Driving India's Energy Transition: Hemant Sahai On Pioneering Policies, Resilient Legal Practices And Future Of Green Infrastructure

Professional Journey and Leadership

What key values have driven your professional success, and how do you incorporate these into your work at HSA Advocates?

That’s a very insightful question since it’s impossible to establish and grow an organisation without a set of values, coupled with a vision and mission. These are either articulated in writing or are at least subsumed as part of one’s character.

Fortunately for us, we have a written set of Vision, Mission and Values statement that sits on each person’s desk, and I encourage each one of our attorneys and staff to imbibe these and live by these values. Our most important asset are our people, and we are committed to enriching their lives.

True to our vision, we have strived hard and succeeded in no mean measure, at being counted as a “leading law firm” in our chosen areas of practice and being recognised as the “workplace of choice” by contemporaries. We have continued to sincerely “enrich our work environment” and meet legitimate aspirations. We remain committed to dealing with our people with sincerity and transparency. I can say with confidence and all sincerity that HSA today is an institution that will “survive individuals”.

Our commitment to quality and “excellence” in all our pursuits is visible in our outcomes and deliverables. 

As professionals “ethics and integrity” have been a way of life at HSA Advocates. 

While we recognize and reward individual strengths, being cognizant of our team’s support and fostering “mutual respect” is integral to our functioning. It is this trust that enables us to “learn continuously” and collaboratively. 

“Commitment” and “Accountability” provide the bedrock for all our endeavours. 

It is this sense of reassurance that makes our clients laud our efforts and recognize the “value that we create for them”.

Can you share any memorable or defining moments in your career that shaped your approach to legal practice?

I am fortunate to be from a generation of lawyers that saw the country transition from the earlier command and control economy to liberalisation initiated in 1991. The impact of these changes on the legal profession too were dramatic and this economic liberalisation drove me to become a sound commercial lawyer.

The several economic recessions and cycles and the pandemic that the country and globe encountered thereafter, were also significant individual character builders and shaped the kind of lawyer that I eventually evolved into. These events not only taught me resilience but also valuable lessons in dealing with client expectations and delivering value to them.

The early stages of economic reforms also brought opportunities in the opening up of the infrastructure and energy sector, which is where I found my personal true calling. The power sector reforms in Haryana and Andhra Pradesh in the mid 90’s, exposed me to truly large scale assignments and international engagements and my learnings from those assignments were invaluable. 

Each of these, and more, events left an indelible impact on my approach to providing legal services to clients, as we in India increasingly got more aligned with sophisticated international legal practices.    

Advisory Role and Government Relations

You have advised multiple ministries and regulatory bodies on policy frameworks. How do you ensure a balance between legal compliance and business efficiency when shaping policies?

Today, Government Policies are designed to encourage and attract private capital and involvement. Therefore, these policies need to be inclusive and are required to create an enabling environment. At the same time, the Government as the custodian of public interest, needs to ensure transparency and balance of all stakeholder interests. 

In the initial years working with Government, the challenge always was to convince the policy makers that this balance was essential. However, with increased awareness and experience in the Bureaucracy as well as with international engagements, this impeccable balance was crafted over several iterations. 

Today when I look back, I have had the privilege of being involved in creation of policy and transaction documents in sectors across brick-and-mortar infrastructure like highways, ports, airports, smart cities etc., to soft infrastructure sectors like health and energy. I am also proud to recognise that these efforts over the years have translated into visible infrastructure development aggregating several Billions of dollars across the country and even beyond. 

What is your approach to corporate governance when advising companies on board-related risks and regulatory challenges?

One of the facets of corporate governance is ensuring strict legal and regulatory compliance. Compliance is not a luxury or an aspirational goal any more rather it is an integral part of every corporate endeavour and requires constant attention. I sit on the Boards of several listed and unlisted companies as an independent director and my primary role is to ensure highest standards of corporate governance.

As an independent legal adviser to companies, my compliance advice has to be balanced by business exigencies. My approach is to find commercial alternatives and workable solutions. Therefore, a pedantic approach doesn’t work with clients, who expect balanced solutions but at the same time, red lines have to be drawn where there is no alternative.

What changes do you think India’s regulatory framework needs to promote a more robust energy and infrastructure sector?

This is an ongoing debate and there are no simple answers. The policies and regulations need to be dynamic and constantly evolving to deal with emerging risks and threats to investments in the sector. Fortunately, India has seen several such dynamic changes over the years, which is why the Indian renewable energy sector is one of the preferred destinations for foreign investments

The biggest threat and risk for private sector investments remains assurance of offtake and collection. Having said that, there can be few state level risks in the interpretation and application of local laws on land acquisition and holding, conversion of land into non agricultural land, incidence of stamp duties and the like. In a Federal structure, these initiatives to bring clarity and predictability, have to be taken by the States. 

Dispute Resolution 

What are the unique challenges in handling cross-border disputes, particularly with regard to sovereign guarantees and foreign contract?

Most of the commercial cross border disputes are governed by Arbitration. We have been involved in several international arbitrations as lead counsel, and have also, in one set of disputes, obtained one of the largest interim awards worth several hundred USD, with the balance claims yet to be adjudicated.

While handling cross border arbitrations require experience and skills, the challenges sometime, are in the context of getting accurate legal advice on local laws of another jurisdiction. Where the respondent party is in a non-Common Law jurisdiction or a less developed jurisdiction, then application of local laws effectively becomes an issue and the challenge is to get accurate legal advice

The other legal challenge is on issues of conflicts of laws where a commercial dispute has been initiated in civil courts in another jurisdiction and we are defending an Indian client. We are facing similar challenges in a current dispute initiated in UAE courts. In such cases, not only is deciphering foreign law a challenge, but language barrier too can be frustrating. We have faced these issues in several of our disputes in relation to African, Chinese and middle east jurisdictions.

Power Sector and Policy Insight

How do you view the evolution of India’s power sector, particularly with the emergence of electric vehicles?

Renewable Energy and EVs are the future and the transition from ICE to EVs throws up several challenges and also opportunities. India has no option but to invest in energy transition projects, including in green hydrogen.

The recent geopolitical changes with the introduction of Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) in Europe with UK soon to follow and the recent COP 29 discussions around CBAM, actually creates significant investment opportunities in India.

In my view, India’s geographical location in relation to the middle east and Europe is significant and gives us a huge advantage over China in the green hydrogen/ammonia space. The biggest consumption of green hydrogen/ammonia is going to be Europe and middle east, apart of course from US, India and China. One of the announcements in the last G20 Summit in India that somewhat went under the radar was the product pipeline to be constructed between India and middle east with further connectivity through to Europe. The product pipeline is essentially for green ammonia. 

India has the potential to produce the cheapest green hydrogen/ammonia and transporting the same to the middle east and Europe will be cheaper for India compared to China. 

Future of Infrastructure and Energy in India

What are the trends and developments you foresee in India’s renewable energy space?

Green Hydrogen is the future, in my view and the inflection point may be as early as in the next few years, rather than a decade that is generally discussed. The driver for this change will be regulations in India (mandatory use in certain sectors) as well as overseas (CBAM introduction in Europe and UK). There are several complexities and measures to be taken undoubtedly, and this transition is not going to be simple. Fortunately, there is very little technology risk and primarily the commercial risks need to be addressed, which is ongoing across several jurisdictions.

Most of the future capital investments across projects, infrastructure and related sectors is likely to be by private sector and in the PPP mode.

What policies or legal reforms do you believe will have the biggest impact on India’s energy and infrastructure sectors over the next decade?

Mandatory transition to renewable energy and EVs, which can happen as early 2030 or soon thereafter. This will drive demand and future investments, which will be very significant.