Saurabh Kumar - South Asia Women in Energy (Sawie)

Mr. Saurabh Kumar is Managing Director at Energy Efficiency Services Limited (EESL), a joint venture of public-sector undertakings under the Ministry of Power, Government of India. Under Mr. Kumar’s leadership, EESL has implemented the globally-lauded Unnat Jyoti by Affordable LEDs for All (UJALA) programme and Street Light National Programme (SLNP). Mr. Kumar and his team has also been successfully implementing several Demand Side Measures including municipal functions, agriculture, public buildings, and transformative initiatives like e-mobility, smart meters, trigeneration and decentralised solar power plants.

Mr. Kumar is an internationally recognised authority on the design and implementation of scalable, replicable and impactful business models for promoting energy efficiency across sectors.

Mr. Kumar briefly joined the Telecom sector in 1989. In 1992, he got selected in the Indian Revenue Service as Assistant Commissioner of Income Tax. In 2002, he joined the Union Ministry of Power, Government of India as Deputy Secretary in charge of the Budget and Finance wing with the task of appraising large power projects for government investments. He was part of the government structure that was responsible for taking investment decisions in large power projects. The yearly investment budget handled during 2002-2005 was to the tune of USD 4 billion.

Mr. Kumar has worked in various capacities in Income Tax Department, Ministry of Power, and Bureau of Energy Efficiency (BEE). On the completion of the GRIPS Young Leaders Program in 2006, Mr. Saurabh Kumar was appointed as Secretary of the Bureau of Energy Efficiency (BEE) during 2007-2010, the nodal central body for promoting energy efficiency in India & also the core agency for the implementation of the National Mission on Enhanced Energy Efficiency under the Ministry of Power. One of the key projects implemented under his leadership is one of the world’s largest CDM (Clean Development Mechanism) based efficient lighting project.

Mr. Kumar has also been in charge of several bilateral projects on energy efficiency with Japan, Germany, France, etc. He proceeded on a UN Deputation to Bangkok for 2 years and was handling environmental issues in Asia – Pacific region. He has worked for design and implementation of programmes for promoting energy efficiency in India, preparing policies for enhancing the off-take of energy efficiency and has actively handled the international climate change negotiations as a part of the national negotiation team.