NEW DELHI: The Centre on Friday appointed Vikas Kaushal, former India head of management consultancy firm Kearney, as chairman of state-run Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd (HPCL).
Kaushal becomes the first person from the private sector to be appointed as the head of a state-run oil company, indicating govt’s attempt to bring in outside talent through lateral entry at a time when the energy world is witnessing a paradigm shift.
A chemical engineering graduate from Panjab University and MBA from IIM-Ahmedabad, Kaushal will succeed Push Kumar Joshi, who superannuated on Aug 31 last year. Kaushal has exposure to the working of global and domestic oil industry as Kearney’s global leader for energy and process industries. He is the only Indian to have been elected to Kearney’s global board for two terms, the maximum limit.
PESB, the govt headhunter, had in June last year rejected all the eight candidates interviewed for the HPCL top post, leaving it to the govt to decide on a suitable course of action to fill the vacancy.