Shoonya Podcast

It is often said that women make great leaders. They bring an inclusive approach to business and organisations and are credited with promoting a sense of camaraderie among teams. India’s EV industry has seen a boom in the past decade and women leaders are taking the wheels and steering India’s growth in the electric mobility sector. From being shop-floor workers, engineers, designers, to CEOs, women are at the forefront of India's green transportation drive. In this episode, we have with us Ms. Mahua Acharya, who is the former Managing Director and CEO of the Convergence Energy Services Limited (CESL) a venture of the EESL Group of the Ministry of Power, New and Renewable Energy. Ms. Mahua has worked for nearly two decades in green finance, renewable energy, and carbon markets, across multiple geographies including Europe, USA, South Asia, and East Asia. Prior to joining CESL, she was the Assistant Director-General of a 29-country intergovernmental agency, the Global Green Growth Institute in Seoul. Mahua has also worked with C-Quest Capital LLC, the World Bank, ArcelorMittal, and Emergent Ventures India. She is also the co-founder and faculty of an executive education program at the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad, and also serves on the boards of multiple international entities, including Three Wheels United, USA and Emergent Carbon Fund, USA. Also, joining us for this episode is Ms. Sulajja Firodia Motwani, Founder & CEO of Kinetic Green Energy and Power Solutions Limited as well as the Vice-Chairperson of Kinetic Engineering Ltd. Prior to joining Kinetic, worked at BARRA International, an investment analytics company in California. She has received numerous awards for her achievements and has also been a spokesperson at many industry forums and associations. She is an Industry nominee on National Board for Electrical Mobility of India from the Ministry of Heavy Industries, and heads the Electric Three-Wheeler mobility of Society of Manufacturers of Electric Vehicles (SMEV). She has previously been a member of the governing Body of Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, India, and National Executive Committee of CII. Currently, she is the Chairperson of FICCI Young Leaders forum and a member of their National Steering Committee. Sulajja is also Plan International’s Brand Ambassador for “Save the Girl Child” initiative. This episode is hosted by Mr. Randheer Singh, Director, E-Mobility at NITI Aayog. Visit: www.shoonya.info

NITI Aayog is playing a critical role in promoting clean, connected, shared, and holistic mobility initiatives. These initiatives are actively contributing to the manufacturing ecosystem of Electric Vehicles (EVs), its components, and batteries, along with increasing the adoption of EVs. In this episode, Samhita Shiledar is in conversation with Mr. Randheer Singh, Director – Electric Mobility at NITI Aayog. Mr. Singh is working to transform the mobility sector in India and has extensively worked at the intersection of technology and policy. He is driving several Government of India programs including the Advanced Chemistry Cells (ACC) Program, the Battery Swapping Policy, and the Shoonya – Zero Pollution Mobility campaign. He is also a member of the Bureau of Indian Standards committee on EV Infrastructure standards and is a Technical Jury member for Battery Swapping standards. He is also a member of Screening and Expert-cum-External Monitoring committee for CSIR units. In addition, Mr. Singh has co-authored several reports with industry partners, government agencies, and civil society organizations. Visit: www.shoonya.info

To realise the vision of making India the world’s EV hub, the automotive sector is playing a critical role. In this sector, the industry players are investing heavily in clean, fuel-efficient technologies to provide new mobility solutions and thereby ensure a seamless transition to electric mobility. One such player is Tata Motors, which is building a comprehensive EV portfolio to help expand the EV market, to lower the cost of ownership and to make EVs more accessible in India. This week we have with us Mr. Girish Wagh, who is the Executive Director and Head of the Commercial Vehicles Division at Tata Motors. Mr. Wagh has been with Tata Motors for over 3 decades and has led both Passenger Vehicle and Commercial Vehicle Business Units. He is the person behind the successful projects that include Tata ACE - Mini Truck and the new generation cars such as Zest, Tiago, Hexa, and Tigor. This episode is hosted by Mr. Randheer Singh, Director, E-Mobility at NITI Aayog. Visit: www.shoonya.info

In the seventh episode of the Shoonya podcast, we have with us the Principal Secretary, Department of Industries & Commerce (I&C) and Information Technology (IT) of Government of Telangana - Mr. Jayesh Ranjan. Mr. Ranjan has previously served as the Commissioner and Managing Director of the Industries Department, Secretary in the Tourism Promotion Department, and Vice-Chairman of the Hyderabad Urban Development Authority (HUDA). In addition, Mr. Ranjan has served on various rural assignments in different parts of India for over 12 years, working in diverse sectors like Tribal Development, Natural Resources Management, Poverty Alleviation, and other related Social Development Sectors. Also, Mr. Ranjan was an all-India topper of his IAS batch of 1992 and was awarded the Royal Order of the Polar Star by His Majesty the King of Sweden in 2019 for promoting Swedish business interests in India, including the opening of IKEA’s first Indian store in Hyderabad. This episode is hosted by Mr. Randheer Singh, Director, E-Mobility at NITI Aayog. Visit: www.shoonya.info

In this week's episode, we have with us Gerald Ollivier, Lead Transport Specialist, India with the World Bank. He focuses on developing solutions to enhance urban mobility, achieve sustainable economic integration through multimodal transport, enhance rural connectivity, and achieve safer transport to better serve the needs of India. He leads the Bank’s Community of Practice on Transit Oriented Development. Since joining the World Bank in October 1995, he has developed sustainable transport infrastructure and services in 17 World Bank member countries, through projects, knowledge sharing, technical assistance, and capacity building. Gerald has led teams that prepared and supported urban transport projects, port management and development, public-private sector participation, port city urban renewal, transport corridor development, rail development and reform, trade and transport facilitation, road safety, and rural roads. This episode is hosted by Mr. Randheer Singh, Director, E-Mobility at NITI Aayog. Visit: www.shoonya.info

In the fifth episode of the Shoonya podcast, we have with us Mr. Ashish Kundra, Principal Secretary-cum-Commissioner (Transport), Government of National Capital Territory of Delhi. He is a 1996 batch IAS Officer of Arunachal Pradesh-Goa-Mizoram and Union Territory cadre. Prior to this, he served as the Commissioner, General Administration Department, Higher and Technical Education in Mizoram. As the Principal Secretary-cum-Commissioner (Transport), GNCTD, Mr. Kundra is leading the charge to electrify Delhi’s mobility, curbing tailpipe emissions, getting RTO services to citizens' doorsteps by way of faceless services, implementing road safety measures to make the streets of Delhi safe & secure as well as ensuring women safety in public transport by implementing projects like installing CCTV cameras and panic buttons in every bus. This episode is hosted by Mr. Randheer Singh, Director, E-Mobility at NITI Aayog. Visit: www.shoonya.info

In the fourth episode of the Shoonya podcast, we have with us Mr. Tarun Mehta, CEO and co-founder of Ather Energy. Tarun grew up in Ahmedabad and graduated from IIT Madras in 2012 where he developed over a dozen prototypes. His core interest being electric vehicles led him to quit his job at Ashok Leyland and build Ather Energy. Today, Ather Energy is driving green transition in India by reimagining sustainable mobility starting with the electric two-wheeler market. Tarun has also served on the ‘Technical Advisory Group for Electric Mobility,’ to the Government of India and led the Electric Vehicle group in the Champions of Change program organised by NITI Aayog. Tarun is listed on the Forbes 30 under 30 in 2018 and Fortune 40 under 40 list in 2017 & 2019 for the innovative product that is disrupting the Indian auto industry. This episode is hosted by Ms. Samhita Shiledar, Manager at RMI. Visit: www.shoonya.info

In this episode, we have with us Ms. Suman Mishra, CEO of Mahindra Electric Mobility Limited. Mahindra Electric has been one of the pioneers in the EV sector, currently, making electric three-and-four-wheelers for passenger as well as freight transport. Ms. Mishra is driving transformation across product planning, development, manufacturing, sales, and marketing at Mahindra Electric. In her previous roles, she has been the head of corporate project management at Cipla and has worked as an Associate Partner with McKinsey & Company. She has been recognised as Economic Times 40 under 40 business leaders and Woman Ahead in 2019. Suman is an MBA from the University of Michigan and has done Computer Engineer from Nanyang Technological University (NTU) Singapore. This episode is hosted by Ms. Samhita Shiledar, Manager at RMI Visit: www.shoonya.info

In this second episode of the Shoonya podcast, we have with us Mr. Arun Goel, Secretary, Department of Heavy Industry (DHI) who has been an important figure in the implementation of Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of Electric Vehicles (FAME) and Production Linked Incentive (PLI) schemes as well as several other DHI initiatives. He is a 1985 IAS officer of the Punjab cadre and has been the Vice Chairman of the Delhi Development Authority (DDA) and Joint Secretary for the Department of Revenue, Ministry of Finance. He has also worked in urban development in the Punjab Government and in the Union Ministry of Urban Development. This episode is hosted by Mr. Randheer Singh, Director – Electric Mobility at NITI Aayog. Visit: www.shoonya.info

In this episode, we have with us India’s G20 Sherpa, Mr. Amitabh Kant. Mr. Kant served as the CEO of NITI Aayog for over 6 years. It was under Mr. Kant's aegis as CEO of NITI Aayog that the Shoonya - Zero Pollution Mobility campaign was launched in September 2021. He is a member of the Indian Administrative Service (Kerala Cadre: 1980 Batch). He is the author of ‘Branding India – An Incredible Story’ and has been a key driver of ‘Make in India’, Startup India, ‘Incredible India’ and ‘God’s Own Country’ initiatives, which positioned and branded India and the state of Kerala as leading manufacturing and tourism destinations. He has been the recipient of several awards such as the Economic Times Policy Change Agent of the Year Award, the Bloomberg TV Personality of the Year Award, the NDTV Administrator of the Year Award, One Globe Award-2016, and the Distinguished Fellowship of the Institute of Directors. Mr. Kant was educated at Modern School, Delhi. He then pursued a BA in Economics from St. Stephens, Delhi University, an MA in International Relations from Jawaharlal Nehru University, and was a Chevening Scholar. He has also undertaken the Mid-Career Programme of Harvard University, John F. Kennedy School of Government, and the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad. This episode is hosted by Mr. Randheer Singh – Director, E-Mobility at NITI Aayog. Visit: www.shoonya.info