Siemens Gamesa named Navin Dewaji as its new CEO in India, taking over from long-serving local boss Ramesh Kymal in a crucial market for the global wind group.
Dewaji currently works for Siemens Energy, where he has led its oil & gas and steam turbines operation in India and South Asia. He previously held roles for ABB and Alstom.
Dewaji will in March take charge of one of Siemens Gamesa’s most important markets. It has the biggest OEM turbine fleet operating there at 6.2GW thanks to the historic success of the former Gamesa business, while India accounted for 20% of its entire 9.4GW onshore order intake in its latest financial year.
Like other manufacturers active there, Siemens Gamesa has faced a slowdown in the last two years following a messy shift from tariffs to a competitive development market. Group CEO Markus Tacke said there were signs the Indian market was “coming back to life” following last year’s beter performance.
Enrique Pedrosa, onshore chief regions officer for Siemens Gamesa – who Dewaji will report into – said: “As the wind industry has become more global and competitive, we need to be better at leveraging our scale and managing efficiencies.
“For that we have centralised our Engineering and Operations functions and we need our regional CEOs to focus on commercial activities and project execution. Navin’s background matches these needs perfectly.”
Dewaji said: “I am joining a team that has done an outstanding job over the past years, building a leading business and contributing to the sustainable development of India by delivering clean, affordable and reliable energy to the communities.”
Kymal, who has led the group’s activities since the Gamesa era, will leave Siemens Gamesa to “pursue new professional challenges” at the end of April.