GAIL begins search for new BD and HR directors

Vol 23, PW 11 (09 Apr 20) People & Policy

Two critical director positions at GAIL will see an enthusiastic response from company insiders, predict GAIL sources.

On March 3, the PESB advertised the job of director human resources (HR) to replace PK Gupta who retires on March 31 (2021). And on March 4, the next day, the PESB invited applications for director business development (BD) to replace Manoj Jain who took over on February 14 as chairman.

Applications for the director HR position must be sent in by May 12 (2020) while CVs for the director BD position must be in by April 27 (2020). At present, no clear frontrunners are apparent.

But GAIL sources say all company candidates interviewed earlier, on March 5, for the director marketing position are eligible for the director BD job. Among the GAIL candidates interviewed but not recommended for director marketing were executive directors MVR Someswarudu, Raman Chadha, Sanjay Kumar and Kamal Tandon.

Also expected to apply for both positions are executive directors Mahesh Iyer (projects), AK Jana (CEO, GAIL Gas), Prasoon Kumar (HR), Shantanu Roy (BD) and Rajeev Singhal (marketing). GAIL also has several chief general managers expecting a promotion to executive director rank on April 1.

They can apply for both positions but will stand little chance against executive directors with more experience. One person widely tipped because of his breadth of expertise is MVR Someswarudu who oversees the PATA petrochemical complex in Uttar Pradesh.

Also described as competent are Roy, Iyer, Jana, Chadha and Singhal. Newly-appointed chairman Jain will have a say in choosing his new Board colleagues but is yet to indicate any preference, says a GAIL source. “A lot of lobbying has already begun for director BD,” we hear. “Jain’s choice will only be known after the deadline has passed.” GAIL’s director BD looks after the PATA petrochemical complex and the crucial task of international LNG sourcing. By comparison, director HR manages the company’s workforce of 4530 employees: 3632 executives and 898 non-executives. Whoever wins will have as his primary task managing the HR transition when GAIL is split into gas marketing and transmission arms by the government, which holds a 52.19% stake in the company. Widely tipped is ED Prasoon Kumar as the favourite for the director HR job. “He was shifted (laterally) from O&M (operations and maintenance) to HR for this,” says a source, “as part of (GAIL’s) succession planning.”

GAIL begins search for new BD and HR directors

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