THE ENERGY INTERVIEW
As Co-Founder of ReNew, the second largest renewable energy company in India, Vaishali Nigam Sinha is one of the most influential figures working in the global energy sector.
It is perhaps surprising, then, that she took the long road to becoming the energy pioneer she is today.
Vaishali arrived in the sector after years in finance, spending time on Wall Street and in London after securing a master’ s degree at Columbia University. Eventually, however, she began to feel a growing unease with a job measured in deals closed and books balanced.
The result is a career that feels less like a pivot than an epiphany. From the beginning, her story has been shaped by a question that never quite went away: what is a life for, if not to leave something better behind? At ReNew, Vaishali chairs the company’ s sustainability function and its charitable foundation, and she also serves as President of the United Nations Global Compact Network India, a role that carries its own significance.
She is the first person from the private sector to hold the post, as well as the first woman, which is something she admits to feeling“ slightly proud” of. That said, purpose, rather than pride, is the dominant theme of Vaishali’ s story.
From India to Columbia Vaishali grew up in India, studied there and initially wanted to pursue international relations.
“ I GOT SUCKED INTO RENEW ACCIDENTALLY”
Vaishali Nigam Sinha Co-Founder ReNew
That path took her to Columbia University in New York, where she completed a master’ s degree in Public Policy on a scholarship from the American Association of University Women. Even before her corporate career began, she had already shown an interest in environmental issues.
“ While I was in college, I was interested in sustainability,” she recalls.“ It wasn’ t really a thing then. But I really found it interesting and very calming. It was just a hobby, a part of my college work.” That early curiosity would later return with much greater force.
For a decade, however, Vaishali lived in the world of finance, which she describes as both intellectually exciting and personally demanding.
The work was rewarding, but after years of living by the logic of markets and transactions, she found the question of purpose impossible to ignore.
The accidental founder ReNew began not as a grand ideological project but as a practical idea shaped by experience. Vaishali’ s husband,
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