Ex MSCI India head joins ESG fund set up by former Tata executives

ECube, an environmental, social and governance (ESG) platform, which is raising $1 billion jointly with Quantum Advisors, roped in Chandru Badrinarayanan as Managing Partner on Tuesday. Until recently, Chandru was an executive director and the head of MSCI’s India business. 

He has more than 30 years of experience across financial markets, business strategy, risk management, analytics, ratings, sales, banking, journalism and manufacturing. He was MSCI’s India head till April 30, 2019. MSCI is an independent provider of research-driven insights and tools for institutional investors. 

In recent years, he has worked with various stakeholders in India to evangelise the concept and relevance of ESG. 

ECube was recently launched by a group of former senior Tata executives, including Dr Mukund Rajan, Govind Sankaranarayanan and Alan Rosling.

As the Managing Partner, Chandru will be involved in institutional investor engagement, ESG research, investee company interactions, investment monitoring, IP management and new business development. 

Welcoming him, ECube Chairman Mukund Rajan said,“Chandru is a pioneer of the ESG movement in India, and with his sophisticated understanding of the key drivers of ESG improvement, will add huge value to our agenda of behavioural change in corporate India in favour of better ESG performance.”

At MSCI, Chandru spent more than 6 years in developing its India arm, which is related to indexes, analytics and ESG, and grew the firm’s business and presence.

Chandru Badrinarayanan said, “Institutional investors across the world are increasingly making ESG the central theme for all their investments, driven by growing concerns around issues such as poor corporate governance, global warming, and rising inequality. ESG strategies in public equities already impact over $30 trillion of funds. I am delighted join ECube at this exciting time, to pioneer ESG investing in India with an unique approach of active engagement with investee firms. We intend to prove that in the Indian markets, as elsewhere, a focus on ESG can deliver sustainable value and market outperformance for investors”.