IOC chairman interviews on December 12

Six candidates are expected to be called for interviews on December 12 to select a replacement for IndianOil chairman Sanjiv Singh when he retires on June 30, 2020.

They are SSV Ramkumar, director Research and Development (R&D); Ranjan Mohapatra, director Human Resources (HR); Sandeep Gupta, director finance; SM Vaidya, director refineries; UP Singh, executive director HR; and Rahul Bhardwaj, head of IndianOil's office in Telengana. Ramkumar has spent the most years at IOC and is also a director explaining why he heads the list.

But industry sources say his experience is limited to R&D unlike Mohapatra. "Mohapatra is director HR since February 19, 2018 and was previously head of IOC's business in Mauritius and later of the West Bengal office," says a colleague.

Mohapatra, a mechanical engineer by training, has the most varied experience, especially marketing. He is also from Orissa like oil minister Dharmendra Pradhan, which can't do him any harm.

Director (finance) Gupta took charge in August 2019 while director (refineries) Vaidya took charge in October 2019 and both are seen as junior to Mohapatra who retires on December 31, 2023.