Shri Ravindra Kumar ( Chairman)
Shri Ravindra Kumar completed B.Sc. (Engineering) in Mechanical engineering from BIT Sindri in 1988. He joined NTPC Limited as Graduate Engineer Trainee officer in 1989 and has more than 34 years of diverse and versatile experience in Commissioning, O&M, Engineering and Project management. He has taken charge as Director (Operations), NTPC on 26th February 2024.
Shri Ravindra Kumar has worked in various capacities in O&M function at NTPC Kahalgaon Project. He has exposure of working at Corporate Centre in Engineering department and as a technical support to Director (Technical).
He was actively involved in development of 1st Maitree supercritical power project of Bangladesh India Friendship Power Company Limited (BIFPCL), Bangladesh. During his tenure as Chief Technical Officer (CTO), he spearheaded all Engineering, erection, commissioning, and O&M activities of 660 MW 1st Unit of BIFPCL.
As Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Patratu Vidyut Utpadan Nigam Limited, he expedited various construction and erection activities.
He is a professional with Corporate and Site experience, people-centric approach, knowledge, and experience of the entire power sector.
Mahesh Kendhe ( Managing Director)
Mr. Mahesh Kendhe is a seasoned Energy professional with >28 years of rich & diverse professional experience. He is working with GE Power India Ltd., a GE Vernova group company and has previously served esteemed organizations like Thermax B&W & Reliance Industries Ltd. in various capacities.
During his professional journey, Mr. Mahesh has provided creative leadership to various function like plant O&M, EPC/Service Sales, Marketing, Commercial, Business Development, Product Management, Corporate Strategy, Innovation, Engineering R&D, Policy Advocacy etc. & delivered success to these organizations.
Mr. Mahesh is passionate about Sustainable Energy, ESG & achieving Circular economy and actively supports implementing future technologies leading to energy transition & decarbonization to address Climate Change effectively.
Mr. Mahesh is an alumnus of Management Development Institute (MDI)-Gurgaon, College of Engineering Pune (COEP) & has been professionally trained from Stanford University-USA.
Alok Kumar Tripathi ( Whole Time Director )
Shri Alok Kumar Tripathi is a visionary leader with over 38 years of diverse experience across key domains including O&M, Contracts & Materials, Power Plant Efficiency, Consultancy, Marketing, International Business, and Talent Management. A Mechanical Engineer from BIT Mesra, MBA (Prime Minister’s Gold Medalist) from MDI Gurgaon, and PhD in Management from UPES Dehradun, he combines technical expertise with strategic leadership.
He has handled NTPC’s Consultancy Business and has also led NTPC Middle East operations from Dubai as Head – Middle East, securing major consultancy projects globally. Internationally trained, he holds a one-year long program certification in Power Plant Management from Germany and certifications from BEE (Energy Management), Wharton (Strategic Leadership), IIM Lucknow (Business Strategy), KPMG (Sustainability & GRI), and the University of Virginia (Design Thinking).
As GM & Head of NTPC’s Regional Learning Institute, he drove large-scale digital learning using AR/VR and mentored over 3,000 engineers. Named L&D Leader of the Year 2025 by The Economic Times and author of the bestselling book The Peace Approach, Shri Tripathi brings to the NGSL Board a rare blend of operational excellence, business acumen, global exposure, and people-first leadership.
Piyush Banafar ( Director )
Mr. Piyush Banafar is the Region Leader responsible for Steam Power Services Operations for South Asia Region including India and Bangladesh. Piyush has over two decades of Power and Environmental Services Industry experience in the US and India. Piyush joined the NGSL Team as a Director in March 2018.
Piyush’s association started with GE in 2004 and during these 14 years he has worked in a series of expanded roles and responsibilities in Technology, Sales, Marketing, Quality and Services. Prior to above, Piyush was the Global Technology leader for Powering Efficiency Center of Excellence for GE. He was also a part of Corporate Leadership staff where he worked in various GE divisions – Oil & Gas (Houston), Aviation (Cincinnati) and Energy Management (Atlanta) businesses. Prior to joining GE, he has worked for over 8 years in India.
Piyush holds a Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering from India and a MBA focused on Strategy & Finance from University of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
Gopalakrishnan Venu ( Director )
Mr.Gopalakrishnan Venu, Executive Director(Engg.) NTPC Limited is a Mechanical Engineer and has been working in NTPC for the past 36 years. He has been handling various divisions of Engineering functions of NTPC right from concept to commissioning of Thermal Power Projects (Coal/Gas) as well as Hydro Projects. He has also spearheaded the Renewable Energy Division of NTPC in the early stages to establish three Mega Solar PV Plants each of 250 MW each in NTPC. Further, the policy Advocacy for implementation issues of New Environmental Regulations (on SOx & NOx) were undertaken under his leadership and presently an elaborate program for implementation of FGDs (of about 60GW) is on-going. In addition, the Pilot Testing of SCR/SNCR technologies for DeNOx suitabily (for use in high ash Indian Coals) in 8 NTPC Power Stations are also in progress as per the plan envisaged.
He is involved in various new initiatives of NTPC such as IGCC, Bio-Mass Co-firing in existing Coal fired Boilers, setting up of Waste to Energy (Wte) plants, Development of Advanced Ultra Supercritical (AUSC) plant at Sipat, Air Cooled Condensers (ACC) for Power Plants, Implementation of Zero Liquid Discharge (ZLD) plants etc.
Benu Pillai (Director)
Benu Pillai holds the role of India Engineering & Technology Leader at GE Vernova, GE Power India Limited(GEPIL) currently. He also has the additional role of Strategy & Innovation leader and Government Affairs. He has more than 30+ years of experience in the oil & energy industry.
He is an experienced engineering leader with expertise in project engineering, application engineering, new product introduction, and detailed engineering for thermal power and gasification projects.
Benu has a proven track record in managing multi-disciplinary teams, driving innovation, and optimizing engineering processes for Boilers, Emission Control, Steam Turbines, Generators, and more. Previous roles include Engineering Leader for Clean Combustion, Senior Product Cost/Pricing Leader, and Head of Engineering for Environment Control Solutions at GE Vernova. Known for strategic leadership, lean/kaizen practices, and delivering competitive engineering solutions.
Benu holds a bachelor’s degree in civil engineering from Visvesvaraya National Institute of Technology (VNIT), Nagpur.
Madhusudan Kulkarni (Director)
Mr. Madhusudan Kulkarni currently serves as the Leader of the Repair CoE at GE Power India Ltd with over 27+ years within the company spanning various phases from ABB, Alstom Power and now GE. His skill set encompasses Technology, Engineering and Localization strategies for critical manufacturing.
In his present capacity he leads the setting up of a Centre of Excellence to drive standard and complex repairs on OEM and third party large Turbogenerating equipment adhering to the core principles of Safety, Quality, Delivery and Costs thereby improving plant availability and reliability. Under his leadership the CoE also supports Localization initiatives for critical components of Steam Turbines to enable a Lean supply chain capable of achieving global standards and delivering to Customer expected timelines.
Mr. Madhusudan is accountable for generating Repair opportunities, Repair growth targets, New Product introductions for improvement in Repair offerings and optimizing cost through localization. He is also responsible for training field personnel for Repair execution during outages, large refurbishment projects and assessing damage during forced outages.
Mr. Madhusudan is a Graduate Metallurgical Engineer and a Post Graduate in Materials Technology from IIT Mumbai. He has to his credit several research publication has been on the examiner panel and dissertation guide to the MS University in Vadodara.