At the helm of Mahindra Susten, Deepak Thakur leads with purpose, authenticity, and conviction—building not only clean energy capacity, but a company culture rooted in credibility, people-first growth, and trust.
Words by Karan Karayi
When Deepak Thakur speaks of leadership, there’s no pretense. Just presence. A career that spans over three decades across strategy, marketing, and operations has taught him that the best outcomes often begin with introspection—and honesty. “Authenticity,” he says simply, “isn’t a tactic. It’s who I am.”
Thakur’s belief in being unapologetically himself was tested early on, when a former boss advised him to wear a “work mask”—to separate emotion from execution. “That’s just not me,” he recalls. “And 33 years later, I’m glad I stuck to being myself.”
That core of genuineness permeates not just his personality, but the way he runs Mahindra Susten, one of India’s fast-growing clean energy companies. Appointed MD & CEO in 2022, Deepak Thakur has since helped lead what he calls Susten 2.0—a renewed phase of growth focused not only on building renewable energy assets, but building a resilient, values-driven organization.
A Sunday Question, A Career Reimagined
Thakur’s move into renewables wasn’t scripted—it was sparked by a quiet moment at home. In 2008, while watching a documentary on melting polar ice caps with his then nine-year-old daughter, she asked him a simple but piercing question: “Papa, what can you do about this?”
“She had taken in everything I said about saving water and electricity,” he remembers. “But then she looked at me and asked what I could do, as someone in a position of power. And that just shook me.”
Six months later, he joined the renewables space, cutting short a more lucrative role to respond to what he calls a “calling, not a career move.” That decision continues to shape his leadership philosophy to this day.
The Heartbeat of Leadership: People
Thakur isn’t one to hide behind frameworks. His mantra is disarmingly straightforward: “It’s always people, people, people.”
When he took over at Susten, the company was navigating a critical shift—leadership changes, evolving business direction, and a need to reinvent the growth engine. Rather than rush into restructuring, Thakur spent his early days meeting every key team member.
“I needed to understand what makes each person tick. What drives them. What holds them back,” he says. “Once belief and trust start building, real conversations begin. And that’s when transformation becomes possible.”
This human-centric approach helped Mahindra Susten co-create a five-year roadmap. With 5,400 megawatt peak of renewable energy assets targeted, the company has already secured a pipeline of 3,600 MWp and is actively commissioning new projects.
Strategy Built on Trust
For Thakur, credibility is the invisible thread that ties strategy to execution. He recounts a pivotal moment in early 2023 when Susten participated in a reverse auction after a three-year hiatus. Despite internal pressure to push below the approved floor price, Thakur stood firm.
“We knew we could potentially win by going just a notch lower,” he recalls. “But the investment committee had cleared a specific floor, and we chose not to cross it, even by a paise.” They lost the bid—but won something more valuable. “The board backed us. They said, ‘You did the right thing.’ That loss actually solidified our credibility.”
It’s a lesson Thakur carries forward. “Big investments aren’t made overnight. They’re the result of hundreds of small, principled decisions that earn trust over time.”
Partnerships with Purpose
In a sector often driven by short-term wins, Thakur’s lens is long-term. “Every decision—every partnership—is a brick in the foundation. It has to be built on mutual belief and integrity,” he says.
He credits his ability to take the long view to lessons learned from peers and mentors: “I used to want to jump ahead of the curve. But I’ve learned that when you build slowly, with conviction, you create something lasting.”
It’s a belief that carries over to Mahindra Susten’s partnerships, investments, and ESG practices. “We have a very robust ESG platform that’s now becoming a model across the Mahindra Group. And our projects are water positive—certified to return 15 times more water to the Earth than we consume.”
Not the Biggest—The Cleanest
Thakur is clear about what Mahindra Susten aspires to be. “We don’t want to be the largest clean energy generator. We want to be the cleanest.”
That means walking the talk on Scope 1, 2, and 3 emissions, pushing for zero waste to landfill, and working with suppliers to ensure sustainability across the value chain. The company recently earned approval for its SBTi (Science-Based Targets initiative) goals, becoming the fourth renewable energy player in India to do so.
But impact, for him, is personal. “We’re not just about assets on a balance sheet,” he says. “We’re about lives touched—communities around our projects, vendors we uplift, and the environment we leave better than we found it.”
The Road Ahead
With India’s clean energy transition accelerating, Thakur sees Mahindra Susten playing a pivotal role. The company is on track to beat its five-year targets, but numbers aren’t the only scoreboard that matters.
“Outcomes are important, yes. But how we achieve them—that’s what defines us,” he reflects.
As India looks to lead the energy future, Deepak Thakur and his team are proving that purpose, not just power, can light the way.
“We don’t want to be the largest clean energy generator—we want to be the cleanest.”
