Munab Ali Beik, Head Compliance Advisory Practices at Core Integra

October 22, 2024. By Aishwarya

Core Integra compliance activities start with an assessment and identifying the non-compliances; update the recent changes notified by the appropriate authorities; and advise the renewable energy companies to be aware of the changes and their impacts, elaborates Munab Ali Beik, Head Compliance Advisory Practices, Core Integra in his latest interaction with Aishwarya Saxena, Energetica India.

Que: Can you discuss the environmental regulations that renewable energy companies need to comply with and what differentiates Core Integra’s Ctrl F platform from other compliance platforms in the market?

Ans: The renewable energy companies’ compliances start with land acquisition, renewable purchase obligations, grid connectivity, environmental clearances, environmental impact assessment, finance compliances, employee and labour-related compliances, and more. The renewable energy companies are governed under the Electricity Act, 2003, the Energy Conservation Act, 2001, and more. The Ministry of New and Renewable Energy, the Central Electricity Regulatory Commission, and the State Regulatory Commission are the controlling authorities for the renewable energy companies in India.

Environmental clearances and environmental impact assessment are the important parts of the renewable energy sector to start with business in India. The recent implementation of Business Responsibility and Sustainability Reporting (BRSR) and disclosure of Environment, Social, and Governance (ESG) are the milestones for India to focus on environmental-related compliances.

“Core Integra,” as a market leader in compliances in India, plays a vital role in helping the renewable energy sector with its in-house tool of the “Ctrl F” platform in many ways. Core Integra’s Ctrl F web-based tool extends its capability to map the applicable compliances, vaulting the status of compliances, assessment of compliance, mitigation plan, and monitoring the status of compliances with its upgraded dashboards. The tech support in maintaining the dashboard with its comparative report of environment-related compliances helps the renewable energy sector clients to know the risk and mitigation plans to act on it.

Que: How does Core Integra address the unique compliance challenges faced by the renewable energy sector in India?

Ans: Core Integra’s expertise in the matter of compliances and customised Ctrl F tool are the backbone in helping the clients in the matter of compliance challenges. Core Integra compliance activities start with an assessment and identifying the non-compliances; update the recent changes notified by the appropriate authorities; and advise the renewable energy companies to be aware of the changes and their impacts. Core Integra supports the renewable energy sector companies to get the required clearances, registrations, licenses, no-objection certificates, and approvals to proceed with their operations without any delay. The Core Integra business module connects the renewable energy sector clients on a decided frequency for the purpose of reviewing the dashboard of compliances and to advise of the mitigation plans in case of non-compliances. Supporting the renewable energy sector with the help of technology is the beauty of the Core Integra support in terms of solving the complex challenges with an amicable measure.

Que: How is Artificial Intelligence (AI) transforming the compliance landscape for renewable energy firms?

Ans: Technology innovation and artificial intelligence [AI] are part of every human life in terms of using it for the basic and complex requirements day-to-day. A remarkable increase in usage of AI technology by the top compliance professionals in the work environment makes significant difference in performance and efficiency. Monitoring and managing the compliances with the help of the AI tools, making an error-free renewable energy company. The advanced machine learning and AI tool helps the compliance professionals increase efficiency and reduce time for compliance activities.

Que: What impact does non-compliance have on renewable energy companies in terms of legal and financial risks?

Ans: India has complex compliance with multiple regulatory authorities and multiple legislations to govern the renewable energy companies that operate in India. Operating in multiple states increases the complexity and risk in case of non-compliances. The Indian regulatory environment penalises the Managing director, CEO, or COO of the company with criminal proceedings for any identified non-compliances. Maintaining the compliances all the time requires expertise in the field of compliances. Some of the social security legislation empowers the authorities to initiate to freeze the bank account of the company or issue garnishee orders to the banks to recover the due liable payments, if any. Multiple legislations, with a high number of amendments, required adequate knowledge of the changes to maintain compliance. Failure to maintain the applicable compliances or found with non-compliance, will hold the penal provisions which will impact the higher positions of the organisations and a high level of financial loss by way of compounding the offences.

Que: How does Core Integra address the complexities of compliance across multiple states in India and how does Core Integra’s proprietary technology support governance, risk, and compliance for renewable energy companies?

Ans: Core Integra, a 15-year-old company that holds 500+ clients, serves 25 industries, and operates 1500+ locations in India, are the key indicators to say the market leader in compliances. The Indian regulatory environment is complex in terms of multiple acts and multiple compliances, and it’s listed in the concurrent list of the Indian Constitution. The regulatory legislation is not common across India; it differs from state to state to adhere to the rules and regulations framed thereunder. The States and the Central governments share inspecting powers in various matters.

Core Integra holds knowledgeable resources to help the clients with the support of technology to guide the right practices in compliances. The Core Integra’s tech-developed in-house tool “Ctrl F” has the capability to identify the applicable compliances, copies of registrations and licenses, intimation of latest changes, monitoring mechanism, auto-population of risk areas, maintenance of required documents, copies of filed returns, mitigation plan, review requirements, dashboard, and so on, to say it’s the future of compliances. The Ctrl F tool developed in such a way that the applicability factors decided based on the location, industry, and number of employees are the credentials to decide the applicable compliances for the renewable energy companies. The compliances managed under the Ctrl F tech-based tool, is to maintain the governance, identification of risk for the purpose of mitigation and maintain stay compliances of renewable energy sector.

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