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Oil family seniors lead charge for ONGC's top job

Nearly 30 candidates applied for replacing incumbent chairman and managing director Dinesh K Sarraf when he retires on September 30 this year.

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The quest for top hunch for India's highest profit-making public enterprise, ONGC, has been expedited with centre shortlisting nine applicants for the post. According to sources, the choice for appointment of chairman-cum-managing director (CMD), is down to nine candidates including five from the oil family itself. Top of the list of candidates is Shashi Shanker, ONGC director for technical and field services. Also, Medithi Ravikant, CMD Housing and development corporation (HUDCO), has emerged as potential contender shortlisted for the race for the top job at India's most valued public enterprise in India.

Nearly 30 candidates applied for replacing incumbent chairman and managing director Dinesh K Sarraf when he retires on September 30 this year. The shortlisted candidates will be interviewed for the top job on June 19 in two sessions, and a final decision is likely to be taken shortly after that. Shashi Shanker has technical experience in oil and gas exploration area, and since he is the only serving director in ONGC who has two more years of service remaining, he is being considered as the most prospective candidate for the job.

M Ravi Kanth, Chairman & Managing Director, HUDCO, IAS from Kerela cadre and 1986 batch officer is another serious contenders for the job. Prior to this, Ravi Kanth was Principal Secretary to Government of Kerala and Joint Secretary, Ministry of Power, Government of India

ONGC Videsh Limited director (finance) Vivekanand is also in the race and so are three of ONGC's executive directors — Sanjay Kumar Moitra, Rajesh Kakkar and Arvind Jayasing Morbale. SCIL Director (finance) Harjeet Kaur Joshi, OIL director for human resources Biswajit Roy too are probable candidates being considered for the job. Besides, Balmer Lawrie chairman and managing director Prabal Basu is also on the selected candidates list.

The Public Enterprises Selection Board (PESB) will conduct interview session on June 19 with the candidates which will select the successor to Sarraf.

Once PESB shortlists the names, it sends its recommendations to the Ministry for Petroleum & Natural Gas, which then processes it further (including clearance from Central Vigilance Commission), and then forwards it to the Appointment Committee Cabinet for formal approval.

State-run ONGC registered net profit of Rs 17,900 crore for fiscal 2016-17, up by 10.9 per cent year-on-year. The gross revenue of the company stood at Rs 77,907 crore in fiscal 2016-17, against Rs 77,740 crore in fiscal 2015-16. The company made 23 discoveries in fiscal 2016-17 compared to 17 in fiscal 2015-16.

The new head will have to pursue Prime Minister Narendra Modi's target of cutting country's oil import dependency by 10 per cent till 2022. With Stagnant domestic oil output directed against a rising local demand, it seems to be a tough target to achieve.

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