New Delhi: As the last lap of the race for the selection of a Chairman and Managing Director (CMD) for India's largest oil and gas exploration and production company, Oil & Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) draws closer, here is a look at the list of candidates who could be the PSU's next CMD. According to sources, the top four candidates in the list of 10 are senior IAS officers Avinash Joshi and Niraj Verma, ONGC Director (T&FS) Om Prakash Singh and Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals Ltd (MRPL) Director (Finance) Pomila Jaspal.
Both the senior bureaucrats in the fray are 1994-batch IAS officer of Assam-Meghalaya cadre and are serving as Principal Secretaries in the government of Assam. However, Joshi has an edge over Verma because he has served as the Managing Director of ONGC Petro Additions Ltd (OPAL) between 2017 and 2019. Sources also said that Singh, who has been bred within ONGC and has a technical background, is another name on the list who is a strong contender for the post of ONGC CMD.
Other candidates on the list for the ONGC CMD post include ONGC Executive Directors Sandeep Gupta, Pankaj Kumar and Omkar Nath Gyani, Assistant Director General at Directorate General of Hydrocarbons (DGH) Anand Gupta, Security Printing and Minting Corporation of India Ltd (SPMCIL) Director (Finance) Ajay Agarwal and the Director (Finance) of disinvestment-bound Container Corporation of India Ltd (CONCOR) Manoj Kumar Dubey.
ONGC has been functioning without a full-time CMD since former CMD Shashi Shanker retired on March 31 upon superannuation. After Shanker's superannuation, ONGC Director (Finance) Subhash Kumar was given additional charge of the ONGC CMD post. An announcement regarding the selection of a new ONGC CMD is expected soon.
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