland. He was also responsible for several global flagship projects such as China’s Three Gorges, Malaysia’s 500kV corridor and AMI Smart Meter national roll-out, and has spoken at over thirty-five forums on state-of-the-art best practices in digital energy transformation. He is a Fellow, of the Institution of Engineers, India, and was a regular member of working groups of CIGRE from Switzerland.

Anant Venkateswaran
Industry professional
ISGF

An experienced industry professional with over two decades of international experience in business, financial, regulatory/policy, operations and technology aspects of the energy and utility sector, Anant Venkateswaran serves on several technical, standards, advisory and tutorial committees and is a teacher, presenter, panellist, moderator and speaker at international venues including Distributech, ISUW, IEEE and CIGRE. Anant has worked with utilities and energy companies across the globe advising them through visioning, strategy, business cases, architectures and deployment. Working across the globe, he has managed major technology investments and advised clients from visioning to validation. A senior member of the team account able for strategy, trusted advisory/consultative, thought leadership and partnerships, Anant has worked both in the traditional aspects of the grid as well new and emerging areas of AMI, Grid-Edge, Protection and Control, Enterprise Solutions, Big Data, IoT, Cloud Computing and Smart Energy. Anant is successfully conducting ISGF Master class Series since 2017 as part of India Smart Utility Week. Anant has worked with several industrial, utility & Govt. customers globally. He is based in Denver, Colorado in the USA.

Arup Ghosh
Non-Executive Director
TPDDL, TPCODL, TPNODL, TPSODL and TPWODL

Arup Ghosh is a Power Sector veteran of 45 years. He has been extensively engaged in all facets of Transmission and Distribution including restructuring of the power sector and institutional strengthening of electricity utilities to enable them to cope with regulatory controls. Has worked with electricity utilities in India and Mauritius. Has been associated with Tata Power Group since November 2005. Arup was initially Chief Operating Officer of Tata Power Delhi Dist Ltd (TPDDL) and subsequently Chief Technical Officer and Executive Director. In those positions he had actively supported the CEO in leading TPDDL to script at Delhi a hitherto unmatched reforms of the electricity distribution business. Prior to joining TPDDL, Arup was engaged at Central Electricity Board, Mauritius; CESC Ltd., India, The National Insulated Cable Co. of India Ltd., India and Crompton Greaves Ltd., India. Arup is presently an independent consultant and also sits on the Boards of several companies of Tata Power Group engaged in electricity distribution. Arup is an alumnus of Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur. Subsequently he has received formal training in general management at Administrative Staff College of India, Hyderabad (MDP), Indian Institute of Management, Kolkata (EDP) and Xavier Labour Relations Institute, Jamshedpur (EDP). He has also received training in regulatory matters from Institute of Public-Private Partnerships Inc (IP3), Washington D.C.

Arvind Singh
CEO
TP Southern Odisha Distribution Limited

Mr. Arvind Singh is the Chief Executive Officer of TP southern Odisha Distribution Limited. He is a Power Sector Veteran with more than three decades of enriching experience. TPSODL, a joint venture between Tata Power and the Government of Odisha, ensures Power Distribution in South Odisha covering 8 Districts. Before joining as the CEO of TPSODL, Mr. Arvind Singh had an exceptionally successful stint with Tata Power. It was July of 1983, when he joined Tata Power as a Graduate Engineer Trainee. He served at Bhira Generating Station for 5 years followed by 13 years at Kalyan and Parel Receiving Stations. He was at Tata Power Delhi Distribution Limited from 2005 to 2007 and was ED & CEO at Powerlinks Transmission Limited (A JV of Tata Power and Power Grid) from 2010 to 2015. He was heading the Transmission business of Tata Power Mumbai before joining TP Southern Odisha Distribution Limited as CEO in January 2021. While the entrenched experience Mr. Arvind Singh possesses is quite evident, his work ethics and understanding of the Power Industry are commendable. With highly potent analytical skills and effective Operations Management, he is exceptional in project planning and execution. He has a B.Tech degree from IIT Madras and is an alumni of Loyola College, Madras and Loyola School, Jamshedpur.

Aseem
Business Development
Tabreed India

Aseem heads the Business Development for Tabreed India, a part of National Central Cooling Company, headquartered in UAE and one of the world’s largest cooling utility companies. Tabreed provides energy-efficient, cost-effective and environmentally friendly cooling as a service through its 86 district cooling plants, delivering 1.24 million tonnes of cooling across 400 million square feet of real estate developments through long term concessions. With over 10 years of experience across different parts of the value chain in energy, utilities and infrastructure with world’s leading organizations, he has demonstrated a rich expertise in evaluating businesses, winning tenders, entering into partnerships and raising finance. Prior to joining Tabreed, he worked with Enel (Italy) where he has been a part of the company’s growth journey in India – evaluating and winning renewable energy projects close to 1 GW. He also played a key role in setting up a BD unit for India and Asia-Oceania region for Enel Grids – the business line responsible for power distribution and smart metering. His earlier experiences include strategy consulting and research assignments while working with EY (Ernst and Young) and PKC Advisory. Aseem holds a bachelor degree in commerce from Hans Raj College, University of Delhi, and an MBA from FORE, Delhi. As a Chartered Financial Analyst, he is also an active member of CFA Institute (US) and CFA Society India.

Bhaskar Sarkar
CEO
TP Northern Odisha Distribution Limited

Mr. Bhaskar Sarkar is the Chief Executive Officer of TP Northern Odisha Distribution Limited (TPNODL). The company is a Public Private Partnership (Joint Venture) between Tata Power and the Government of Odisha, supplying electricity to a populace of over 2 million in Northern Odisha. He brings with him the leadership experience of around 29 years in the Indian power sector and 3 years in Telecom Sector. Mr. Sarkar started his career as Distribution Operations Engineer with CESC Ltd, moved to projects leadership role in AES CESCO Ltd, the privatized distribution company in Orissa. He has worked with The World Bank and then with PricewaterhouseCoopers Ltd in formulation and implementation of Power Sector Reforms in India as per the Electricity Act 2003 and played a key role in the power sector unbundling exercise and driving Accelerated Efficiency Improvement Programs across the States of AP, UP, Chhattisgarh, Karnataka and Assam

Debasish U Banerjee
Managing Director
Calcutta Electric Supply Corporation

Mr. Debasish Banerjee, is an Electrical Engineer with proficiency in Business Management, having rich and diverse industry experience. He has started his career from Areva and moved onto Crompton Greaves and Schneider Electric, heading Business Operations in Utilities, Industry & Dealer Domain. In the last stint as CEO of Reliance Energy, he contributed to improving Operational Efficiency through Business Processes Reengineering & Automation, thus improving bottom line and Customer Delight, while Optimizing Cost. In his current capacity as MD (Distribution) of CESC, he has ushered in a transformation journey to elevate CESC to newer heights of Excellence with Enhanced Operational Resilience for effective Business Continuity during and after any crisis, by transfiguring CESC into a more Agile, Customer Centric and Cost-Effective Digital Utility. In pursuit of his passion to deploy Technology for radical change, he is continually engaged in adoption of disruptive Technological Innovations, for delivering a better Customer Service Experience on Digital Platform, riding the new waves of Mobility, loT, Big Data Analytics & Artificial Intelligence.

Deepti Dutt
Head – Strategic Initiatives – Public Sector
Amazon Web Services

With over 19 years of work experience, Deepti is focusing on strategic initiatives for India PS. Current focus are smart infrastructure (cities, utilities and transport),digital agriculture and Govt Tech program. She has been with AWS since July 2018. Prior to this, Deepti has led smart cities initiative at Microsoft and IBM Global Business Services. She has handled business development, ecosystem development and delivery roles around smart cities in these organizations. In between her corporate jobs, Deepti has done a 3- years stint with Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI), GoI, where she was part of the strategy team to roll out the Aadhaar project. As part of UIDAI’s Program Management Unit, Deepti was involved inconceptualizing and setting up strategy, processes and polices for enrolments,authentication, data updates, eKYC etc. She program managed rollout of Aadhaar online authentication services and liaised with ecosystem, designed and executed various Proof of Concepts and pilots to evolve the same

Divyesh Kumar Sharma
Associate Director – Energy
RTI India

Business strategist into sector advisory and full-scale consulting partnering with BUs, providing thought leadership, strategic direction, process and market intelligence in order to guide grow and enhance overall business efficiency and brand value. Worked intensively with market group leaders (Provider, Payer, Government, Technology, Regulator and Consumer) to frame the market, identify market opportunities, build analytic-based strategic plans and drive actionable decisions through strong acumen of competitive dynamics, customer needs, regulatory impacts, market trajectory and optimum techno-commercial insights.

Dinesh Waghmare
Principal Secretary
Energy Govt of Maharashtra

Shri. Dinesh Waghmare, IAS has taken over the charge as Principal Secretary (Energy) w.e.f 01.02.2021. Shri. Dinesh Waghmare will also continue to hold the additional charge of the post of Chairman and Managing Director, Maharashtra State Electricity Transmission Company Limited. Shri. Dinesh Waghmare, belongs to 1994 Batch of IAS. Shri. Dinesh Waghmare is B.E. (Electronics) from Visvesvaraya National Institute of Technology, (VNIT), Nagpur and also possess the degree in M. Tech from IIT Kharagpur in Computer Science. He has also done M.Sc. In Development & Project Planning, Bradford University, England, UK. He possesses more than 26 years of experience in responsible roles in spheres of Management and Administration.

Eman Prijono Wasito Adi
Executive Vice President
Development Sulawesi, Maluku, Papua and Nusa Tenggara Region PT PLN (PERSERO), Indonesia

With the many backgrounds, experiences electrical and energy environment experiences that Mr Eman has, he is now an Executive Vice President Development Sulawesi, Maluku, Papua and Nusa Tenggara Region at the State Electricity Company (PT PLN (Persero)) Indonesia. Mr Eman did his graduation from University of Indonesia. He has work experience of more than a decade.

Gajanan Kale
Chief Executive Officer
TP Western Odisha Distribution Limited

Er. Gajanan Kale has more than 30 years of experience in different electricity utilities like BHEL Bhopal, Central Railway Nagpur, Delhi Vidyut Board (DVB), Tata Power Delhi Distribution Limited (TPDDL) and Tata Power Co. Ltd Mumbai (TPCL), TP Ajmer Distribution Ltd. Specially worked with Power Distribution utilities for more than 29 years with special focus on Profit and Loss, Aggregate Technical & Commercial (AT&C) Loss Reduction & Customer delight with emphasis on managing the change of Govt. undertakings to private, managing people, process improvement, network improvement, Strategic business growth and developing contacts with different stakeholders. He is presently the Chief Executive Officer of TP Western Odisha Distribution Limited which is a joint venture between Tata Power and Government of Odisha.

Girish Ghatikar
ISGF Working Group Chair
India Smart Grid Forum

Mr. Girish Ghatikar is a Senior Program Manager and leads the information and communication technologies (ICT) for distributed energy resources (DER) and integration research at Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) in Palo Alto, California. The research identifies, creates, and transfers ICT-centric solutions for the adoption of DER into the power system. Before joining EPRI, Ghatikar was the Chief Research Officer at Green lots and led the development of electric vehicle-grid and battery storage-integrated systems. At the U.S. Department of Energy’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, he was the Deputy Leader for the Grid Integration program and the Chief Architect for the international standard, Open ADR. Girish Ghatikar’s work has appeared in over 75 publications and he is regularly asked to speak at events and conduct training related to clean transportation and clean energy. Ghatikar holds Master’s degree in Telecommunication Systems, Computer Technologies, and Infrastructure Planning. Ghatikar’s work has appeared in over 90 publications and he holds a Master’s degree in Telecommunication Systems/Computer Technologies and Infrastructure Planning.

Ghanshyam Prasad
Chairperson
Central Electricity Authority

Shri Ghanshyam Prasad 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. An IIT alumnus, he has done his B. Tech in Electrical Engineering from Indian Institute of Technology BHU,and M.Tech in Environment and Management from IIT Delhi. Besides these, he has also done his MBA in Finance. Working in the Ministry of Power, he was involved in Reforms and Restructuring (R&R) in the electricity Sector and Operation and Monitoring (OM) of the electricity grid. He holds a wide ranging experience in the areas of power system operation, long term generation planning, performance monitoring of all the power systems and cross border power trade with neighbouring countries. He was also sent to several countries in a professional capacity- on Electricity related assignments. He has also served around six years in Haryana Electricity Regulatory Commission and has been involved in various power reforms in the country. 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); 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.

Hemant Kumar Jain
Member
Rajasthan Electricity Regulatory Commission

Shri Hemant Kumar Jain was born on 02.07.1962. He did his Graduation (B.com) in1981 from University of Rajasthan, LL.B in 1984 from the Jodhpur University, Jodhpur and awarded degree of Chartered Account in 1985 from The Institute of Chartered Accounts of India. He completed both the courses simultaneously. He initially started his carrier in 1985, Practiced as Chartered Accountant. Later he was selected in Rajasthan Judicial Service in April 1990, he worked on various posts viz, Joint L.R., Law Department, Secretariat, Additional District & Sessions Judge, Presiding Officer in Waqf Tribunal, Industrial Tribunal, Jaipur, Distt.& Session Judge Jaipur - Metro, Alwar, Chittorgarh & Jhunjhunu. In the year 2003 elevated to Rajasthan Higher Judicial Service joined on 17.04.2003. He was appointed Member, Rajasthan Electricity Regulatory Commission (RERC) Jaipur by the State Government on 30.05.2022 and was sworn in as Member, RERC by the Hon’ble Chief Justice of Rajasthan on 04.07.2022.

KR Jyothilal
Principal Secretary – Energy
Kerala

Shri Jyothilal IAS, a 1993 batch IAS officer is currently the Principal Secretary, Transport Department, Government of Kerala and Vice- Chairman, Kerala Metropolitan Transport Authority. Armed with a B Tech from IIT Madras and MBA from ICFAI, Mr. Lal has earlier been the Collector of Trivandrum and Kannur, and held portfolios in IT, Transport, Agriculture, Animal Husbandry, Fisheries, Food and Civil Supplies, GAD, Tourism, Devaswom, Parliamentary Affairs, Ports, Aviation, Excise among others. He has been instrumental in projects related to hitech agriculture, Smart City Kochi, KMRL, KMTA, Kannur airport, e-mobility and hydrogen economy etc.

Manoj Kumar Singh
Chief General Manager-Commercial Services
TPCODL

Sri Manoj Kumar Singh is an Electrical Engineering Graduate (1987) with Post Graduate in Management from XIMB (1989). He is also a Certified Energy Auditor by Bureau of Energy Efficiency, Ministry of Power, Govt. of India. He was working with HMT Ltd at their Bangalore, Guwahati, Calcutta, New Delhi and Bhubaneswar office from 1989 to 1997.Then,he joined PwC in 1997 as Management Consultant in the Power Sector reform project of Odisha. He was working as Sr. General Manager, Consultancy Wing, Xavier Institute of Management, Bhubaneswar in its pioneering works on community involvement in rural power distribution and concept of franchising during FY 1999-2002. Sri Singh joined CESU on 2007 as GM (AT&C) and involved in franchise operations, DSM activities, energy audit, metering, regulatory affairs, business plan preparation etc. Now, he is working as Chief General Manager(Commercial) in TPCODL. He is having nearly 34 years of experience in marketing, consulting, strategic planning, regulatory affairs, energy accounting & auditing, contract development & its administration, project management, training & development, relationship management, team-building etc.

Manjeet Singh Rahi
Vice President, Pre-Sales (Power and Utilities)
Fluentgrid Limited

Manjeet Singh Rahi works as Vice President – Pre Sales (Power and Utilities) and leads the Smart Energy practice ranging from Revenue management systems to the Smart Metering ecosystems at Fluentgrid. He brings in over 21 Years of experience (with 10+ years in various leadership roles) in delivering business growth, GTM strategies, Forging Partnerships, Techno Domain Evangelism and C Suite Advisory. Highly experienced in very large Deliveries, Business & Technology Consulting, Architecting Enterprise Solutions. He has worked with companies like Wipro, HCL, Enzen and Oracle in Energy and utility space at various critical roles.He is also a key speaker at various industry events and fora including ISGF

Markus Wypior
Principal Advisor
Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH

Markus Wypior holds a degree as an economist from the University of Bonn, Germany. He has been working in various industrial and development co-operation projects in Eastern Europe, Central Asia, South Asia and South East Asia. Mr. Wypior joined GIZ in 2003 as a regional manager in the Asia- Pacific department responsible for energy and environment projects. From 2005 – 2010 he was seconded to India for the implementation of the National CFC Consumption Phase-out Plan and the National CTC Phase-out Plan under the Montreal Protocol on Substances that deplete the Ozone Layer. From 2012 – 2015 he headed the support office of the Indo-German Energy Forum in New Delhi. At present he is the Deputy Director of the Indo-German Energy Programme (IGEN) and heads the IGEN Green Energy Corridor Project on large scale grid integration of renewable energy.

MK Jain
Member
Uttarakhand Electricity Regulatory Commission

M.K. Jain is a dynamic Technocrat and an expert Power Engineer with over 38 years of diverse experience and expertise in the allied areas of Electricity Generation, Transmission and Distribution of the respective Power Sectors of Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand since 1980. He has an in-depth specialisation in the Regulatory functionalities and regulations since the inception of the Uttarakhand Electricity Regulatory Commission (UERC), Dehradun (2002). He joined as Member (Technical), UERC on 12th April, 2019. Prior to joining the Commission, he served as Director (Project) from July 2015 to November 2018 at the Uttarakhand Power Corporation Limited (UPCL), Dehradun. He also worked as Managing Director, UPCL from 30.11.2016 to 07.04.2017. He was awarded a B.E. Hons. (Electronics) degree from the Madan Mohan Malviya University of Technology- MMMUT, Gorakhpur (1979) and was pursuing Master of Engineering in Solid- State Electronics from the Indian Institute of Technology-IIT, Roorkee (1980) before joining UPSEB. During the worst ever disaster of June 2013 in Uttarakhand he, as Chief Engineer Garhwal, commanded the restoration process by camping at different sites for more than one & half months, till the supply restored. Tripping free Maa Nanda Devi-Raj Jaat Yatra, Kumbh of Uttarakhand, is also important to mention as an achievement during his tenure. Further UPCL was accredited as amongst the Top Discoms of India with the Annual A+ rating(s) during the FY 2015-16 and FY 2016-17 consecutively with an All- India Ranking as the 4th Discom and Uttarakhand as the 2nd State after Gujarat country-wide in the State Distribution Utilities Annual Integrated Rating Report by the Ministry of Power Government of India, New Delhi is also worth mentioning.

Murali Shankar Gopalakrishnan
Vice President, Solutions and Product Engineering
Fluentgrid Limited

Mr Murali Shankar represents Fluentgrid in the capacity of Vice President for Solutions and Product Engineering. He brings in 20 Years of Experience in Tele-Communication and Utilities Industry. He has been pioneering the R&D activities in building the CIS & AMI Platform for Fluentgrid apart from providing the direction in execution of AMI Projects for multiple Indian Electrical Distribution Utilities.

Nallasivan C
TANGEDCO
Tamil Nadu

Nallasivan C is power system Engineer with 20 years’ experience He is currently working as Assistant Executive Engineer on OPEN ACCESS AMR project IT division with TANGEDCO, Chennai He has done Certified Training of Trainers on Roof Top Solar Photovoltaic Entrepreneur by Skill Council for Green Jobs He has also worked as A system studies engineer in Tamil Nadu generation and distribution corporation ( at Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India He has worked on deputation to Tamil Nadu energy development agency ( Chennai as deputy senior manager/solar division He has worked as assistant engineer/electrical in operations and efficiency division at Ennore thermal power station.

Nilesh Kane
Head- Mumbai Distribution
TATA Power Company

Dr Nilesh Kane, currently working as Chief Distribution (Mumbai) and EV Business Operations at TATA Power. He carries experience of over 26 years in Electrical Operations and Technology ranging from Generation, Transmission, Distribution & Renewable sectors to latest pioneering technologies like Battery energy storage, Electric vehicle solutions and smart grid projects. He has represented Tata Power at Various platforms for presentations on power distribution, EV infrastructure, battery energy storage etc. Dr Kane is an Electrical Engineer, Alumni of Harvard Business School, MBA- Energy management from MDI Gurgaon and PhD in strategy and Power management. He is also certified auditor of Bureau of Energy Efficiency (BEE) and Member of various BIS Committees.

Pedi Sumanto
Vice President
Vivek Goel, Chief Engineer - Distribution, CEA

With the many backgrounds, experiences electrical and energy environment Experiences, Mr. Pedi Sumanto is now a Vice President of Head Office Research Management Development -PLN Distribution Asset Processing. He did his graduation from University of Bandar Lampung. Mr. Sumanto has work experience of more than a decade.

P. P. Gupta
Chairman
Techno Electric

Mr. Gupta holds a bachelor’s degree in Engineering and a master’s degree in Business Management from the Indian Institute of Management (IIM), Ahmedabad. He was a management consultant at Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd. (BHEL) and worked in the merchant banking division of the erstwhile ANZ Grindlays Bank, Kolkata. He also served as Vice President of the Indian Electricals and Electronics Manufacturers Association (IEEMA). Mr. Gupta continues to guide the Company with over 40 years of experience in the domain.

Prabir Neogi
Chief Advisor
RP-SG Group

Mr. P. Neogi is an engineering graduate from Jadavpur University and holds a diploma in finance and accounting management. He has attended the Senior Executive Programme on Strategy, Leadership and Transformation at the London Business School. Mr. Neogi has had a long experience in power and coal sectors with exposure to policy, reforms, regulation and organisational design, having worked with CESC Limited and as Chief Executive, Noida Power Company Limited. Subsequently, he has served as President, Integrated Coal Mining Limited, which undertakes captive coal mining for CESC’s generating plants. Currently as Chief Adviser – Corporate Affairs of RP-Sanjiv Goenka Group, he is assisting Group Companies in policy and regulatory matters impacting individual businesses. Mr. Neogi is acting as Mentor, FICCI Power Committee, and Advisor, Energy Vertical of ASSOCHAM. His areas of interest include policy and regulation for developing fuel and power markets, power distribution reforms and decarbonisation initiatives. Mr. P. Neogi is an engineering graduate from Jadavpur University and holds a diploma in finance and accounting management. He has attended the Senior Executive Programme on Strategy, Leadership and Transformation at the London Business School. Mr. Neogi has had a long experience in power and coal sectors with exposure to policy, reforms, regulation and organisational design, having worked with CESC Limited and as Chief Executive, Noida Power Company Limited. Subsequently, he has served as President, Integrated Coal Mining Limited, which undertakes captive coal mining for CESC’s generating plants. Currently as Chief Adviser – Corporate Affairs of RP-Sanjiv Goenka Group, he is assisting Group Companies in policy and regulatory matters impacting individual businesses. Mr. Neogi is acting as Mentor, FICCI Power Committee, and Advisor, Energy Vertical of ASSOCHAM. His areas of interest include policy and regulation for developing fuel and power markets, power distribution reforms and decarbonisation initiatives.

Praveen Aswani
Regional Head, Indian Subcontinent
Cuculus GmbH

Praveen Aswani is an Instrumentation Engineer from the 1991 batch. Prior to joining Cuculus, he held various positions at Arad Group, Itron (formerly, Actaris Metering Systems and Schlumberger) and Crompton Greaves, focusing on utility metering (electricity, water and gas) and pressure regulation for the Natural Gas Distribution Sector.

PRAMOD DEO
Former Chairperson
Central Electricity Regulatory Commission

Pramod Deo is working as an Independent Advisor in the power sector after he demitted office as Chairman, Central Electricity Regulatory Commission (CERC) on 8 June 2013. He has had more than 11years’ experience as an electricity regulator both at central and state levels in India. He is an energy policy specialist with over 35 years of experience both at national and international level. Deo is the founding Director of state and national level energy institutions: Maharashtra Energy Development Agency (1986-88) and the Energy Management Center (1989-93) – now upgraded as Bureau of Energy Efficiency (BEE).

Pratap Keshari Deb
Honourable Minister for Energy
Government of Odisha

Pratap Keshari Deb is an Indian politician from the state of Odisha. In May 2017, he won a bypoll to the Rajya Sabha seat from Odisha constituency which was vacated by Bishnu Charan Das when he was appointed chairman of Odisha State Planning Board. Pratap Deb filed a nomination and won the seat uncontested on 18 May 2017. He will complete the remainder of his term until 1 July 2022. Pratap Keshari Deb is a member of 16th Assembly of Odisha (2019 - 2024) elected from Aul. Deb had defeated his nearest Congress rival Devendra Sharma by a margin of 55,601 votes.[6] He was inducted into Naveen Patnaik's Cabinet as Industries, Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises, Energy Minister in June 2022.

PK Pujari
Former Chairperson
Central Electricity Regulatory Commission

A Post Graduate in Economics from Delhi School of Economics, Shri P.K. Pujari joined the Indian Administrative Service (IAS), the premier civil service of India in 1981 and was allotted Gujarat cadre. During his career, he handled assignments in various departments/ministries in Gujarat as well as Central Government, such as power, commercial taxes, finance and industries. He was Secretary to Government of India, Ministry of Power for more than two years before his superannuation in 2017, after serving for 36 years. Some of the key assignments in the field of finance and industries were (i) financial resource forecast, expenditure planning, annual budget preparation, debt and guarantee management; (ii) transition from sales tax to value addition tax (VAT), administration of commercial taxes by simplifying processes and making it enabled; and (iii) Setting up and marketing industrial estates and special economic zones. He worked in the power sector for more than seven years, as Director and Secretary. As Director he was involved in developing policy framework for participation of private power utilities in generation and distribution. During his tenure as Secretary (2015-17), maximum generation capacity and inter- state transmission capacity was added in the country, resulting in one nation - one grid - one price. As Secretary, he initiated and concluded a number of far-reaching initiatives and policy changes. These include electrification of all the remaining 18,452 villages (as on 1.4.2015), launching of "UDAY" for sustainable operational and financial turnaround of Discoms, revised Tariff Policy 2016, new coal linkage policy for power plants, revised National Electricity Plan, XIX electricity power survey, revised- bid documents for UMPPs, revised power allocation formula for states from cg stations, formulation of new hydro-power policy, formulation of the new policy for universal households electrification by 2019, policy guidelines for integration of renewable energy into the grid, revised rules for captive generators, finalisation of the report for rationalisation of tariff structure and tariff categories. During his tenure, the guidelines for cross border trade of power with neighbouring countries got finalised. The cross-border transmission lines also got augmented substantially. This facilitated increased trade of power with Bhutan, Nepal and Bangladesh. Power trade with Myanmar started for the first time. Talks started for sub-marine cable connection with Sri Lanka. He led the Indian side for the bilateral talks on power trade with these countries.He was closely associated with the signing of the International Solar Alliance Framework Agreement during COP22 in Marrakech. He led the Indian delegation for the 2nd BRICS Energy Ministerial Summit and also for the 8th Clean Energy Ministerial (CEM) Summit at Beijing.His interests include reading books, sports and listening to music.

Praveer Sinha
MD & CEO
Tata Power Company Ltd

Dr. Praveer Sinha is the CEO & Managing Director of The Tata Power Company Limited- one of India’s oldest and largest integrated power utilities. A seasoned power professional, with a career spanning over almost four decades, Dr. Sinha has held several leadership positions across the power sector value chain. As a CEO & MD of Tata Power Delhi Distribution Limited, he was instrumental in driving the turnaround of discom through technological and social interventions and setting a benchmark operational model for other discoms & developing countries to follow. Under his current leadership, Tata Power is at the forefront of transforming itself from century old power utility company into a new-aged sustainable, technology oriented and customer centric green energy solutions company. Dr. Sinha has led multiple partnerships with National & International technology partners and institutional associations. He has contributed significantly towards setting up the first international incubator in India for promoting innovations in the clean energy space. He co-chairs the CII National Committee on Power and is also a member of other national committees working on Indian Power sector reforms. Dr Sinha is a qualified Electrical Engineer and has also done his Master’s in Business Law. He received his PhD from Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi and is a visiting Research Associate at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Boston, USA.

Rahul Chandra
VP Business Development and Sales – India
Gridspertise

Rahul Chandra is a techno-commercial professional with a strategic outlook and possesses domain expertise in Electricity & Automobile sector. He has extensive experience in the critical functions of Corporate Strategy & Planning, Business Development, Marketing and Operations. He has vast experience of more than 18 years in the Indian electricity distribution space and was part of the business turnaround exercise at Mumbai and Delhi power distribution companies. Has developed expertise in process conceptualization & implementation. He has deep understanding of the macro & micro parameters of electricity distribution sector and its regulatory environment. He was part of the biggest asset sale transaction in the Indian electricity distribution sector and has led other asset transaction in the power sector also. Being a technocrat, he is a firm believer in the power of technology for business sustenance & growth and is always looking forward to technologically driven innovative solutions to business problems.
Before his current assignment, he has worked with large Indian conglomerates, like Reliance, Tata and Escorts group, in various capacities in different business verticals and functions. On professional qualification front, he has done his Master of Business Administration with specialization in Strategic Management from Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi and has earned his Bachelor of Engineering from Pt. Ravishankar Shukla University, Raipur.

Rajeev Chowdhary
Head - Regulatory Affairs
BSES Rajdhani Power Limited

Rajeev, brings with him more than 25 years of Regulatory Experience in the Electricity Sector. As Head Regulatory, BSES Delhi, apart from Regulatory Affairs, he is also associated in areas of Finance, Strategy Planning, Budgeting and audit of the company. Prior to 2004, he was associated with PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) in the Power Sector Reforms in the states of Orissa, Uttar Pradesh, Karnataka, Uttarakhand and Assam.

Rahul Tongia
Senior Fellow
Centre for Social and Economic Progress

Dr. Rahul Tongia is a Senior Fellow with CSEP in New Delhi, where his work focuses on technology and policy, especially for sustainable development. He leads the Energy, Natural Resources, and Sustain ability group at CSEP, and is also active in broader issues of technology. Tongia’s works pans the entire energy and electricity, with focuses on supply options including renewable energy (covering finance, grid integration, etc.); smart grids, which use innovative information and communications technology to improve management of the electric utility grid; issues of access and quality and broader issues of reforms and regulations, including electricity pricing. He is also a non-resident Senior `Fellow at the Bookings Institution, and Adjunct Professor at Carnegie Mellon University, and was the founding Technical Advisor for the Government of India’s Smart Grid Task Force.

Ravi Seethapathy
Chairman, ISGF WG on RE and Microgrid
Chairman, Biosirus Inc., Canada

Ravi Seethapathy, is Executive Chairman of Biosirus Inc., Canada and a Corporate Director of Larsen & Toubro’s - Power Transmission & Distribution (IC), India. He also serves as the “Ambassador for the Americas”, for the Global Smart Energy Federation, USA, and as an Advisor to the India Smart Grid Forum. With over 35+ years of experience in the Energy and Power Systems area in Canada, he mentors several utilities and companies in their technology development. His is active in several IEC, CSA, GSEF, ISGF technical committees, in the areas of sustainable energy, transportation, energy storage, microgrid and e-mobility. He is an invited speaker internationally and has co-authored over 50 technical papers and 35 published articles. His former Corporate Directorships include Toronto Atmospheric Fund, Smart Grid Canada, Ryerson University, TV Ontario, Scarborough Hospital, and as Chairs of Engineers Without Borders Canada, Canadian Club of Toronto, and Indo-Canada Chamber of Commerce. He is a Life Fellow of the Canadian Academy of Engineering; a Life Senior Member of the IEEE; and a registered Professional Engineer in Ontario. He has been honoured with several awards/citations including the Life Member Service Award, IEEE Toronto (2021); and Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal in 2012. He/ his family has endowed an IEEE PES/IAS Award in Rural Electrification Excellence. He holds a B. Tech (Hons) in Electrical Power from IIT, India, an M. Eng. in Electrical Power from University of Toronto and an MBA from the Schulich School of Business, York University, Toronto.

Reena Suri
Executive Director
India Smart Grid Forum

Reena Suri, Executive Director with India Smart Grid Forum (ISGF) since 2013, brings over 19 years of experience in the Energy Sector. She is responsible for the research projects, advisory services, business development, training and capacity building programs, customer outreach activities, member’s relations and finances of ISGF. Reena has contributed to the various advisory services, whitepapers and research reports of ISGF such as: Implementation Plan for Electrification of Public Transportation in Kolkata City; Smart Grid Handbook for Regulators and other Stakeholder; Blockchain for Electric Utilities; Energy Storage Roadmap for India; Smart Grid Roadmap for Bangalore Electricity Supply Company Ltd; Development of Roadmap for Implementation of Smart Grid – Concepts, Practices and Technologies in SAARC Region; Study on Infrastructure and Enabling Environment for Road Electric Transport in SAARC Member States; and World Bank EV Project: EV Ecosystem Support for Kolkata.

Reena is the founder-editor of the Smart Grid Bulletin published by ISGF since January 2014 which has online circulation of over 50,000 senior professionals in 100+ countries. As an outreach specialist, she has been involved in development of the Customer Outreach programs for the utilities implementing the Smart Grid projects in India. The outreach program helps the utilities to educate the project benefits to the customers well in advance of the start of project implementation. Reena is also responsible for designing and delivering training and capacity building programs on various domains of Smart Grids for Policy Makers, Regulators and Utility Officials. Reena is instrumental in making the India Smart Grid Knowledge Portal (www.indiasmartgrid.org), one of the most popular portals on smart grids globally.

Reena has worked with ISGF Board to conceive, design, develop and the successful delivery of ISGF’s Annual Event, India Smart Utility Week (ISUW, www.isuw.in) since 2015. She is the principal show director of ISUW which in a short span has grown to be the signature event on Smart Grids and Smart Cities around the world.

Reji Kumar Pillai
President
India Smart Grid Forum

Reji is the President of India Smart Grid Forum (www.indiasmartgrid.org) since its inception in 2011 and is also the Chairman of Global Smart Grid Federation since November 2016. He an internationally renowned expert with nearly four decades of experience in the electricity sector in diverse functions covering the entire value chain and across continents. He is spearheading a mission to leverage technology to transform the electric grid in India and provide clean and reliable electricity to every citizen 24x7 at affordable cost. He is actively advocating for the “Right to Electricity Act” that will ensure lifeline supply of electricity to all citizens in India. Reji has played pivotal role in several ground breaking initiatives related to renewable energy, electric grid modernization, electric mobility, energy storage and digitalization in India during the past two decades. His current areas of research and work include: Grid Integrated Vehicles, District Cooling, Electric Cooking, Smart Grids as Anchor Infrastructure for Smart Cities, Grid Interactive Buildings and Campuses; Artificial Intelligence, Robotics and Blockchain Applications for Utilities; Urban Air Mobility (UAM) Systems and the Future of Transportation; and Interconnection of Regional Grids in Asia - ASEAN, SAARC and GCC grids.

In November 2016, Reji was unanimously elected as Chairman of Global Smart Grid Federation, now renamed as Global Smart Energy Federation (GSEF), a global umbrella organization of smart grid/energy associations and utilities from 16 countries and the European Union; and headquartered in Washington DC, USA. As an entrepreneur, Reji has built successful enterprises in India and overseas and exited them. He has studied Engineering, Finance, Management and Law; worked with NTPC and IBM and has been senior consultant with ADB, World Bank and USAID. A recognized thought leader in clean energy, smart grid technologies, smart cities and electric mobility, Reji is a popular key-note speaker at international symposiums and conferences on these domains. He has also contributed to several articles, books, research reports and white papers on variety of topics.

RR Mehta
Advisor
Reliance Infrastructure

National and International senior management experience having started in India for a diversified company for its ship owning activity in Mumbai and thereafter, in Hong Kong, Mexico and back in Mumbai. Mehta has diverse functional and corporate management experience including in ship owning for international trade, Trading, Investments, Manufacturing and Steel production. Have dealt with cross border trade, tax and legal matters in international environment having dealt with USA, UK, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Korea, Phillipines etc. He dealt with diverse profile of customers including large world-renowned steel companies in USA, Europe, Korea, Phillipines, Mexico etc. and now managing the electricity distribution services to consumers in Mumbai as diverse as Commercial Establishments, Residential in organised developments as well as unorganised developments (slums). In recent times He steered the organisation through a challenging, first time in India, task of grant(renewal) of Distribution license for 25 years against all challenges of the regulatory intent of extraordinary stretched test of provisions of Electricity Act 2003. Reliance Energy is one of the most forward looking organisation in the industry.

Ramesh Prasad
Director Technical
Andhra Pradesh Eastern Power Distribution Company Limited

Ramesh currently working as a Director – Technical at Andhra Pradesh Eastern Power Distribution Company Limited (APEPDCL). Mr. Prasad joined as Assistant Engineer in the erstwhile APSEB in 1982. From 1993 to 2003 he worked in various positions in Gajuwaka, Gopalapatnam and Rajahmundry. In 2003, he was promoted as Divisional Engineer and served in 2003 Godavari Pushkaram. As SE he worked in Visakhapatnam and Vizianagaram till 2007.

Rajeev Sharma
DDG- Standardization
Bureau of Indian Standards

Rajeev is experienced Director with a demonstrated history of working in the government administration industry. He skilled in Strategic Planning, Quality Assurance, Management, Business Strategy, and Project Planning. He has strong professional with a BE - Bachelor of Engineering focused in Electrical Engineering from Punjab Engineering College.

Rajan N Khobragade
Chairman and Managing Director
Kerala State Electricity Board Limited

Rajan is currently working as a Chairman and Managing Director at Kerala State Electricity Board Limited (KSEBL). Khobragade, is a 1993 batch IAS officer. Khobragade, who was health secretary during the COVID-19 outbreak, was posted as Secretary, Water Resources.

Sanjay Dubey
Principal Secretary Energy
Madhya Pradesh

Mr. Dubey is an IAS officer of 1993 batch and borne to MP cadre. He is an alumnus of IIT Delhi and have done his BTech in Mechanical Engineering, MTech in production Engineering. He has also earned Masters in Economics and PhD in Transportation. A British Chevening Scholar from London School of Economics he has been trained in Brisbane University in Queensland Australia. He has held several challenging positions including District Magistrate of Rewa, Dhar and Jabalpur. He has served as Addl CEO Election Commission, Secretary Home, Secretary Rural Development and CEO of Rural Roads Development Authority. He has also served as Divisional Commissioner of Indore, Principal Secretary Labour, Principal Secretary Housing and Urban Development and currently serves as Principal Secretary Energy and New and Renewable Energy.

Sainath Bandhakavi
Senior Solutions Architect – Public Sector
Amazon Web Services

Sainath Bandhakavi leads Solutions Architecture for Power & Utilities industry at Amazon Internet Services Private Limited. In this role, he works with Public sector Utilities, Start-ups and AWS partners to help build and modernize industry solutions on AWS by leveraging the power of cloud. Sainath comes with over two decades of experience of working with customers in utilities and smart cities domain in various roles including Solutions Architect, Strategy Consultant, Process Consultant, Project Manager. His recent assignments were around smart metering, utilities billing and customer care, smart cities solutions, advanced analytics etc. Prior to joining Amazon, he worked with IBM in their Global CoC for Energy, Environment & Utilities team supporting customers in India and abroad. He also worked with Tata Power Delhi Distribution Limited in developing and implementing solutions to improve efficiency of internal processes.

Sanjay Banga
President – Transmission and Distribution
Tata Power Company Ltd

Mr. Banga is the President of Transmission and Distribution at Tata Power which includes the Distribution services across Mumbai, Delhi, Ajmer, Power Trading Business and Transmission Business in Mumbai and Powerlinks Transmission. In a recent addition to Tata Power’s kitty, Mr. Banga also oversees the recently acquired Distribution companies in Odisha – CESU, SOUTHCO, WESCO and NESCO.Prior to this, he led the Tata Power Delhi Distribution Limited (Tata Power-DDL), a Public Private Partnership (JV) of TATA Power and Government of National Capital Territory of Delhi as the Chief Executive Officer.A power sector veteran with around three decades of experience in Power Generation and Distribution business, Mr. Sanjay Kumar Banga brings with him an expertise in the power sector, covering areas of Operational Technologies, Project Management, Utility Business process Re-engineering and Regulatory Environment that are essential for strengthening of electrical utilities to meet reliability and AT&C loss reduction targets under regulatory regime. The learning he gathered through associations with leading Public and Private sector electrical utilities in India equips him very well to tackle the enormous challenges of the electricity distribution business in India and abroad. His deep knowledge of the subject makes him a regular speaker in seminars / workshops / panel discussions in India and geographies around the world.Mr. Banga started his career with National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC) as an Engineer Trainee and was involved in the Operation & Commissioning of Super Thermal Power Projects (1989 to 1995). Prior to joining Tata Power (DDL), he has worked with Reliance Energy (earlier known as BSES Ltd) from 1996 to 2003, where he was associated with the entire spectrum of generation activities covering wide aspects of Operations, Maintenance, Planning, Design and Project Engineering.Mr. Banga is an alumnus of the National Institute of Technology (NIT), Kurukshetra. He has his Master’s degree in Business Administration (MBA) from the esteemed Faculty of Management Studies (FMS), Delhi. Also, he has completed the Senior Executive Leadership Program from the most coveted Harvard Business School.He is a member of the Bureau of Indian Standard (BIS) LITD10 core committee for defining standards for Power System Control and Communication.Mr. Banga is an avid reader and enjoys playing sports like Tennis and Cricket.

Satyendra Pandey
Member
Gujarat Electricity Regulatory Commission

Shri Satyendra R. Pandey is Member, Gujarat Electricity Regulatory Commission (GERC) since December, 2020. Prior to his present assignment, he served as Electricity Ombudsman for Gujarat State, Legal Advisor to GERC and in Erstwhile Gujarat Electricity Board (GEB) i.e. GUVNL. Shri Pandey holds the Post-Graduate Degree in Electrical Engineering, Law, and Management. He has also done PGDM (Finance) & (HRD). He is well versed in Power Sector having more than 37 years of rich and varied work experience in all the facets of the Power Sector i.e. Regulatory, legal, finance, commerce and technical aspects pertaining to Generation, Transmission, System Operation, and Distribution.In the GERC he is instrumental in formulation of Regulations framed under the Electricity Act, 2003, dealt with subject matter of Determination of Tariff, Promotion of RE Projects , Electricity subject matter of generation, transmission and distribution and also dealt with various petitions on different subject matters filed before the Commission on various subjects like approval of capital cost of the generation projects, approval of PPA, approval of deviation of bid documents, approval for grant of license for distribution, transmission and trading of electricity, disputes pertaining to PPAs, Tariff related issues, Open Access, Intra-State ABT, DSM, Energy Accounting, Renewable Energy, Captive Generation Plants, Licence related issues, Suo-Motu proceedings, Appeals filed against the Orders of the Electrical Inspector on Meter Disputes etc. by way of analysis, preparation of issues and draft orders on it. Further, he was involved in Research & Development of Electric Power Utility, formulation of various projects on power sector and submitted to Central Government for consideration as Research project, in house training programs, RE Projects, DSM and Energy Audit work, O&M of Thermal Power Station, and transmission systems, Strategy formulation for execution of projects.

Shenbagam Manthiram
Chief Executive Officer
Tata Power Central Odisha Distribution Ltd

Mr. M Shenbagam is the Chief Executive Officer at TP Central Odisha Distribution Limited. He is a hard-core Power Sector professional with more than 3 decades of experience in Thermal & Hydro Generation, Distribution & International Business Development. Before joining TPCODL Mr. M Shenbagam was the Chief Operating Officer at Tata Power Delhi Distribution Limited and before that he was heading the Power Business of Tata Power in Vietnam, spearheading implementation of 2 x 660 MW Long Phu 2, Super Critical Thermal Power Project and pursuing growth opportunities in Renewables. He has also headed the Retail Distribution of The Tata Power Company in Mumbai from 2008 to 2015, having been responsible for functions like Commercial, Marketing, Operations and Customer Services. He was the architect of the company's growth from a mere 23,000 customer base to over 6,00,000 customers. He was instrumental in setting up the entire Commercial & Operation processes to meet the growing customer base and Capacity and Capability building in its exponential growth journey. The Distribution Business went on to win four National Awards for Best Distribution Company from 2008 to 2013. Earlier to that he was heading Tata Power's Hydro Business with a Capacity of 450 MW. He is very passionate about Hydro Power Plants and was responsible for the Modernization & Renovation of 80-Year-old Hydro Power Plants which were installed in 1915. Mr. Shenbagam is an alumnus of National Institute of Technology Kurukshetra. He also attended the Management Program at Asian Institute of Management, Manila

SL Karwadiya
Executive Director
Madhya Pradesh Paschim Kshetra Vidyut Vitran Company Limited

SL Karwadiya is currently working as Executive Director and is looking after he projects and technical assignments in Madhya Pradesh Paschim Kshetra Vidyut Vitran Company Limited, Indore. He has 30 years of experience in electricity distribution and related activities.

SP KAR
CGM – Finance
TPCODL

Mr. Siba Prasad Kar is the Chief General Manager (Finance) at TP Central Odisha Distribution Limited (TPCODL). He is a hard-core Finance professional with 3 decades of experience in the fields like of Accounts, Finance, Taxation & Audit, and Operation Management & MIS etc. with Steel & Power sector. Before joining TPCODL Mr. Kar was the Sr.General Manager (Finance) at Central Electricity Supply Utility of Odisha (CESU) and before that he has worked at senior position in Steel Authority of India Ltd.(SAIL), Nava Bharat Venture Ltd.(NBVL). Mr. Siba Prasad Kar is a Fellow Member of the Institute of Cost Accountants of India, a professional body established under an ACT of the Parliament. He was the Past Chairman of The Institute of Cost Accountants of India-Bhubaneswar Chapter for the period 2016-17 & 2017-18. He has completed MBA (Finance), M.COM & LLB from, Utkal University, Orissa. He is also a prolific speaker on various seminars having national and international repute. He has keen interest in Sports and songs.

Suresh Mahapatra
Chief Secretary
Government of Odisha

Suresh Mahapatra, Chief Secretary of Odisha has been an astute and able administrator in different capacities.Born in Kansar village of Deogarh district in 1962, he belongs to Keonjhar district. He passed Matriculation from DN High School in Keonjhar, BSc from Ravenshaw College in 1982 and MSc Tech Applied Geology from ISM Dhanbad in 1985. Mahapatra joined IAS service in 1986 after a brief stint in ONGC. After probation in Sambalpur district, he was posted as sub-collector in Nuapada of Kalahandi district from 1988 to 1990. Between 1990 and 1993, he was posted as ADM Puri, project direct DRDA Balasore and Mayurbhanj districts.The senior IAS officer’s first posting as collector was in Bhadrak district in 1993. Following Kandhamal riots, the than chief minister Biju Patnaik appointed him as collector of the district.He was posted as Puri collector in 1996 when he was instrumental in successful Naba Kalebar of the deities of Jagannath Temple. During his stint as managing director of Omfed for about 6 years, he launched many new products. He was entrusted with the responsibility of CEO of CESU after the power company AES left suddenly. Thereafter, he led GRIDCO as CMD for 3 years and also served as RDC Cuttack for two years. Mahapatra was the first chief administrator of Jagannath temple in Puri and held the post for three years. Besides, he was the secretary of Energy department twice, secretary in Water Resources and Forest departments for about 8 years. Serving as secretary of these departments, he started several innovative schemes like mega lift irrigation, deep bore well, check dams and eco-tourism.

Sushanta Kumar Ray Mohapatra
Member – Technical
Odisha Electricity Regulatory Commission

Shri Sushanta Kumar Ray Mohapatra, formerly of the Indian Engineering Service, joined the Odisha Electricity Regulatory Commission on 29th December, 2021 after retiring from Central Electricity Authority, Ministry of Power, Govt. of India. Born on 21st May 1961, Shri Mohapatra has done Bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering from Sambalpur University, Odisha; Master’s degree in Power system from IIT Kharagpur and MBA from Faculty of Management Studies(FMS), University of Delhi. He had been with Central Electricity Authority (CEA), Ministry of Power for the past 34 years. During his tenure with CEA he has held various important positions across divisions such as Planning, Design & Engineering, Monitoring and Grid Operation and was also involved informulation of regulations, technical standard, specifications and guidelines. He was actively involved in Design & Engineering consultancy for first 400kV substation of Govt. of Bhutan and APTRANSCO; formulation of guidelines for Export/Import (Cross Border) of Electricity (2018) with neighbouring country; preparation of report of task force (constituted by Ministry of Power, Gov. of India) on Cyclone Resilient Robust Electricity T&D infrastructure in coastal areas of the country; preparation of One Nation One Specification - Standard Specifications for EHV AC Transformers & Reactors (66kV and above voltage class); preparation of “Manual on Substation” of Central Board of Irrigation & Power (CBI&P) and reduction in RoW of transmission lines in urban & forest areas of the country etc.He also served as Member Secretary of North Eastern Regional Power Committee (NERPC) and introduced requisition based Scheduling, protection audit, implementation of System Protection Scheme (SPS) & Islanding scheme in North Eastern Region for the first time. He is a senior member of IEEE, USA and was representing CEA as Member / Chairman in various technical committees.He retired as Chief Engineer, CEA in 2021 and has been nominated as Expert of National Committee on Transmission (NCT), Ministry of Power (Govt. of India). He has contributed number of papers & articles tonational & international seminars and journals & magazines on Indian Power sector. Shri Ray Mohapatra has taken over the responsibility as Member, Odisha Electricity Regulatory Commission (OERC).

Swetha Ravikumar
Sustainability professional
FSR Global

Swetha is a sustainability professional with experience in technology, policy & regulation,finance and business development in the renewable energy sector. She has previously work MO Dutch Development Bank in the Netherlands, Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems ISE in Germany, Confederation of Indian Industry – Green Business Centre in India, Assistive Technology Lab BVRIT in India and the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO).She also actively volunteers with local NGOs and organisations in India to advise them on sustainable development initiatives. Swetha has a Master’s degree in Sustainable Energy Engineering from KTH Royal Institute of Technology in Sweden and was awarded an Erasmus Mundus Scholarship. She holds a Bachelor’sdegreeinElectricalEngineeringfromJawaharlalNehruTechnologicalUniversityinIndia. At the Florence School of Regulation, she is the Head of FSR Global. She is responsible for international collaboration specifically in the regions of Asia, Africa & Latin America.

Tarun Katiyar
CEO
Tata Power Trading Company Ltd

Mr. Tarun Katiyar is the Chief Executive Officer of Tata Power Trading Company Limited. Mr. Katiyar is an Engineering Graduate from Manipal Institute of Technology and has also attained Master’s in Business Administration. He has attended various Leadership and Management development training programs at leading Management Institutes and a t TATA Group level. He is well known for the tactical strategies and innovative approaches adopted over time to meet the changing requirement of business. Mr. Katiyar has more than three decades of experience in the entire value chain of the power sector including development of Greenfield & Brownfield Power Projects, Transmission and Distribution Business, Project Delivery and Management, Renewable Integration, Smart Metering, Energy Efficiency, E-mobility and Integrated Utility Services. Prior to this, he was Chief – Business Development (T&D) in Tata Power and has been instrumental in acquisition of the four Distribution Companies of Odisha, 153-Km transmission line (NRSS XXXVI) spread across the states of Uttarakhand, Rajasthan and Haryana, 1,500 Kms of Transmission Line (765 KV & 400 KV) and five (5) Substation of South East UP Power Transmission Company Limited (SEUPPTCL) apart from bagging long term Management Contracts in Nigeria and Tajikistan. Mr. Katiyar has worked with leading utilities in India, and has gained experience in tackling the challenges of creating business synergies through different ventures. He has hands-on experience in diverse areas ranging from policy, regulation and reforms to project-specific support including sectorial and institution capacity building. He is a sectoral expert on strategic, commercial, and financial aspects relating to energy sector projects. Under his leadership, TPTCL aims to leverage his expertise and rich technical background in providing end-to-end services in power generation, transmission and distribution and smart grid management solution.

Tiran Fernando
Project Manager, Asset Management
DNV

Tiran Fernando is a principal consultant and project manager in the field of Asset management. He has been in active in the Energy Industry within the Asset Management space for the development of strategic plans and roadmaps for innovations, maintenance and replacement of primary assets. He is also an active member of the Dutch ISO55k/ TC251 norm committee working on the ISO 55001 revision. Tiran focuses on developing decision support for utilities and regulators on managing assets and balancing risk, cost and opportunity.

V.Krishnappa
Managing Director, PCKL
Karnataka

V Kridhanappa joined Karnataka Electricity Board ( during 22 nd May 1991 and worked in various capacities. During May 2021 deputed to Karnataka Vidyut Karkhane (one of the Distribution transformer manufacturing company) as Managing Director and worked till January 2022 He has been posted as Managing Director, PCKL during June 2021 (placed additional charge of MD, KAVIKA till Jan 2022 At present, in addition to MD, PCKL, he is holding the following additional posts

• Director at Cheyur Infra Limited and Coastal Tamilnadu Power Limited
• Member at SRPC, NEWI
• Secretary at Bangalore Management Association
• Co-chairman at Power Trading Committee, Government of Karnataka

Venkat Sreedhar
Senior Vice President
BSES Rajdhani Power Limited

Shri Sreedhar Venkat is Senior Vice President at BSES Rajdhani Power Limited heading Network Operations. He is an Electrical Engineer Graduate from NIT Rourkela and an MBA in Finance. He has more than 34 years of industrial experience in Petrochemicals, Generation, Transmission and Distribution Utilities in Reliance group of companies. He has rich experience in  Distribution Network O&M, Project Planning and Execution, Supply Chain Management and  Human resources development. He is passionate about capacity building and has contributed towards development of people and processes.

Vimal Kumar
In Country Lead
MECS Program India

Vimal is Programme Lead, Modern Energy Cooking Services (MECS) Programme in India, a five-year initiative funded by UK Aid of the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO), led by Loughborough University UK. Vimal is Cofounder of Finovista, works extensively in the areas of In-country Representation, Program Management Consulting, Technology Transfer and Capacity Building. He possesses extensive expertise and experience in managing various National, Bilateral and Multilateral programs and Indo-German GINSEP's Ambassador. At Finovista, he leads prestigious programs viz Modern Energy Cooking Services (MECS) Programme India (UK Govt), India-UK Future Telecom Partnership Prog (UK Govt), UK-India Innovation Partnership Initiative (UKIPI) under COP26 (UK Govt), Tech4Good Innovation Challenge (German Govt), Social Enterprise (SoEnterprising) Development (Indian Govt), Promotion of CSIR Knowledgebase etc. Additionally, during the association with Global Innovation & Technology Alliance (GITA), as a Head of Strategy & Partnership, conceptualised and managed Bilateral Collaborative Industrial R&D Programs with Canada, Finland, Israel, Italy, Spain, South Korea, UK etc; Multilateral Programs viz Inno Indigo (EU), Enterprise Europe Network (EEN) (EU) and ASEAN-India S&T Development Fund (AISTDF); and National Programs viz DRDO's Technology Development Fund (TDF), DPIIT/MSME's Technology Acquisition & Development Fund (TADF), DHI's Technology Acquisition & Fund Program (TAFP) etc. Vimal believes in integrating Innovation and Finance for societal development and economic growth.

Vivek Kumar Dewangan
Chairman and Managing Director
Rural Electrification Corporation Limited

Shri Vivek Kumar Dewangan is the Chairman & Managing Director of REC Limited since May 17, 2022. He is an IAS officer (Manipur:1993) and holds B.E. in Electronics from NIT, Bhopal and P.G. in Optoelectronics & Optical Communication from IIT, Delhi. Prior to joining REC, he was Additional Secretary in the Ministry of Power, Government of India. During his illustrious IAS career, he has held various administrative positions in the areas of Finance, Power & Energy, Petroleum & Natural Gas, Elections, Law & Justice, Commerce & Industries, Minister’s Offices (Corporate Affairs, Agriculture & Food Processing Industries), Education, Human Resource Development, Sericulture, Agriculture & Cooperation, Economic affairs, Economics & Statistics, Rural Development & Panchayati Raj, District Administration (Surguja & Raipur district in Chhattisgarh and Senapati district in Manipur) and revenue administration. As CMD, he provides strategic vision and overall direction to REC for achieving its corporate objectives. He is also the ex-officio Chairman of REC’s wholly-owned subsidiary viz. REC Power Development and Consultancy Limited (RECPDCL).

Vish Ganti
Head of Product
Autogrid

Vish serves as Vice President of Product Management and GM of AutoGrid India and is responsible for growing AutoGrid’s business in the region, leveraging the artificial intelligence (AI)- driven AutoGrid Flex™ platform. As a passionate advocate for open standards, Vish has nearly a decade of success working with utilities, energy markets and C&I sites to develop automated demand response (AutoDR), helping them to expand the adoption of OpenADR & IEEE 2030.5 based solutions for distributed energy resources. As a technology pioneer and a subject matter expert in DER/IoT, Vish has a long track record of research, development and deployment across the spectrum of Smart Grid applications, including AutoDR, interoperability, home automation, and smart appliances. Vish has held senior roles at CPower, Johnson Controls and EnerNOC, as well as leading innovative research at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL). Vish holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Electronics and Communication Engineering from Jawaharlal Nehru Technological University, Hyderabad, India and a Master of Science degree in Electrical Engineering specialized in Energy Management from San Francisco State University.