Former IOC chief to join Jet board

Former chairman of Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) Sarthak Behuria would be appointed as an independent director on the board of directors of Jet Airways. He completed a five-year term as IOC head in February-end.

The Jet Airways board of directors is chaired by the airline’s founder chairman, Naresh Goyal. The others include Anil Ghandour, Cictoriano P Dungca, Javed Akhtar, I M Kadri, Aman Mehta, Yash Chopra and Saroj K Datta as executive director.

Informed sources told Business Standard, “The Centre had granted the security clearance for Behuria’s appointment. The ministry of petroleum and natural gas, too, had given its go-ahead. Only the Civil Aviation ministry’s approval is awaited for Behuria’s appointment.”

Behuria, however, declined to comment on the matter but said he would keep himself busy in the days to come. “There are a lot of opportunities which I will certainly consider, basically to contribute not only to the oil industry but other sectors too,” he said.

Sources at the IOC recalled Behuria's contribution to the growth of the company. They said his performance was rated as outstanding by former oil secretary R S Pandey.

Behuria had taken over as the chairman of IOC and its group companies in March 2005. During his tenure, IOC’s turnover rose from $34.5 billion in 2004-05 to cross $50 billion in 2006-07. Subsequently, the turnover increased to $62 billion in 2008-09.