Govt appoints Sudhir Vasudeva ONGC's CMD

The government on Monday appointed Sudhir Vasudeva as the chairman and managing director of Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC), the country biggest energy explorer.

Vasudeva, 57, is currently director (offshore) in ONGC.

Born in February, 1954, Vasudeva will head the nation’s second-biggest profit-making firm till his retirement on January 31, 2014.

A chemical engineer and a management graduate, Vasudeva joined ONGC as an executive trainee in 1976. It was on February 1, 2009, that he took over as its director (offshore).

ONGC has been headless since end-January this year, when R S Sharma retired on attaining superannuation at the age of 60 years.

Vasudeva was selected as ONGC by the Public Enterprises Selection Board in October last year. His appointment as the top boss was delayed due to complaints made against him -- some of them on forged letterheads of MPs.

Since January, A K Hazarika, director (onshore), had been the acting chairman.