Advisory Board

Dr. Anil Kumar Jain
Chairperson Petroleum and Natural Gas Regulatory Board

Dr. Anil Kumar Jain is former member of the Indian Administrative Service of the 1986 Batch and is presently posted as Chairperson, Petroleum and Natural Gas Regulatory Board. He has a long administrative experience at the field and policy formulation levels with nearly two decades in energy and environment sectors. He has served as Secretary in the Ministry of Coal and Ministry of Mines where he led reforms in sustainable mining and market development. In his earlier stint in Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Dr. Jain looked after the work relating to Montreal Protocol, environment clearance and management of wastes. He led the teams that wrote the India Cooling Action Plan and Draft Resource Efficiency Policy. As a Director and later Joint Secretary in the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas, he was responsible for the upstream segment. He has authored two books on natural gas, the second one being published in 2022. During 2012-17, as Head of the Energy Division of the NITI Ayog, he led several initiatives including integrated modeling tool, namely the ‘India Energy Security Scenarios, 2047 (IESS)’. He also led the team that drafted the National Energy Policy (2017-2040). Dr. Anil Jain holds a BA (Honours) in Economics, an MBA and a Diploma from the Indian Institute of Foreign Trade. Dr. Jain has done his Ph.D on the topic - “Exploring the role of natural gas in India’s energy mix in 2030”.

Mr Ashish Dhawan
Founder-CEO Convergence Foundation

Mr Ashish Dhawan is the Founder-CEO of The Convergence Foundation (TCF). Mr Dhawan is also the Founding Chairperson of Ashoka University and Central Square Foundation and was recently appointed to the governing board of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF). Before his second career as a philanthropist, Mr Dhawan was among India’s most successful private equity investors. He founded and ran ChrysCapital, the country’s leading private equity firm. Mr Dhawan graduated from Yale University and received his MBA from Harvard Business School.

Mr Akshay Jaitly
Founder Trust Bridge

Mr Akshay Jaitly co-founded Trilegal, one of India’s leading law firms, in 2000. He was rated as one of India’s top energy and infrastructure lawyers for over a decade and continues to be on Trilegal’s board. Akshay is currently also on the board of KKR-backed Virescent Infrastructure. After over 25 years as a corporate lawyer, Akshay has moved into policy and strategic advisory work on India’s energy transition, and the role of rule of law in India’s growing economy. This led him to co-found TrustBridge, a non-profit which works on these issues. Akshay holds a bachelor’s degree in history from St Stephen’s College, University of Delhi, a master’s in international affairs from Columbia University, and a degree in law from the University of Oxford.

Mr. Vipul Tuli
Chairman, South Asia CEO, Hydrogen Business & Middle East, Executive Director, UK Sembcorp Industries

Mr Tuli oversees Sembcorp’s investments and key stakeholder relationships in India and Bangladesh. He is concurrently the CEO of Sembcorp’s Hydrogen Business and the group's operations in the Middle East. Mr Tuli has over 30 years of experience in the energy sector. Prior to Sembcorp, he was a senior partner with McKinsey & Company where he helped to build and lead its Asian energy practice. He has also advised government institutions on issues of energy policy, organisation, industry structure, and regulation. Mr Tuli holds a Bachelor’s degree in Chemical Engineering from Indian Institute of Technology Delhi and completed his post graduate studies in business management from Indian Institute of Management Calcutta.

Mr Saurabh Kumar
Vice President-India
The Global Energy Alliance for People and Planet (GEAPP)

Mr Saurabh Kumar an Electrical Engineer from Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Kanpur, and has a Master’s Degree in Public Policy from National Graduate Institute of Policy Studies, Tokyo, Japan. An environmentalist, he has served the UN on deputation handling environmental issues in the Asia-pacific region. He has been with the Union Ministry of Power for close to 15 years and has been leading EESL in successfully implementing energy efficiency projects such as UJALA, SNLP, MEEP, and AgDSM.

Dr. Praveer Sinha
CEO & Managing Director
The Tata Power Company Limited

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 sector professional with a career spanning almost four decades, Dr. Sinha has held several leadership positions across the power sector value chain. As CEO and MD of Tata Power Delhi Distribution Limited, he was instrumental in driving the turnaround of the discom through technological and social interventions and setting a benchmark operational model for other discoms and developing countries to follow. Under his current leadership, Tata Power is at the forefront of transforming itself from a 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 and international technology partners and institutional associations. He has contributed significantly to setting up the first international incubator in India for promoting innovations in the clean energy space.  

Mr Gurdeep Singh
Chairman & Managing Director
NTPC Limited

Mr Gurdeep Singh is the Chairman & Managing Director of NTPC Limited since 2016. Prior to joining NTPC, he was Managing Director of Gujarat State Electricity Company Limited. He has an illustrious career spanning over three decades in the power sector. He started his career in 1987 as an Engineer Trainee with NTPC and has worked his way through various ranks in public and private sector including MNCs. He graduated in mechanical engineering from NIT Kurukshetra and has undergone Management Education Program from IIM Ahmedabad. He has also received management and leadership inputs from renowned global institutions like Saïd Business School-Oxford (UK), Harvard-Kennedy School (USA), Darden School of Management - Virginia (USA), Singapore Civil Services College (Singapore) and ISB Hyderabad (India). He is a member of IEA’s High Level advisory group on Coal in the Global Net Zero transition and also a member of the Clean Energy Ministerial H2I advisory group. He served as Co-chair for the taskforce on Energy & Resource efficiency, B20 Italy 2021.  

Mr Rakesh Kacker
Consultant
RTI International

Mr Rakesh Kacker is a retired IAS officer of the 1977 batch from the Tamil Nadu Cadre. He completed his Bachelor of Arts in Economics from Hindu College in 1972, and Master of Arts in Economics from Delhi School of Economics in 1974. He retired as Secretary, the Government Of India, Ministry for Food Processing Industries in 2013 and worked as Director of India Habitat Centre during 2013-18 after retiring from the government. He has also been the committee chairman for framing Uniform Standard Bidding Guidelines for Renewable Energy Sector. He was a member of, the Expert Committee for the revision of SBDs and MBDs, the High Powered Committee for the revision of bidding documents for Coal Mines, and a Chairman CSR Board Michelin Tyres CSR Board Chennai. He was also a Member, the Institute Body, AIIMS, Jodhpur and an Independent Director, the Board of ONGC Videsh, Board of PTC India (Power Trading Corporation of India), and Board of PTC India Financial Services Limited. Additionally, he was a Member of the Dispute Resolution Committee and a President of the TERI Alumni Association.