R S Sharma joins Lloyd's Register as chairman of South West Asia

Former ONGC Chairman R S Sharma has joined Lloyd's Register as chairman of the firm’s South West Asian operations, said a company statement. The firm provides independent assurance to companies operating high-risk, capital-intensive assets in the energy and transportation sectors.

Sharma, whose appointment was effective from November 1, has joined Lloyd’s Register at a time when it is committed to double both its revenue and work force in India by 2015.

“We are committed to growing our business in India -- organically and inorganically – to expand the independent technical support we can offer to the owners and operators of the critical assets that Indian society depends on. I feel a great sense of support having the experience of Sharma to guide us in achieving our ambitious plans for South West Asia,” said Richard Sadler, CEO of Lloyd’s Register.

Sharma said that Lloyd’s is a reputed name in the energy space and he is looking forward to the new assignment. “It has a highly value-based work culture and the organisation allocates a portion of its annual earnings surplus to the promotion of education, training, professional development and socially responsible activities”, he said.

During his 56-month tenure as CMD of ONGC, Sharma greatly improved the multinational’s operating performance while being instrumental in getting the company relief from the royalty burden in Rajasthan’s Barmer block during Cairn-Vedanta deal.

The energy division has been the primary focus of its recent acquisition activities; in the past four years Lloyd’s Register has spent £170 million acquiring offshore-drilling and risk-management specialists such as ModuSpec, Scandpower, WEST Engineering Services and India’s Reltech Consulting. Lloyd’s Register was established in 1760 and has been operating in India since 1874.