Shrikant Madhav Vaidya takes over as Chairman of Indian Oil on July 1

New Delhi: Shrikant Madhav Vaidya has taken over as the Chairman of Indian Oil Corporation Limited (IOCL) on Wednesday. Concurrently, he will also be Chairman of Chennai Petroleum Corporation Limited (CPCL), a stand-alone refining subsidiary of Indian Oil and Indian Oiltanking Limited, another joint venture providing 'terminalling' services apart from being on the board of Hindustan Urvarak & Rasayan Limited., a joint venture setting up three world-scale fertiliser plants. Vaidya who is on the board of Ratnagiri Refinery & Petrochemicals Ltd. will be taking over as its Chairman and will also be Director on the Board of Petronet LNG Limited.

Prior to his elevation, Mr Vaidya was the Director (Refineries) on the IndianOil Board, since October 2019. He succeeds Sanjiv Singh who has superannuated from the services of the corporation on June 30.

PSU Watch was first to report when Vaidya was recommended for the post of Chairman of India Oil by a PESB panel on December 13, 2019. He was selected from a list of five candidates, who were interviewed by the selection panel.

Education & background

Vaidya is a graduate in Chemical Engineering from NIT Rourkela and holds a diploma in Business Management. He has over 34 years of extensive experience in refining and petrochemicals operations. Vaidya has had a decade-long association with India's largest cracker plant, the Panipat Naphtha Cracker Complex, right from its commissioning stage. Panipat Naphtha Cracker Complex is one of the major drivers of IOCL's petrochemicals business. He is among the select technocrats in the Indian oil & gas industry who are proficient in all facets of refinery-petrochemicals integration, desirable for the sustainability of the oil and gas industry in the long-term.

Role and achievements

Vaidya joined IndiaOil in 1987 and worked in various positions at Panipat Refinery. While serving at Refineries Division, his role was to ensure healthy gross refining margins, smooth supply of products and eco-friendly business operations. During his tenure, the Refineries Division registered a record performance on all major physical parameters. He also steered the timely roll-out of BS-VI grade auto fuels in NCR. He has expanded green-energy options with bio-fuel and ethanol-blended fuel-related projects in refineries.

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