Delhi, India Sep 18, 2026 (Issuewire.com) - The Digital Infrastructure Providers Association (DIPA), India's apex industry body for digital infrastructure providers, has announced the appointment of Munish Seth, Group Managing Director, Altius Telecom Infrastructure Trust, as Chairman of DIPA, and Venkatesh Tiwari, Chief Operating Officer, Indus Towers Limited, as Vice Chairman of DIPA. New leadership remains committed to working with the government to resolve key industry issues like high commercial electricity tariffs, grid unreliability and power outages, Diesel Procurement Restrictions, Right of Way (RoW) execution, the deployment of smart metering, etc.
Gentari India, a clean energy solutions provider focused on renewable power, green hydrogen and green mobility, has long been an associate member of the association. More recently, in June 2026, DIPA onboarded Gruner Renewable Energy, a compressed biogas and clean fuel company, as a new member to help accelerate the shift to zero carbon power across telecom sites. Both partners work alongside DIPA to advance renewable and reliable power solutions for the sector, and the association also engages regularly with the Ministry of Power, as well as the Central Electricity Regulatory Commission (CERC) and State Electricity Regulatory Commissions (SERCs), on policy matters affecting the industry's energy needs, including composite and centralised billing for multi site operators, consistent tariff classification and priority power connections for telecom infrastructure.
Power remains one of the most pressing cost and sustainability challenges facing India's digital infrastructure industry, and DIPA has flagged several such issues through the course of 2026. In March and April, the association wrote to the Department of Telecommunications and the Petroleum Ministry after curbs on diesel and LPG supply, linked to global fuel disruptions, affected tower refuelling and manufacturing in states including Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh, and it has asked that telecom sites be treated as essential infrastructure with priority access to fuel and power. DIPA has also highlighted widespread power outages of four to six hours a day in several states through the summer months, which deepened operators' reliance on diesel generators just as diesel prices in Delhi climbed from around Rs 87.67 to Rs 95.20 per litre between March and June 2026. Telecom towers and fibre nodes remain among the most power intensive assets in the country, with power and fuel typically accounting for at least 30 per cent of network operating costs, and telecom infrastructure in most states continues to be billed at commercial electricity tariffs rather than the lower industrial rates applied to other core infrastructure sectors, a long standing industry concern.
This pressure comes against the backdrop of a national power system under genuine strain. India's electricity demand hit a record peak of 256 GW on 25 April 2026 amid a severe heatwave, and peak demand is expected to keep climbing in the years ahead. On the supply side, the country added a record 52,537 MW of new generation capacity in the first ten months of FY 2025-26, most of it renewable, taking total installed capacity to 520.51 GW by January 2026. For a digital infrastructure sector that must scale quickly to support 5G, fibre, AI and data driven services, dependable and increasingly clean power is becoming as critical to growth as spectrum or right of way.
Munish Seth, Chairman, DIPA, is also Group Managing Director of Altius Telecom Infrastructure Trust. A veteran of India's telecom and technology industry, he has held senior leadership roles at Google India and Meta Platforms, and earlier served as President and Managing Director of Alcatel Lucent India. His experience across telecommunications, technology and digital platforms gives him a strong understanding of how India's digital ecosystem is evolving, and he will focus on deepening DIPA's engagement with policymakers, regulators and industry partners.
Venkatesh Tiwari, Vice Chairman, DIPA, is Chief Operating Officer of Indus Towers Limited and brings close to 28 years of leadership experience across telecommunications, e commerce, consumer electronics and logistics. Before joining Indus Towers, he spent over eight years at Amazon India as Director, Operations, where he helped build and scale the company's fulfilment and logistics network. He has also held leadership roles at Samsung, Bharti Airtel and Perfetti. As Vice Chairman, he will contribute to DIPA's work on the operational and policy priorities shaping the sector.
Under the new leadership, DIPA will continue to focus on policy certainty, ease of infrastructure deployment and sustainable growth, at a time when 5G, fibre, AI, IoT and data driven technologies, and the power needed to run them, are reshaping what India's digital infrastructure must deliver.
About DIPA
Digital Infrastructure Providers Association (DIPA), formerly known as the Tower and Infrastructure Providers Association (TAIPA), is the voice of India’s digital infrastructure industry. Established in 2010, DIPA serves as an industry platform representing companies involved in developing, building, owning and operating digital infrastructure across India.
The association works closely with Government, regulators and industry stakeholders to advance policy and regulatory frameworks that support the growth of a resilient, sustainable and future-ready digital infrastructure ecosystem.
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