Indian-Origin Woman to Lead European Bank’s Sustainable Infrastructure Team

The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) has appointed Nandita Parshad, an Indian-origin senior executive, as the managing director of its consolidated Sustainable Infrastructure group.

Nandita is currently the managing director for Energy and Natural Resources at the bank and will lead the bank’s engagement in environmental, transport and energy sectors in 38 economies across three continents with a focus on decarbonization and sustainable financing in her new role, the bank said in a statement. The London-headquartered bank recently consolidated its energy and infrastructure teams.

Nandita is a member of the Energy Transition Commission and of the World Economic Forum Council on Future Energy where she represents the bank and shapes policymaking and thinking in global challenges of decarbonization, the statement added.

“Green investments increasingly require a complex approach combining energy, emissions, water, and waste. This integration is shown in the emergence of a number of important cross-cutting themes such as electrification of trains, buses and electric vehicles, water-energy nexus, including the growing role of desalination, as well as green, sustainable cities. By joining the efforts of bankers structuring energy and infrastructure projects, we will capitalize on a common ethos and working model,” Nandita said about the new Sustainable Infrastructure group.

According to the statement, the new Sustainable Infrastructure group has a portfolio of over €22 billion and invests over €4.5 billion annually in new investments or about half of the EBRD’s annual business.

Kolkata-born Nandita has 30 years’ experience in investing in the energy sector in diverse emerging economies. She holds undergraduate and graduate degrees from the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs at Princeton University.