Sumant Sinha was born in Delhi as the son of Yashwant Sinha and Nilima Sinha.^[4] He completed his schooling from St. Columba's School, Delhi and his graduation in engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi, in 1987.^[1] Later, in 1989, he earned a post graduate diploma in business management from the Indian Institute of Management, Calcutta. Thereafter he spent two years working with Tata Administrative Services. In 1991, Sumant went to New York pursue a Master’s in International Affairs from Columbia University. ^[5][6]

Sumant Sinha started his career with a two year stint at Tata Administrative Services in 1989. Thereafter, Sumant worked as an investment banker at Citicorp Securities and ING Barings in the US and the UK. ^[7] He returned to India in 2002 and became the Chief Financial Officer at the Aditya Birla Group. It was during his time as the CFO that Aditya Birla Group acquired Ultratech Cement, Novelis, and Idea Cellular.^[8] Sumant led the creation of Aditya Birla Group’s retail arm, Aditya Birla Retail Limited, where he served as Chief Executive Officer from 2007 to 2008.^[5] Later, in 2008, he joined Suzlon Energy, one of India’s largest wind energy companies at the time, as Chief Operations Officer.^[9]

In 2011, he founded ReNew, an independent renewable power producer and a decarbonisation solutions provider, headquartered in Gurgaon.^[10]

Sumant is a regular speaker at various international fora such as the World Economic Forum,^[11] UNFCCC COP,^[12] Climate Week NY,^[13] CERA Week,^[14] and leading global universities. He has written more than 150 opinion pieces on climate change, renewable energy and sustainable economic growth. Sumant is the author of the book, Fossil Free: Reimagining Clean Energy in a Carbon Constrained World.^[15]

Sumant has served on the boards of IIT Delhi, IIM Calcutta and the Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs (SIPA). Apart from this, he chairs the Global Wind Energy Council (GWEC) in India and is a member of the Board of GWEC globally. Sumant is member of the Board of US-India Strategic Partnership Forum. During 2022-23, he served as the President of Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India (ASSOCHAM). Sumant co-chaired the Electricity Governor’s Group at the World Economic Forum. He is a founding member of the First Movers Coalition and co-chairs the CEO Climate Leaders Alliance India.^[5] In 2018, The Economic Times named him as ET Entrepreneur of The Year.^[16]

Sumant set up ReNew in 2011 with a plan to have at least 1,000 MW of capacity by 2015.^[17] In March 2014, ReNew won its first solar power bid, a 57.6MW project in Madhya Pradesh. Sumant led ReNew, going from zero to 5,800 MW of commissioned capacity in six years, making it one of India's largest independent renewable energy producers.^[18][19]

As of 2023, ReNew’s clean energy portfolio of 13.4 GWs, one of the largest globally. The Sumant Sinha ReNew Centre of Excellence for Energy and Environment in IIT Delhi was established in 2016 to encourage and support research in renewable science and technology.^[20][21]

Sinha is married to Vaishali Nigam Sinha.^[22] They have two children.