Dr. Rajib K. Mishra: A Consummate Professional In Leading Transformational & Turnaround Initiatives
Dr. Rajib K. Mishra
CMD
Dr. Rajib holds a PG Diploma from NTNU in Norway and an Electrical Engineering degree from NIT, Durgapur. He is a Norad Fellow, obtained his doctorate from Aligarh Muslim University in 2006, and the University of Texas has granted him the status of a visiting scholar. Having a cumulative experience of more than 37 years working for NTPC, POWERGRID, and PTC in the power sector, Dr. Mishra joined PTC India in 2011, and as of November 6, 2021, he is the Chairman & Managing Director (Addl. Charge). Among his many accomplishments, he was awarded the NORAD Fellowship by the Norwegian government to study the 'Impact of NORDPOOL on Transmission Planning', and won the prestigious 'Power Trading & Power Markets Persona of the Decade' award at the 2018 Energy Awards, and an award for contributing to the largest trading volume at the 2018 IEX 10 Years of Excellence Awards. He has also served as an advisory member of the Delhi Electricity Regulatory Commission and is a member of the National Committee of the CII and FICCI.
We recently engaged in a one-on-one interaction with Dr. Rajib. Here are the highlights from the interview.
Define PTC India’s role in the development of a vibrant power market in India and the South Asian Region.
PTC has been a pioneer with many ‘firsts’ to its name and that is the true test of a market maker. Be it the first short term trades from rene
wable generation projects, the first introduction to open access trades for many institutional customers like the Railways, AAI, and more, achievement of the first financial closure on the strength of a multi buyer long term PPA-PSA framework, co-promoting the first power exchange in the country, demonstration of the first tolling projects, first cross-border transactions, first knowledge partnerships for capacity building with USAID, DFID, we have many such ‘firsts’ to our credit. Continuing with the theme of market building initiatives, one of the more recent examples is the launch of India’s third power exchange, Hindustan Power Exchange (HPX) by PTC as a core promoter. PTC was a promoter of the first power exchange, Indian Energy Exchange as well.
Describe the customer experience through the delivery of your flagship business solutions.
The power exchanges segment and the bilateral over the counter (OTC) segment are the two business categories in our electricity trading business. The design and development of tailored solutions are offered to clients in the OTC segment, and in the power exchange segment, PTC either provides advisory services or executes trades on their behalf. Being a market-responsive company, if the market changes as it did in the last two years of the pandemic to the ultrashort term PTC makes sure its customers can adjust to new circumstances and creates long term solutions to handle the issues. Since the situation is now back to normal, a consumer's portfolio gives equal weight to bilateral contracts along with procurement on the power exchanges. Our approach is to create sustainable relationships with suppliers and buyers which would yield progressive returns over the long term.
As the CMD, what are the factors you take into consideration to develop an effective process for business development?
When it comes to management simplicity and achieving the right kind of focus, I demarcate the company's operations into two major groups: legacy businesses, such as electricity trading and consulting/ advisory services, on the one hand, and future initiatives, such as newer segments of energy storage green hydrogen, electric vehicles, and carbon markets, on the other. We are placing more emphasis on bilateral agreements and international trades that provide us with the best margins for a predetermined time frame in the segment of trading electricity.
PTC has been a pioneer with many ‘firsts’ to its name and that is the true test of a market maker
Describe the customer experience through the delivery of your flagship business solutions.
The power exchanges segment and the bilateral over the counter (OTC) segment are the two business categories in our electricity trading business. The design and development of tailored solutions are offered to clients in the OTC segment, and in the power exchange segment, PTC either provides advisory services or executes trades on their behalf. Being a market-responsive company, if the market changes as it did in the last two years of the pandemic to the ultrashort term PTC makes sure its customers can adjust to new circumstances and creates long term solutions to handle the issues. Since the situation is now back to normal, a consumer's portfolio gives equal weight to bilateral contracts along with procurement on the power exchanges. Our approach is to create sustainable relationships with suppliers and buyers which would yield progressive returns over the long term.
As the CMD, what are the factors you take into consideration to develop an effective process for business development?
When it comes to management simplicity and achieving the right kind of focus, I demarcate the company's operations into two major groups: legacy businesses, such as electricity trading and consulting/ advisory services, on the one hand, and future initiatives, such as newer segments of energy storage green hydrogen, electric vehicles, and carbon markets, on the other. We are placing more emphasis on bilateral agreements and international trades that provide us with the best margins for a predetermined time frame in the segment of trading electricity.
Using our subject expertise, we are also developing novel products for the market for the acquisition and sale of renewable energy (RE), as well as taking market and credit risks. Additionally, we intend to actively trade in green attributes and sustainability metrics and support the growth of the carbon market. By incorporating the advisory/ consulting arm of the ILFS-IEDC, we have expanded the scope of our operations. More importantly, we are working on challenging advisory projects like distribution management, battery energy storage system advisory, and flexibility in the generation of a power plant.
We intend to provide global technology solutions in the Indian energy value chain as a part of our upcoming initiatives. To provide technology enabled solutions such as price and demand forecasting, predictive operations and maintenance, demand response, distribution management, and more, we have partnered with numerous knowledge-based and technological firms. We can assure you that for each of them, we have specific goals for where we want to reach in terms of revenue and profit ability in three to ten years. As we proceed on this journey, we are also identifying and implementing capacity-building activities.
What is the future destination you are heading towards?
The biggest opportunity would be the reform in the electricity distribution segment of the value chain, which is being sought by the introduction of the Electricity Amendment Bill, given the expansion of the Indian power sector and changing market dynamics. We are now looking at a secure and mature grid with General Network Access, Ancillary Services Regulations, and Revised Deviation Settlement Mechanism guidelines delinked from frequency. The complexity as well as the opportunity would rise with the addition of new design components like storage systems (both pumped storage and battery storage), green hydrogen, and financial derivatives. The Indian power sector offers unparalleled opportunities for growth in a country where the real GDP growth rate is projected to increase at a rate of 7.5 percent. PTC wants to position itself to take advantage of the opportunities that the macroeconomic and structural tailwinds are likely to create.
Dr. Rajib K Mishra, CMD, PTC India
Dr. Mishra has more than thirtyseven years of experience working in Power Sector Utilities – NTPC, POWERGRID & PTC. He joined PTC India in 2011 and at present is Chairman & Managing Director (Addl. Charge) since 6th Nov. 2021. He is a full time Director in PTC India Board for the last seven years.
We intend to provide global technology solutions in the Indian energy value chain as a part of our upcoming initiatives. To provide technology enabled solutions such as price and demand forecasting, predictive operations and maintenance, demand response, distribution management, and more, we have partnered with numerous knowledge-based and technological firms. We can assure you that for each of them, we have specific goals for where we want to reach in terms of revenue and profit ability in three to ten years. As we proceed on this journey, we are also identifying and implementing capacity-building activities.
What is the future destination you are heading towards?
The biggest opportunity would be the reform in the electricity distribution segment of the value chain, which is being sought by the introduction of the Electricity Amendment Bill, given the expansion of the Indian power sector and changing market dynamics. We are now looking at a secure and mature grid with General Network Access, Ancillary Services Regulations, and Revised Deviation Settlement Mechanism guidelines delinked from frequency. The complexity as well as the opportunity would rise with the addition of new design components like storage systems (both pumped storage and battery storage), green hydrogen, and financial derivatives. The Indian power sector offers unparalleled opportunities for growth in a country where the real GDP growth rate is projected to increase at a rate of 7.5 percent. PTC wants to position itself to take advantage of the opportunities that the macroeconomic and structural tailwinds are likely to create.
Dr. Rajib K Mishra, CMD, PTC India
Dr. Mishra has more than thirtyseven years of experience working in Power Sector Utilities – NTPC, POWERGRID & PTC. He joined PTC India in 2011 and at present is Chairman & Managing Director (Addl. Charge) since 6th Nov. 2021. He is a full time Director in PTC India Board for the last seven years.