Tulsi R Tanti, the Founder, and Chairman of wind energy company Suzlon Energy, passed away Saturday evening in Pune. Tanti was in Ahmedabad, attending a chain of meetings on the company’s ongoing ₹12 billion ($146.68 million) rights issue, and suffered from a cardiac arrest on his way back from the airport in Pune.

The Suzlon chief is survived by his wife and two children. The company said it would continue to be supported by its board of directors and senior management and will comply with all the reporting requirements in due course.

“With profound sadness, we inform you of the untimely demise of Tulsi R.Tanti, the Founder, the Chairman & Managing Director, and one of the promoters of Suzlon Energy on 1st October 2022. Shri Tanti suffered a cardiac arrest and passed away the same day,” Suzlon Energy said in a regulatory filing.

Tanti served as the head of industry forums like the Indian Wind Turbine Manufacturers Association, CII National Committee on Make in India – Renewables, and co-chair of the India-Spain CEOs Forum. He was also a Board Director of the U.S.-India Business Council and served as a member of the Board of Management of TERI University, Governing Council of National Institute of Wind Energy and Coordination Committee, and Ministry of New and Renewable Energy.

Wind Pioneer

Regarded as the ‘Wind Man of India,’ Tanti founded Suzlon Energy in 1995 and began the wind revolution in India. Tanti is said to have conceptualized a new “end-to-end solution” to create realistic avenues for businesses to go green and emerged as a partner in developing sustainable businesses.

He was globally recognized for his achievements and conferred various awards, including the “Champion of the Earth” by the United Nations Environment Program in 2009 and “Hero of the Environment”’ by TIME magazine for his efforts in raising awareness and initiating action on global climate change.

Suzlon has a market capitalization of $1.5 billion, an installed capacity of more than 19.4 GW, and an international presence across 18 countries on six continents. The highest capacity of 14.40 GW is deployed across Asia as of June 2022.

In August, Suzlon Energy posted net revenue of ₹13.78 billion (~$168.45 million) for the first quarter of 2022-23.

Recently the company announced it had won an order to develop a 180.6 MW wind power project for Sembcorp’s renewables subsidiary Green Infra Wind Energy.

(Image courtesy: Suzlon Energy)