In order to meet the demands of growth and strengthen our Asian operations, PFAN’s South & Southeast Asia region was split into South Asia and Southeast Asia in 2021.
India native Pamli Deka was chosen to manage the South Asia region, becoming PFAN’s first female Regional Coordinator.
Despite the severity of the Covid-19 pandemic in the region, the project origination numbers saw an increase in 2021 (78 applications) compared to 2020 (46 applications). 88 applications were evaluated during the year, and 40 were selected for PFAN support. 2021 ended with a pipeline of 94 projects actively coached by the network of 37 Advisors. Despite the conditions, record levels of investments were reported in the region, with a total of $111 million leveraged across 15 projects in 2021 as compared to $107 million leveraged across 13 projects in the previous year.
The successfully financed projects in South Asia focused primarily on solar, biogas, hydro and clean transport technologies, with the majority of financial closures occurring in India (8) and Nepal (3).
Existing partnerships were deepened, while the team engaged with potential new partners like Green Funder and Invest India: Accelerating Growth of New India’s Innovations. In addition to network partners, the South Asia team continued to build relationships with institutional investors that support projects through debt, equity, grant and other financing structures. The regional network continued to grow adding new Advisors, and Sri Lanka got its first Country Coordinator.
South Asia in 2021
$192,615,085
Total investment leveraged (USD)
Projects that reached financial closure
13
Clean energy capacity added (MW)
71.92
Total Advisors
33
Female Advisors
8
Locally-based Advisors (%)
100
Total number of projects supported
55
New partnerships established
3
Total number of projects supported by country
Technology area of new projects in the pipeline
Financial closure success stories
Location
India
Technology
Energy Products from Forestry / Advanced biofuels
''We all know 'the mind is like an umbrella, it only works when it is opened'. The PFAN team opened our minds and brought us clarity of vision, which is an essential ingredient to defining action plans.''
Location
Bangladesh
Technology
Solar
''With the help of our PFAN Advisor, SOLshare was able to complete a full on assessment of its SDG impact, make key connections, and secure all-important startup funds.''
Meet our Network in South Asia
PFAN Advisor Dr. Chitra Rajan
Dr. Chitra Rajan is a serial Entrepreneur with experience ranging from Software Services to Agriculture, Construction and Renewable Energy – Currently spearheading functions as Managing Director with Radix Group, headquartered in Bangalore. Radix is in the business of generating energy from Organic Waste and has established the world’s first commercial food-grade Bio CO2 plant.
Chitra is currently associated with UNIDO through PFAN as an Advisor for clean energy / energy efficiency and sustainable development projects in Latin America, Africa and Asia. She mentors entrepreneurs to ensure that their projects become investor-ready and helps them to raise funds. She normally handles ticket sizes of US$5M to 50M.
One of the companies that she is mentoring – Heritage Milk Foods won the prestigious award from National Productivity Council, Govt of India for reducing the energy footprint of the factory based on Renewable energy generated from waste for the year 2020, the inputs for this initiative was provided by Chitra. As a part of her R&D focus, Chitra along with IIT, Madras is researching on developing next-generation Renewable hydrocarbon fuels. During the height of the Covid-19 crisis, responding to the calls of the Government of India, Chitra led a team to quickly manufacture PSA based O2 plants for the supply of OXYGEN in hospitals.
Chitra has a PhD with a specialisation in Organizational Leadership. She also has a double Masters in Regional Planning and Business management. She has been associated with IIT Madras in the field of Renewable Energy. She has over 23 years of cross-functional experience across a wide spectrum of functions with proficiency in Business Development, Marketing, Operation management; a proven ability of successful business development while consistently achieving significant growth.
Chitra is a recipient of many awards for her work in the field of renewable energy.
Regional Coordinator - Pamli Deka
Pamli brings 15 years of experience in the energy sector across operational, consulting and financing roles. Her passion is to bring a positive change in the society by reducing the impact of climate change while contributing towards poverty reduction. Pamli has helped in building the energy access body of work at the World Resources Institute, India (WRI India) where she with her team supported end users to integrate sustainable energy solutions into their strategy. Prior to that as a part of the New Ventures team, she facilitated investments in social enterprises in India, Nepal and Bangladesh.
Having closely followed and covered renewable energy and oil & gas companies as an equity analyst, she also brings in hands on experience in solving some of the business model related challenges for clean tech companies. A chemical engineer from IIT Roorkee and MBA graduate from INSEAD, Pamli has co-authored research papers and many widely read articles on the role of energy in development.
At PFAN, Pamli will work with the team in South Asia to strengthen the network of clean energy and adaptation projects, while reaching out to new stakeholders who can support projects in the region.
