Executive Director (Retail Sales) at Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) B Ashok was on Wednesday selected to be new Chairman of the Maharatna company.
Public Enterprises Selection Board (PESB) selected Ashok after interviewing six candidates and he will take over the reins of the country's largest oil and gas retailer after the present Chairman R S Butola superannuates on May 31 next year.
Ashok, 56, who has wide experience in marketing and international operations at IOC, will have a three-year tenure as Chairman.
His name will now go to the Petroleum Ministry, which after getting the mandatory clearances from the Central Vigilance Commission will forward it to the Cabinet Committee on Appointments (CCA) for final ratification.
Interestingly GAIl Chairman and Managing Director B C Tripathi, who was among 11 candidates short listed for interviews for the top job at IOC, did not appear before the PESB.
Tripathi had also dropped out last month from the interview for the post of Chairman and Managing Director of Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) at the last moment.
Sources said IOC's seven directors were ineligible for the post because none of them has the requisite two years of remaining service.
The current IOC board comprising of the Chairman and seven functional directors will retire between May 2014 and October 2015. Of the six IOC executive directors who applied for the top job, only four appeared for interviews.
Besides Ashok, Sanjiv Singh, ED of Panipat refinery; B D Yadav, ED, Northern Region Pipelines, Panipat, and B S Canth, ED marketing division at Andhra Pradesh state office, appeared for the interviews.
Project & Development India ltd (PDIl) Chairman M Ravi Kant and Security Printing and Minting Corp of India ltd (SPMCIl) Chairman M S Rana also appeared for the interviews, according to the PESB website. IOC is the world's 88th largest corporation, according to the Fortune Global 500 list, and the largest public corporation in India by revenue.