Waaree’s Hitesh Joshi: The Journey Of The Business Tycoon Who Built $5.2 Billion Empire

As the saying goes “It might take a year, it might take a day, but what’s meant to be will always find its way.” And interestingly, something similar can be observed in the successful journey of Waaree Group as the company stood through the test of times over the years. On Monday, their renewable arm Waaree Energies went public on the exchanges with its $514 million Initial Public Offering (IPO). Following this, the company's shares zoomed past 56% taking Doshi family’s net worth to about $5.2 billion. About ₹2,800 cr from the IPO proceeds will be used to build a 6 gigawatt manufacturing plant in Odisha.

Born and raised in Tunki, Maharashtra, Hitesh Chimanlal Doshi ventured into India’s energy space in 1985 by borrowing ₹5000 ($60) from a relative. During this time he started trading hardware, electronics and instrument gauges. The profits from the venture went towards supporting his college fees and basic expenses, Economic Times reported.

After graduation Doshi borrowed ₹1,50,000 from a bank to set up a manufacturing company. It mainly dealt with the production of pressure gauges, gas station equipment and industrial valves. Towards the end of the millennium he saw the potential of trading in power equipment including water pumps, heaters, cookers and lanterns.

Notably, in the later years, his biggest orders came from clients in the US and Europe. YourStory reported that Doshi was “spell-bound” by the potential of solar energy, during his visit to Germany in 2007. This moment also inspired him to sell his thermal equipment business and focus on solar-cell manufacturing.

Currently 57, Hitesh Chimanlal Doshi is the chairman and managing director of Waaree Energies, while two of his brothers and nephew are board directors in the group. The family also holds a majority stake in Waaree Renewable Technologies Ltd. and energy storage company Waaree Technologies Ltd, both of which are listed on the exchanges.

With a capacity of 12,000 megawatts, Waaree Energies is the largest solar module manufacturer in India. A major proportion of its revenue comes from export regions including the US. Interestingly, tightening of tariffs on Chinese solar cells have worked in the company's favour leading to a surge in Indian goods. Moreover, India’s renewable energy sector has also been flourishing this year, thereby generating active interest from investors.

As per a government report, about 50% of the total installed energy capacity in India is led by renewable energy, while solar energy accounts for 20 per cent of the 457 gigawatts of energy as of October 2024.