Govt headhunter finds none suitable for NTPC top job

New Delhi: The government headhunter on Wednesday found none of the dozen candidates suitable for the role of chairman and managing director of India's biggest power producer NTPC, as its string of struggle in finding the right candidates for top job at PSUs continued.

The Public Enterprise Selection Board (PESB) interviewed a dozen candidates -- half of them directors on board of NTPC and other state-owned firms -- but found none suitable to be appointed chairman and managing director when the incumbent Gurdeep Singh superannuates on July 31.

"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 notice posted on its website.

NTPC is the latest bluechip public sector firm where the government headhunter struggled to find the right candidate. Since 2021, PESB has failed to find a suitable candidate for at least four other PSUs -- Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC), Indian Oil Corporation (IOC), Hindustan Petroleum Corporation (HPCL), and Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd (BPCL).

Search-cum-selection committee route was taken wherever PESB failed to find suitable candidates.

Incidentally, Singh, too, was chosen to head NTPC by a search-cum-selection committee in 2016.

PESB is a statutory body under the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT), responsible for selecting candidates for top management posts like chairman and managing directors and directors in Central Public Sector Enterprises. It makes recommendations based on interviews of candidates shortlisted after application based on merit, seniority, and experience.

Its selection process is often considered rigid from a limited pool of candidates.

Search-cum-selection committee offers relatively more flexibility in selection as it can consider candidates from outside the PSU ecosystem, and not necessarily be restricted to considering just the candidates who have applied for the job.

According to the PESB notice, those interviewed for the top job at NTPC included two directors of the company -- Shivam Srivastava, Director (Fuel) and Ravindra Kumar, Director (Operations).

Bhupendra Kumar, Director (Operations) at THDC India Ltd -- the firm that runs the Tehri hydro power complex and other hydro projects -- Coal India Ltd Director (Marketing) Mukesh Choudhary, MMTC Director (Finance) Kapil Kumar Gupta, Container Corporation of India Ltd Director (Project & Services) Ajit Kumar Panda and Gujarat State Electricity Corporation Limited (GSECL) Managing Director Somes Bandyopadhyar were prominent among others who appeared before PESB.

Sanoj Kumar Jha, Additional Secretary in the Ministry of Coal also appeared for the interview, according to the PESB notice.

Prior to this, PESB on February 1 interviewed a dozen candidates, including BPCL Director (Finance) Vetsa Ramakrishna Gupta and its Director (Refineries) S Khanna but found none suitable for the job of chairman and managing director of Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd (BPCL).

That interview was to find a replacement for G Krishnakumar, who superannuated as chairman and managing director of BPCL on April 30. His replacement is yet to be named and the charge has temporarily been given to the senior post director.

PESB in May 2023 did not make any recommendation for the top post at Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) and the task was then entrusted to a search cum selection committee. That panel picked Arvindar Singh Sahney who was appointed chairman of IOC in November 2024.

In June last year, PESB interviewed eight candidates, including a director on HPCL board and managing director of Indraprastha Gas Ltd, for the post of chairman and managing director at HPCL but rejected them all. A search-cum-selection committee chose Vikar Kaushal, who worked at A T Kearney for that position.

In June 2021, PESB reached a similar conclusion while looking for a candidate for the top job at ONGC. A year later, a search-cum-selection committee picked Arun Kumar Singh, the former chairman and managing director of BPCL, for that job.