D Rajkumar named BPCL CMD; Utpal Bora is new Oil India chief

TWO major oil PSUs on July 11 got their new CMDs. Technocrats D Rajkumar and Utpal Bora were appointed as Chairman and Managing Director (CMD) of Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd (BPCL) and Oil India Ltd, respectively.
Rajkumar is, currently working as Managing Director of Bharat Petro Resources Ltd, a unit of BPCL focused on exploration and production. Bora is Executive Director in Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) Limited.
The two have been appointed to the posts...
for five-year term, an order issued by the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) said.
Rajkumar will take over the charge on or after October 1, 2016 after retirement of BPCL’s current chief S Varadarajan in September. BPCL is a state refiner and retailer.
Senior IAS officers Anil Kumar Jain and Ravi Kapoor were among the 10 contenders for the top job at Oil India Ltd, the country’s second biggest state-owned oil and gas explorer.
Bora was selected on the recommendation of a three-member search-cum-selection Committee, headed by Cabinet Secretary P K Sinha.
Borah, who is now functioning as the Executive Director of the ONGC, said that expanding exploration activities would be the key for OIL, while efforts would be made to use modern technology to increase production. Strict monitoring can also increase the overall efficiency of any organization, he pointed out.
Borah has more than 33 years of experience in the oil sector as he had joined ONGC in 1982. He has knowledge of the oil industry in Assam as he had worked in Sivasagar and Nazira as an ONGC officer.
Bora told a Guwahati-based English daily that increasing the production of crude oil will be the main goal of the Oil India Limited (OIL) in the days to come as the country is depending mostly on imports to meet its demands.
OIL has been running functioning without a full-time CMD since July 1 last year.
Rupshikha Saikia Borah, who is director (finance) in Oil India, was also interviewed thrice by PESB for the post. The first round of interviews took place in November with six applicants, including Borah. But the PESB decided to see more candidates. The second interview round took place in February, after which Borah's name was recommended.
The government did not accept that recommendation, but did not give a reason. Subsequently, the Centre took the search committee route. Senior IAS officers Anil Kumar Jain and Ravi Kapoor were among the 10 contenders for the top job.
Rajkumar has been the Managing Director of Bharat PetroResources Limited since May 1, 2009. He had earlier served as the General Manager of Exploration & Production at Bharat Petroleum Corp. Ltd. Rajkumar also served as General Manager of Cochin - Coimbatore - Karur Pipeline at Bharat Petroleum Corp. Ltd. He served as the Managing Director and Director Petronet CCK Ltd. from April 1, 2005 to April 26, 2005. He holds B. Tech (Elect) and PGDM from IIM.