Raja Srinivas Pedada
Raja Srinivas Pedada MD / Consultant Sabson Energy Group Karishma Agarwal: Hello and welcome to the CIO today podcast. I’m Karishma and today we are joined by Mr. Srinivas, an experienced leader in energy and infrastructure investments. Let’s dive into his journey and insights. Hi Mr. Srinivas, I hope you’re doing well. Thank you so much for being with us today. Mr. Srinivas is a seasoned energy and infrastructure investment leader with over 30 years of experience spanning greenfield energy projects, Itps project finance, M&A, private equity and debt and venture capital with a strong focus on renewable and non-renewable energy investments and energy services across Mena region. So let’s get started with some questions so that we can get to know more about you. Raja Srinivas : Yes, ma’am. Please. Karishma Agarwal: Alright, so how did this journey start for you to be able to be where where you are today? We would like to know about your journey and how it started for you. How did you get this idea to be into this field? Raja Srinivas : In fact it began in 1994 after my completion of engineering. I was to join as a management trainee in the Indian Navy, basically a commissioned rank. But later, I preferred company close to my hometown, which is fertilizers is a, a big you know, conglomerate of group. And at that time, it was implemented by the Americans. And I choose that. And I started my career there. And, of course, I did not continue for long, maybe for within a span of one year, I left and I joined the energy sector. So energy you know that time, man, diesel power plants were very much prevalent in India. And that during that period I joined there, you know, one of the, 50 megawatt power plant, and from there, it’s kick started my career and almost from 95 to till 2008 we implemented more than 189 projects, basically 189 project implementations. We could do it all over India at that time. So that’s how, you know, we started. But my moving to Middle East started in 2009, and that was for the first IPP project in one of the Middle East countries. And that’s how, you know I could launch my career in the Middle East. Karishma Agarwal: Wow, that’s very inspiring. Thank you so much for sharing that with us. So I want to ask, how do you evaluate investment opportunities differently when it comes to renewable energy versus non renewable energy projects, particularly in emerging markets right now? Raja Srinivas : Basically, you know, for these type of projects you know, the project finance has to be secured and today’s environment C for these type of projects. The securing finance is paramount. And in the current volatile you know, global environment, a process which transcends mere negotiation, it is fundamentally about building more profound, lasting confidence with investors and also the transparency, basically with these structured projects. And of course, you know, there are two forms, as you rightly asked me, one is renewable and non-renewable. And, of course, we approach both the projects, both the types, by securing finance in with rigorous preparation and deep strategic thinking. Basically, the critical process starts with a meticulous feasibility study and a comprehensive risk analysis. And of course, we anticipate the market, the regulatory and the operational operational risks, designing robust mitigation measures that often include flexible finance structures. We insist that the business case presented must be robust, completely transparent and of course, backed by highly credible conservative finance modeling. See, this is how we approach for these type of projects basically. And and moreover the communication is also paramount. Is more important. We engage openly and very frequently with investors. Presenting a crystal clear picture of the projects are powerful potential and inbuilt safeguards of while also remaining deeply responsible to any concerns they may have. So that’s how, you know, we secure our projects. Karishma Agarwal: Sounds great and very detailed. Thank you so much for the explanation. So since 2016, you’ve been driving power generation investments and also advisory services across the energy value chain. What gaps do you feel like? They’re. They still are. And they need urgent innovation or policy support. Raja Srinivas : So basically you know the practices, you know, while tackling this type of challenging areas, we, we involve in three type of you know main measures basically the to include the stakeholders engagement. So whenever the you know, because we always you know, deal the projects in the challenging areas, especially in these type of countries, the Middle East and the African region so the the stakeholders engagement is very much paramount. Then we have also the risk strategies, which we need to evaluate, of course, with the you know, as a static risk register you know entity, basically, since we are in these type of projects and of course, dealing with these volatile markets we face a security issue also in these type of areas which can compromise to to a large extent, basically in terms of logistics, in terms of, you know, project contingency plans, in terms, in terms of, you can say, the various flexible contracts, what we have on the table. So this is also one of the area. Then one more is the discipline timelines basically that also we maintain you know, to see that the all the things are in place like, for example project has to be delivered and we need to have you know, discipline, timelines and of course there are some constraints, basically which anyone can understand, but we focus basically on the commercial operation dates and the power evacuations, basically to be done on a certain voltage level which we strict and adhere to as per the timeline. Karishma Agarwal: Wonderful. That’s a very innovative sort of direction that you just talked about. So I want to know that,