The Public Enterprise Selection Board (PESB) has found none of the twelve candidates interviewed for the post of Chairman and Managing Director of the state-owned power company NTPC Ltd suitable,even as Gurdeep Singh is set to superannuate on July 31. The Board has further asked the ministry of power to seek other actions for selection of a candidate including search-cum-selection committee (SCSC).
“The Board did not recommend any candidate for the post and advised the Administrative Ministry/Department to choose an appropriate course of further action for selection including the search-cum-selection committee (SCSC) or as deemed appropriate with the approval of the competent authority,” PESB said in a notification.
The candidates interviewed at NTPC Ltd included Shivam Srivastava, Director (Fuel), Ravindra Kumar, Director (Operations), and Shaswattam, Executive Director. The Board also interviewed Somes Bandyopadhyay, Managing Director, Gujarat State Electricity Corporation Limited, on deputation from NTPC.
Kapil Kumar Gupta, Director (Finance), MMTC Limited, Mukesh Choudhary, Director(Marketing), Coal India Limited, Ajit Kumar Panda, Director (Project & Services), Container Corporation Of India Limited, Thangarajan Subash Chandira Bosh, Executive Director, Chief Executive Officer, Rec Power Development & Consultancy Limited, Rajil Srivastava, Executive Director Asset Management, Power Grid Corporation Of India Limited, Sanoj Kumar Jha, Additional Secretary, Ministry of Coal, and Abhay Arun Harne, Director, Maharashtra State Power Generation Corp. Ltd were among the other candidates interviewed.
This is not the first time PESB has failed to find a suitable candidate for a PSU. Earlier, the Board had also struggled to find a suitable leadership for various other PSUs including Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC), Indian Oil Corporation (IOC), Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd (HPCL), and Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd (BPCL). The CMDs of ONGC, HPCL, and IOCL were then selected through a search-cum-selection committee.
The post of CMD, BPCL remains vacant after the retirement of G Krishnakumar on April 30, as the PESB failed to find a suitable candidate in the interview conducted earlier in February.
According to the procedure, the PESB, after interviewing and shortlisting candidates, sends a recommendation to the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet (ACC) which then takes the final call on the appointment. In case when the PESB fails to find a candidate, such as this, the concerned administrative authority of the PSU forms a search-and-selection committee and invites applications, both from the private and the public sector. The present CMD of NTPC Ltd, Gurdeep Singh was also appointed through such a committee in 2016 and was given an extension of five years in 2020.
PESB is a statutory body under the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) which is responsible for recommending candidates for top management roles in central PSUs. It also advises the government on matters relating to appointments, confirmation or extension of tenure and termination of services of the personnel in the top management roles.
NTPC Ltd has over the years forayed into renewable energy sources including wind, solar, hydro, nuclear energy, and chemicals like ethanol and methanol, diversifying from conventional sources. Going ahead, the company will be more aggressive in increasing its renewable energy capacity and nuclear energy along with energy storage solutions.
The company had raised a total of Rs 10,000 crore during the initial public offering of its subsidiary NTPC Green Energy during the last fiscal subsequent to which its equity shares were listed on the National Stock Exchange (NSE) and the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) on November 27, 2024.