IOC top brass rejig: Shrikant Madhav Vaidya becomes new chairman

Shrikant Madhav Vaidya will be the new Chairman of the country's biggest oil firm, Indian Oil Corp (IOC).

Vaidya, who currently is Director (Refineries) at IOC, was selected for the top post by government headhunter Public Enterprise Selection Board (PESB) on Thursday, sources with direct knowledge of the development said.

He was selected after PESB interviewed five candidates, including four directors on IOC board - Director Finance Sandeep Kumar Gupta, Director HR Ranjan Kumar Mohapatra and Director R&D SSV Ramakumar. Besides these and Vaidya, the fifth candidate interviewed was Rahul Bhardwaj, an executive director with the company.

Vaidya, 56, joined the IOC Board in October and will replace Sanjiv Singh who retires as Chairman of the company at the end of June next year.

Sources said Vaidya will be first screened by anti-corruption bodies CVC and CBI before his candidature is put before the Cabinet Committee on Appointments headed by Prime Minister for approval.

He will have a tenure of just over three years ending in August 2023 when he attains the superannuation age of 60 years.

A Chemical Engineer from the National Institute of Technology, Rourkela, Vaidya has over three decades of extensive experience in all the facets of refinery and petrochemical operations, which includes the commissioning of the largest cracker plant in India viz Panipat Naphtha Cracker Complex, his profile on the company website said.

Prior to his elevation as Director (Refineries), he headed the Operations Department at the Refineries Division.

He is also a Director on the Board of Chennai Petroleum Corporation Ltd, a subsidiary of IOC and Ratnagiri Refinery & Petrochemicals Ltd - the firm that is looking at setting up a 60 million tonnes refinery on Maharashtra coast.

IOC, including its group companies, is the country's top refiner with a group refining capacity of 80.7 million tonnes per annum or 161.4 million barrels per day.