MSME Corner Desk

Director, TBEA Energy India, and Founder of REnP Green Energy LLP says governance, professional talent and patient entrepreneurship will determine which startups evolve into industrial anchors, ahead of CII Gujarat’s Aarohan 2026.

Compliance is not a regulatory burden but a strategic business asset, and Indian MSMEs must invest in human capital with the same seriousness as they invest in factories and machinery if they aspire to scale sustainably, according to Rutvik Patel, Director, TBEA Energy India, and Founder of REnP Green Energy LLP.

Speaking ahead of CII Gujarat’s Aarohan 2026 – Startup Scale-Up Dialogue, Patel said many promising enterprises fail not because of lack of opportunity, but because founders underestimate governance, professional management and the long-term value of organisational culture.

Drawing from a career that spans legal practice, corporate leadership and renewable energy entrepreneurship, Patel said his professional journey began not in industry but inside the Gujarat High Court.

“My family has been associated with the legal profession for two generations. After my grandfather, I entered legal practice at the Gujarat High Court, primarily handling litigation,” he recalled.

However, it did not take long before he began questioning the system itself.

“While practising law, I kept asking myself a simple question—how can litigation itself be reduced? If disputes can be prevented, businesses save enormous amounts of money, time and management bandwidth.”

That search for preventive solutions eventually took him into the corporate world, where he believed he could contribute more by helping organisations build systems that minimise legal disputes instead of merely resolving them.

His early corporate assignments at Arvind Mills and Netafim proved to be defining experiences.

“Both organisations gave me complete freedom to work. Although the corporate environment was entirely new for me, it changed my way of thinking and gave me a broader managerial perspective,” Patel said.

The turning point in his career came during Gujarat’s investment-driven industrial expansion under then Chief Minister Narendra Modi. As global power equipment manufacturer TBEA evaluated India for major investments in renewable energy infrastructure, Patel initially joined the company as its legal adviser.

“As the organisation grew, my responsibilities expanded beyond legal affairs into business operations, governance and strategic decision-making. The confidence shown by the management ultimately led to my appointment as Director on the Board.”

Patel believes those years taught him one lesson that remains relevant for every entrepreneur today—good governance is not a compliance exercise but a competitive advantage.

He said MSMEs frequently perceive statutory compliance as an avoidable expense without recognising the much larger cost of non-compliance.

“The cost of violating regulations is always higher than the cost of following them,” he said.

Illustrating the point, Patel compared compliance with traffic regulations.

“If someone drives at 105 kilometres per hour on an expressway where the prescribed limit is 100 kmph, the person automatically receives a penalty. That penalty is the cost of non-compliance. The same principle applies to business.”

According to Patel, compliance should become part of an entrepreneur’s mindset rather than a reaction to government inspections.

Equally important, he said, is the transition from founder-driven enterprises to professionally managed organisations.

“Every entrepreneur rightly focuses on profitability. There is nothing wrong with that. But many founders readily invest crores of rupees in buildings, machinery and technology while hesitating to invest in capable professionals.”

He argued that the next phase of India’s manufacturing growth will depend as much on quality leadership teams as on physical infrastructure.

“The biggest investment any growing enterprise can make is investment in human capital.”

After spending years in corporate leadership, Patel turned entrepreneur and established REnP Green Energy LLP, inspired by technologies he observed during international business visits.

“During my overseas travels, I saw agricultural waste being compressed and converted into industrial fuel. I spent several years studying the technology before deciding to establish a biomass fuel venture in India.”

Patel believes agricultural residue, traditionally viewed as waste, represents one of India’s biggest untapped energy resources.

Instead of burning crop residue and contributing to severe seasonal air pollution, he said, the same biomass can be converted into briquettes and pellets that serve as economical industrial fuel.

“If crop residue is scientifically processed into briquettes and pellets and supplied to industries or thermal power plants, it can significantly reduce pollution while creating additional income opportunities in rural India.”

He noted that biomass fuels vary in calorific value depending on the raw material used, while remaining substantially more economical than many conventional industrial fuels. Most industries, he added, require only minor modifications to existing boilers before switching to biomass-based fuel.

Reflecting on entrepreneurship, Patel said successful founders distinguish themselves not through brilliant ideas alone but through discipline and consistency.

“Quality, patience and faith in yourself are the three qualities that ultimately separate successful entrepreneurs from those who struggle to scale.”

He cautioned entrepreneurs against chasing shortcuts or underestimating customers.

“Consumers are never fools. Never compromise on quality. Transparency may not deliver immediate rewards, but it builds credibility over time.”

Interestingly, Patel refused to recommend any particular sector for aspiring entrepreneurs.

“Innovation has no boundaries. Every breakthrough begins with an idea, not an industry. A startup should pursue a problem worth solving rather than follow market fashion.”

As an example, he referred to emerging innovations ranging from dogs being trained to detect diseases to edible water pods developed in Japan as alternatives to plastic bottles, saying disruptive ideas often emerge from unexpected directions.

Speaking about the theme of Aarohan 2026 — ‘Transforming Innovators into Industrial Anchors’, Patel said the initiative aims to bridge one of the biggest gaps in India’s startup ecosystem: access to the right network.

“The objective is to connect startup founders with venture capital firms, financial institutions, experienced industrialists, exporters and mentors who can help them scale.”

Networking, he said, often becomes the difference between a startup remaining small and evolving into a nationally competitive enterprise.

Patel concluded with a message for first-generation entrepreneurs.

“Building a business is a marathon, not a sprint. Entrepreneurs should be prepared to dedicate nearly 1,000 days before expecting meaningful results. Patience is not a weakness—it is one of the greatest strengths of entrepreneurship.”