Chennai, June 04: One year after the launch of Phase 3 and the addition of three new centres at IIT Kanpur, IIT Jodhpur, and IIT Kharagpur, Kotak Mahindra Bank’s Kotak Indian Institute of Technology Madras (IIT Madras)
Save Energy Mission (KISEM) has emerged as one of India’s largest bank-funded industrial decarbonisation programmes. The initiative has now expanded into a pan-India network of ten KISEM centres strengthening KISEM’s national footprint in industrial energy efficiency and MSME decarbonisation.
Launched in September 2022 as a CSR initiative under Kotak‘s Environment and Sustainable Development programme, KISEM has completed over 509 energy audits across 30 industrial sectors — resulting in annual cost savings to Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises of INR 96 crore and reducing annual greenhouse gas emissions by over 1,23,594 metric tonnes of CO2 equivalent.
The programme has issued 5,850 energy–saving recommendations; full implementation could unlock a further INR 404 crore in annual savings.
The expansion comes as India accelerates its industrial decarbonisation agenda, with the Bureau of Energy Efficiency (BEE) scaling up investment-grade audit mandates for energy-intensive industries. All seven existing KISEM centres have now been empanelled under BEE’s ADEETIE scheme — a regulatory milestone that enables KISEM auditors to conduct government-accredited, investment-grade audits that can directly inform capital decisions by MSMEs.
PROGRAMME AT A GLANCE
Key impact metrics across Phases 1, 2 and 3 (2022–2026)
|
METRIC |
FIGURE |
|
Energy audits completed |
509 audits across 30 sectors* |
|
Recommendations issued |
5850 |
|
Realised annual cost savings |
INR 96 crore+ |
|
Potential savings (full implementation) |
INR 404 crore+ |
|
Realised annual GHG emissions reduction |
1,23,594+ MT CO2e |
|
Potential annual GHG emissions reduction (recommended) |
4,57,757+ MT CO2e |
|
Network (Phase 3) |
10 IITs |
*Including 102 paid audits
KISEM’s evolution reflects a steady, phase-wise national expansion. The initiative originated in 2018 with the establishment of the Industrial Energy Audit Cell at IIT Madras, which began conducting baseline and detailed energy assessments for industries across Tamil Nadu. By 2021, this expertise had scaled beyond the state, with structured industrial audits carried out across multiple sectors in different parts of the country.
In 2022, KISEM was formally launched under Kotak Mahindra Bank’s CSR framework, expanding into a multi‑IIT collaboration with dedicated Energy Assessment Centres. The network grew further in 2023, delivering large‑scale audits across more than 20 industrial sectors nationwide. The programme entered a new phase of maturity in 2024 with the launch of a proprietary digital energy‑audit platform, followed in 2025 by empanelment under the Bureau of Energy Efficiency’s ADEETIE scheme—enabling KISEM to conduct investment‑grade audits. With Phase 3, the mission now scales to ten IIT centres across India, cementing its position as a national energy‑efficiency and MSME decarbonisation platform.
Speaking about this initiative, Mr. Shekhar Bhandari, Head – SME, Kotak Mahindra Bank, said, “Through KISEM, we are investing in India’s industrial backbone — the MSME sector. Having completed over 500 energy audits across 30 sectors, delivering over INR 96 crore in annual savings and reducing more than 1.23 lakh tonnes of CO₂ emissions each year, by expanding to Phase 3, Kotak reinforces its commitment to science-led climate action and India’s low-carbon development strategy, while enhancing the cost-competitiveness of small and medium enterprises. Our initiative goes beyond research: it aims to drive measurable decarbonisation, lower energy costs, and build climate resilience at the grassroots of Indian industry.”
Mr. Himanshu Nivsarkar, Head – CSR & ESG, Kotak Mahindra Bank, added, “India’s industrial decarbonization challenge will be shaped not only by large corporates, but by millions of manufacturing MSMEs that remain outside formal climate and regulatory frameworks. At Kotak CSR KISEM was conceived as a first‑of‑its‑kind, multi‑IIT collaboration to bring these MSMEs into the Net Zero conversation, using scientific rigor, practical implementation and scalable energy‑efficiency solutions as the entry point. KISEM is not a one‑time CSR intervention, but a deliberate effort to catalyse systemic change, where the model sustains itself through institutional anchoring, MSME ownership and sector‑wide adoption.”
Prof. Mahesh Panchagnula, National Co-coordinator, KISEM, said, “This initiative was designed as a Hub-and-Spokes model with IIT Madras as the hub, and has the active participation of IIT Bombay, IIT Indore, IIT Gandhinagar, IIT Ropar, IIT Guwahati, IIT Hyderabad, IIT Kanpur, IIT Jodhpur and IIT Kharagpur. In just one year since these centres became operational, the KISEM network has collectively crossed 500+ industrial audits, demonstrating the scalability and national relevance of this model.”
A significant milestone in Phase 3 is KISEM’s formal empanelment under BEE’s ADEETIE scheme, which qualifies its auditors to conduct investment-grade energy assessments. KISEM currently has two BEE Accredited Energy Auditors and eleven Certified Energy Auditors on its rolls.
In parallel, KISEM has begun taking on assignments from large-scale corporates and MNCs, employing a three-phase net-zero approach: baseline energy assessment, followed by solution identification, piloting and scaling, and finally, implementation support with continuous measurement and sustenance. In a recent landmark engagement, KISEM completed a comprehensive net-zero audit across all 24 dairy manufacturing facilities of a leading agro-products company. This signals the programme’s growing role beyond MSME audits into industrial net-zero strategy.
Prof. Satyanarayanan Seshadri, National Coordinator, KISEM, added, “From this financial year, we have expanded our focus to include commercial audits for large-scale industries and MNCs. Our three-phase net-zero approach — from baseline through to sustained implementation — mirrors what institutional sustainability teams need. We recently completed this kind of assignment for an agro-products company across all 24 of their dairy manufacturing facilities across India.”
KISEM has developed a proprietary digital platform — the first of its kind in India — designed exclusively for energy assessment studies across manufacturing and processing industries, commercial buildings, and bulk energy consumers. The platform digitises and standardises the audit intervention, delivering accurate results with significantly reduced turnaround time.
Assessment types supported include Baseline Energy Survey/Audit, Energy Efficient Technology Intervention Assessment, Baseline GHG Emission Study, Detailed Energy Audit, Techno-Economic Assessment of Energy Conservation Measures, Measurement & Verification Audit, and Walk-Through Energy Audit.