About

The Indian economy is among the world’s fastest-growing, and with ever-increasing energy requirements from businesses and consumers it is an ideal market for power companies to operate in. Sumant Nayak, serving as general counsel, has proven essential to the success of Essar Power as the company grows to meet the mounting energy demands of the Indian economy. Unsurprisingly given the array of legal and business areas that he now covers, Nayak’s career leading up to his time at Essar Power has included working at a number of prominent establishments, including being head of legal at Delhi International Airport and GMR Energy, as well as chief legal officer at GMR Airports. In those positions he undertook the key role in handling legal and corporate secretarial affairs by establishing joint ventures and negotiating M&A transactions, shareholders agreements and initial public offerings. Nayak joined Essar Power as general counsel in 2013 and now sits on the management team there. He has a broad portfolio of responsibilities, being involved with corporate governance, company secretarial and regulatory matters alongside legal work. During his tenure he has been awarded with a number of industry awards in recognition of his work. Nayak also chaired a panel discussion at a summit in London held in conjunction with the Indian Ministry of Law and Justice, Ministry of Commerce and Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion and Society of India Law Firms as a means of generating greater investment into India. With his leadership and mediation skills well known in the market, Nayak is perfectly placed to assist Essar Power in its current talks with the Coal Ministry to reconsider the termination notice for the Tokisud North mine in Jharkhand.