Azure Power CEO Inderpreet S. Wadhwa shares the lessons best advice imbibed

This is something that I have heard repeatedly over the years in one form or another, from my parents, investors, industry leaders and friends. From this advice, I have imbibed persistence, patience and resilience in both my personal and professional life.

When I was setting India's first-ever megawatt-scale solar power plant in 2008/09, at village Awan in Punjab, there was hardly any market-level stimulus or even awareness among various nodal agencies for such projects. Financial institutions were extremely sceptical of the concept and there were practically no comparables in the country. Through persistence, patience and resilience, I convinced everyone from the village panchayat to state and national renewable energy nodal agencies and international investors that led to the commissioning of the plant in December 2009.

The Awan plant became the first operating project under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Solar Mission and the first of many such initiatives that have now given solar power a boost in the country.