Latest news with #RPGupta
Mint
12-05-2025
- Business
- Mint
Who is Rameshwar Prasad Gupta, the SECI Chairman fired by govt before his term end?
The Indian government on May 10 fired Rameshwar Prasad Gupta, CMD of the Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI), just a month ahead of his term's end, without sharing reasons for the decision. And when contacted by a Mint reporter via phone call, RP Gupta declined to comment. The notification, issued by the Department of Personnel and Training, stated: 'The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet has approved termination of services of Shri Rameshwar Prasad Gupta, IAS, as chairman & managing director, Solar Energy Corporation of India Ltd., Ministry of New & Renewable Energy with immediate effect.' Amid this sudden departure, we take a look at who is RP Gupta, his tenure and big decisions at SECI, and some of the controversies he fielded during his term with the state-run clean energy agency. RP Gupta is an Indian Administrative Services (IAS) officer of the 1987 batch from the Gujarat Cadre. He joined SECI as CMD in June 2023, after retiring as Secretary at the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change in 2021. He graduated from the Indian Institute of Technology – Kanpur (IIT Kanpur) with a degree in aerospace engineering, and has previously also worked with the Ministry of Coal and the NITI Aayog. Besides this, he has experience in statistics planning, programme management, economics and corporate management. Gupta's removal is significant, and comes while SECI is targetting tendering 20 GW of renewable energy projects a year for the next few years. The company also has plans to set up 10 GW of solar capacity of its own and go public by FY27. Further, Gupta had in 2024 shared plans for the SECI going public, but no details were revealed. Speaking at the 11th foundation day of SECI in 2022, he also said that the clean energy agency was yet to take a final call on the size of the initial public offering (IPO). Among the controversies that RP Gupta-led SECI had to field include entanglement with the US Securities and Exchange Commission's (SEC's) indictment of Adani Group for alleged bribery of about $250 million to secure power purchase agreements for solar energy projects in Andhra Pradesh, and the submission of fake bid documents by Reliance Power to SECI for a renewable energy tender. When US prosecutors indicted Gautam Adani and other executives for alleged bribery in November 2024, Gupta told Mint that the SECI would not review the order or initiate a probe as there was no basis for it. He also denied any wrongdoing. Then on November 6, SECI barred Reliance Power and its subsidiary Reliance NU BESS from participating in its tenders for three years, for allegedly submitting fake documents. This was withdrawn following a Delhi High Court's order. In May, other Reliance subsidiary Reliance NU Suntech Private signed a 25-year power purchase agreement (PPA) with SECI.
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Business Standard
12-05-2025
- Business
- Business Standard
Centre terminates services of SECI Chairman R P Gupta with immediate effect
The Union government has terminated the services of R P Gupta, chairman and managing director of Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI), with immediate effect. The order, issued on Saturday, did not specify any reason for his termination. Gupta, a retired Indian Administrative Service officer of Gujarat cadre, had served his last posting as secretary, ministry of environment, forest and climate change. Business Standard has reviewed a copy of the order by the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet, dated May 10, 2025. Gupta was at the helm of SECI since June 2023, and his tenure was scheduled to end next month. This abrupt termination comes in the wake of several controversies involving SECI and various sector majors. At the same time, the core task of SECI — to buy and sell renewable energy (RE) — has come under heavy criticism, with the agency facing a severe backlog. SECI was the first REIA appointed by the MNRE in 2011 to tender RE projects, including solar, wind, hybrid, FDRE and battery storage. Of the 40 GW, SECI accounts for close to 12 GW of projects where power sale agreements (PSAs) or power purchase agreements (PPAs) are pending. The lack of PSAs and PPAs is also at the heart of the controversial corruption case filed by the United States Attorney, Eastern District of New York, against the Adani Group and New York Stock Exchange-listed Azure Power. The case dates to 2019–2020, when SECI issued record-high tenders worth 30 GW. Most of these projects failed to find buyers for the power generated. The list included mega solar power projects of leading players such as Adani Green Energy, ReNew Power, SoftBank Energy, Azure Power, and ACME Solar. It also included the 7 GW manufacturing-linked solar tender floated by SECI in January 2020. According to the US Securities and Exchange Commission's investigation, Adani and Azure then 'started a cycle of bribing state governments to get favourable PSAs.' SECI's internal operations have also come under scrutiny. Last October, Business Standard reported — citing official documents and email trails — how Reliance Power, owned by Anil Ambani, submitted invalid bank documents for a SECI tender, but was still allowed to participate in the bidding. Reliance Power even claimed the State Bank of India (SBI) as guarantor for its bank guarantee, which SBI later denied. The bank flagged the SBI email ID used in the communication by Reliance Power as fake, following which SECI scrapped the process and barred the company. In another setback, the Central Electricity Regulatory Commission (CERC), the quasi-judicial apex sector regulator, in January rejected the tariff discovered in SECI's first-ever grid-scale battery energy storage system (BESS), awarded in 2022. CERC cited 'delay in signing power supply and purchase agreements (PSA and PPA)' and the fall in BESS prices over the past two years as the reasons for rejecting the tariff. This was the first BESS tender issued after the ministry of power published standard bidding guidelines for energy storage projects. The winning bidder, JSW Energy, said in a stock exchange filing in January that it had approached the court to challenge the decision.
Indian Express
10-05-2025
- Business
- Indian Express
Centre terminates SECI CMD RP Gupta's services
The Central government on Saturday terminated with 'immediate effect' the services of a retired Gujarat-cadre IAS officer RP Gupta from the post of Chairman and Managing Director (CMD) of Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI), just about a month before his tenure was to end in June 2025. According to the order issued by the Department of Personnel Training (DoPT), the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet approved Gupta's termination ahead of the completion of his scheduled term on June 14, 2025, although no official reason has been cited. Gupta, who is a 1987 batch officer, retired as Secretary, Environment Forest and Climate Change Ministry in 2021. He joined SECI in June 2023. Gupta, a graduate in aerospace engineering from IIT Kanpur, has also worked with Niti Aayog and the Ministry of Coal. The government is yet to find a successor for Gupta, sources said.
