Decoding Azure Power: India's first NYSE-listed renewables company

Stock tanks after new CEO's sudden resignation, whistle-blower complaint

Azure Power was the first renewable energy company from India to list on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in 2016 and probably one of the first to explore foreign equity capital market.

Azure Inc was founded in the US by Indian American entrepreneur Inderpreet Wadhwa in 2007 and came to India the following year.

The first project the company took was a 2-megawatt grid-connected solar power plant in Punjab. The company was one of the first entrants in the solar power sector in India and a lead participant in the grid-connected solar power project tenders offered by the central government under the flagship National Solar Mission. 

The company stood out for having an end-to-end in-house facility for designing, building, operating, and managing solar po­wer plants. This also helped it lower solar tariff in the bids.

Over the years, leading global financiers have backed the company. These include funds such as CDPQ, OMERS Infrastructure, and development institutions like International Finance Corp­o­ration, Proparco, and Nether­lands Development Finance Company.

Azure Power has a renewable energy asset base of over 2.9 gigawatt (Gw) of operational capacity and 4.5 Gw of ca­pacity under construction, ac­cording to the company’s website.

In 2016, it debuted on NYSE at a discounted rate of $16.12 — lower than the issue price of $18. It sold 3.41 million shares in its initial public offering (IPO), including 2.24 million new shares and 1.16 million shares from existing shareholders.

The listing happened at a time when several other renewable energy companies such as ReNew Power, Mytrah Energy, and ACME failed to list in India. ReNew later took the special purpose acquisition company route to get listed on NYSE, while Mytrah recently sold its entire portfolio to JSW Energy. ACME shelved its IPO plans.

After listing, Azure witnes­sed a leadership change as Wad­hwa exited the company as CEO and chairman.

Ranjit Gupta was appointed CEO in 2019 and a member of the board after Wadh­wa’s departure. The present-day chairman of the board is Alan Rosling. He is co-founder and director of Ecube — a specialist in environmental, social, and governance advisory and climate finance in India. Rosling was also executive director at Tata Sons.

Earlier this year, the company saw new appointments at the chief experience officer level. Rupesh Agarwal, an energy sector veteran, who has been in leadership positions at state-owned Convergence Energy, UK-based Lightsource, BDO, and EY, was brought in as chief regulatory affairs and commercial officer. In June, Harsh Shah was announced as the new CEO. Shah. He was CEO at IndiGrid and was instrumental in launching India’s first power transmission infrastructure investment trust.

On Monday, Shah stepped down from his position within two months of taking up the role. The company has now appointed Agarwal as acting CEO. At the same time, in an exchange notification, IndiGrid said it has reinstated Shah as CEO. The stock of the company took a hammering on Monday, falling by 40 per cent to $5.85.

In a public statement, Azure said there has been a delay in filing the company’s annual re­p­ort on Form 20-F for the financial year ended March 31, 2022.

Azure’s statement further said it had received a whistle-blower complaint alleging “potential procedural irregularities and misconduct by certain employees” at a plant belonging to one of its subsidiaries.

“As part of the company’s review of these allegations, it discovered deviations from safety and quality norms, and it has implemented mechanisms to remediate them and, in doing so, strengthen safety and quality protocols,” read the statement.

According to an exchange filing, Philadelphia-based litigation firm Barrack, Rodos & Bacine has initiated an investigation against Azure for potential violations of Federal securities laws.

In a press statement on Mo­n­day, the company said: “The board believes Azure’s underlying business remains fundamentally strong. The company continues to operate in line with its budgets and business plans. Cash flow and collections from customers continue in the ordinary course. The company continues to service all its debt payment obligations, and Azure’s liquidity position remains strong, bolstered by its recent $250-million rights issue.”