Amit Bansal is one of the three co-founders of Vivaan Solar, a company started by friends in 2012, which has now become a considerable name in the industry. Vivaan Solar has recently qualified for the bid to install 5 MW of rooftop solar power plants at four major railway stations in the national capital region.
After graduating in computer engineering and obtaining an MBA from IIT Bombay, Bansal worked with Huawei and Cisco before starting Vivaan. As director, finance, he is responsible for providing financial support to achieve the company’s goals, identifying new funding opportunities, drafting prospective budgets, ensuring adequate cash flows to meet the organisation’s needs, and devising growth plans.
Bansal is clearly dedicated to the cause of solar energy in India. He points out that the country is blessed with abundant solar resources, with about 300 days of sunlight a year across most of the land. If governments, companies and technology firms and all stakeholders cooperate with each other for the next 15-20 years, solar power could become the fuel for India’s socio-economic development.
In 2016-17, the solar energy segment saw record capacity additions, taking the cumulative installed capacity to 12.2 GW as of March 2017. Along with this, tariffs have fallen to Rs 3.15 per unit, as discovered in the 750 MW Kadapa tender released by NTPC, which will ease the pressure on the financially distressed discoms, enabling greater offtake of solar power and leading to increased investor interest.
With increased confidence, of course, comes increased competition, necessitating sharper management strategies and lower time-to-market in order to ensure the survival of companies. In fact, timely completion of projects is Vivaan Solar’s biggest strength, Bansal belives.
Bansal draws his management style directly from the textbook and has a “scientific” approach to it, based on logic and analytical skills. His entrepreneurial skills come from his father, the founder of the Banco Group, who has been in the construction industry for more than 30 years, working on projects of the Airports Authority of India, the Mandi Board and the Central Public Works Department.
Bansal’s wife Varsha is a marketing manager in the family business. They have a child, who occupies most of their free time. When not working on business strategies, Bansal likes to unwind by playing tennis and badminton.