Saurabh Agrawal: New Chairman of Tata Power Renewable Energy Segment

The board of Tata Power Renewable Energy was restructured by the Tata group recently, with the director of Tata Sons Saurabh Agrawal taking over as chairman.

Three new directors were added to the board, including Eduard Ruijs, Managing Director and Head of the London-based BlackRock Global Infrastructure Fund team. The board also welcomed Rajiv Mehrishi, a former Indian Administrative Service officer, and Avaana Capital founder Anjali Bansal.

The board change happened shortly after Tata Power announced it will invest Rs 75,000 crore in renewable energy over the next five years, adding to the list of large conglomerates like Reliance and Adani Group which have also announced multi billion dollar plans for the sector.

BlackRock Real Assets and Mubadala Investment Company have invested Rs 4,000 crore through equity / compulsorily convertible instruments for a 10.53% stake in Tata Power Renewables, equating to a base equity valuation of Rs 34,000 crore, as part of a binding agreement to invest in the renewable energy subsidiary that was signed by Tata Power Company and the consortium led by BlackRock Real Assets in April of this year.

As the Group Chief Financial Officer, Saurabh Agrawal joined Tata Sons Limited (TSL) in July 2017. He brings with him more than two decades of extensive experience in the financial markets as an investment banker. Mr. Agrawal began his career in 1995 and has extensive experience in a wide range of businesses in both strategy and execution.

He was the head of the strategy at the Aditya Birla Group before joining TSL. Before then, he oversaw the corporate finance department for Standard Chartered Bank in India and South Asia as well as DSP Merrill Lynch’s investment banking branch. He holds a postgraduate management degree from the Indian Institute Of Management (IIM), Kolkata, and is a graduate of the Indian Institute of Technology, Roorkee.