Vikalp Mundra, joint managing director, Ujaas Energy, joined his family business of transformer manufacturing in 1994. Over the years, he worked to expand the business geographically and diversify its product mix.
In line with this, when the government launched the National Solar Mission in 2010, he saw this as an immense opportunity. Given his company’s expertise in the electrical energy field, venturing into this segment seemed a logical move – from products used in distribution to power generation. In 2011, he led the company’s foray into the solar power business with the concept of a solar park that provides complete turnkey solutions to investors who want to become solar power producers. “It was a level-playing field at that time for each entrant. Moreover, it was a very scalable business and we felt we could successfully scale it to a good level,” says Mundra.
In his current role, Mundra is responsible for lending the company strategic direction and exploring new opportunities in the sector.
He feels that the energy sector is set to witness a disruption. The four factors that will speed up this disruption are distributed photovoltaic (PV) generation, storage technologies, electric vehicles (EVs) and self-driving vehicles. “PV and EV will change the CV of the country,” he quips, adding that the country will benefit immensely from it just as it has from mobile telephony. On the outlook for the sector, he says, “Energy utilities will have to focus on saving their wires business. The carriage and content policy will speed up this transition.”
He recalls organising INTELECT 2016 under the IEEMA Banner as his most memorable assignment because of its wide reach. He claims that the show catered to anyone who was a user of electricity. It provided a platform for the common man, the housewife, the architect, the interior designer as well as HVAC companies, etc. to come together and see how electricity is becoming smart, and what lies ahead for intelligent electricity.
Team empowerment is Mundra’s management mantra. He believes in delegating tasks and starting from a point of trust. Mundra’s family consists of his wife and their two children. He considers himself to be a spiritual person and meditates regularly. To maintain a healthy work-life balance, he works out regularly and swims. He is fond of good food, reading books, watching movies and listening to music. It is his personal goal to travel to over 100 countries.