New renewable energy company will focus on India and neighbouring South Asian countries CDC, the UK’s development finance institution, has announced the appointment of Mr. Shivanand Nimbargi as Managing Director and CEO and Dr. P.J. Nayak as Chairman of Ayana Renewable Power (“Ayana”), a new independent solar and wind generation company launched today. Ayana will develop hundreds of megawatts (MW) of generational capacity targeting underserved Indian states and neighbouring countries in South Asia including Bangladesh, Nepal, Myanmar and Sri Lanka. Ayana is 100 per cent funded by CDC, and will be run by an independent Board and management team. Mr. Shivanand (Shiv) Nimbargi has over 20 years of experience in the power sector. He served as the Managing Director & CEO of Green Infra, one of India’s leading renewable energy companies, from 2011 to 2016.
While at Green Infra, he built a new management team and more than doubled the company’s operational capacity from 150 MW to ~700 MW. He previously held a variety of senior roles at Alstom India where he was employed for 15 years. He was most recently the Managing Director of L&T Metro Rail (Hyderabad), one of the largest PPP projects in India, the first phase of which was commissioned in November 2017. Dr. P.J. Nayak has more than 25 years’ experience in the banking and financial services sector. He was the former Chairman and CEO of Axis Bank, and has served as the Chairman of Union Bank of Colombo Plc, Country Head at Morgan Stanley India and Senior Adviser at TPG Capital.
Prior to this he was a senior official in the Indian Administrative Services, and served as Joint Secretary for the Department of Economic Affairs in the Ministry of Finance. Welcoming the official launch of Ayana, its Chairman Dr. P. J. Nayak said:
“Ayana’s strategic vision is to create significant renewable power generating capacity across South Asia, complementing it with a development agenda which reaches out to communities near locations where such capacity has been created.” CDC’s Head of South Asia, Mr. Srini Nagarajan added: “I am delighted to signal the formal launch of Ayana Renewable Power and announce the appointments of Mr. Shiv Nimbargi and Dr P.J. Nayak.
Shiv has a successful track record in creating the green energy capacity that is vital to India’s long-term economic development. He has the skills and focus needed to help Ayana become a major provider of renewable energy, particularly in those Indian states that are in the process of attracting investment for green energy generation. His experience and values will help build a strong team that can use CDC’s investment to create jobs, reduce carbon emissions and provide our secured energy supplies to our focussed geographies.” “Dr. P.J. Nayak is a highly respected member of the Indian business community and will bring robust business acumen and high corporate governance standards.”
Dr. P.J. Nayak will lead a Board including the below non-Executive Directors: Mr. Jayesh Desai, an experienced financial services and investment professional who was previously Head of Investments at Piramal Enterprises. He has also held senior positions at companies such as Unitech Infrastructure, Ernst & Young and Coca-Cola India. Mr. Rahul Sankhe, founder of Agami Ventures (with a focus on sustainable infrastructure, affordable housing and infrastructure technology companies) and former Managing Director (India) for SunEdison, where he was responsible for its solar development business in India and new market development in the Asia-Pacific region, including development of residential solar business in Australia.
