New Delhi: The Public Enterprise Selection Board (PESB) has found none of the 12 candidates suitable for the role of chairman and managing director (CMD) of India’s largest power producer NTPC Ltd, and has asked the power ministry to look at options including a search-cum-selection committee.
Having interviewed the 12 candidates the headhunter for state-run companies met to select the next CMD on Wednesday.
“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,” said a notification from the PESB.
The candidates interviewed included three NTPC executives—Shivam Srivastava, director (fuel); Ravindra Kumar, director (operations); and Shaswattam, executive director at NTPC. Somes Bandyopadhyay, the managing director of Gujarat State Electricity Corp. Ltd on deputation from NTPC, was also interviewed.
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The other candidates were Bhupender Gupta, director (technical), THDC India Ltd; Kapil Kumar Gupta, director (finance), MMTC Ltd; Mukesh Choudhary, director (marketing), Coal India Ltd; Ajit Kumar Panda, director (project and services), Container Corp. of India Ltd; Thangarahan Subash Chandira Bosh, executive director and chief executive officer, REC Power Development & Consultancy Ltd; Rajil Srivastava, executive director, asset management, Power Grid Corp. of India Ltd; Sanoj Kumar Jha, additional secretary, Union ministry of coal; and Abhay Arun Harne, director (projects), Maharashtra State Power Generation Corp. Ltd.
The tenure of current NTPC CMD Gurdeep Singh ends on 31 July. With PESB unable to select the next CMD, it might be a long-drawn process. Executives from both public and private sector companies can apply for these posts.
As per the current norms, after shortlisting candidates from the applicants and interviewing them, PESB sends a recommended name to the appointments committee of the cabinet (ACC), which takes the final decision on the appointment. Usually, when the PESB doesn’t recommend any candidate the concerned ministry forms a search-and-selection committee which again invites applications.
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“The selection process needs to be improved as they ask five or six candidate from same PSU in terms of seniority with minimum of two years of remaining service and for an external candidate the requirement is about 3 years of remaining service. But by the time the appointment takes place, several months pass by and the tenure of the candidate gets shortened. Therefore, the seniority should not be looked at and CMDs and directors should be appointed for a minimum of five years. There is a need for a pool of qualified candidates and the government would have a ready list to accelerate the process of selection and appointment,” said A.K. Singh, former CMD of NHPC.
Gurdeep Singh, who was also selected through a search-and- selections committee in 2016, was given an extension of five years in 2020. His tenure witnessed the coal-based power generator’s pivot towards green energy.
With a target of 60GW renewable energy by 2032, its subsidiary NTPC Green Energy Ltd was listed on the stock exchanges in November last year. It has also undertaken the task of setting up India’s first green hydrogen hub in Andhra Pradesh with a projected investment of ₹1.8 trillion.
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Power plans
NTPC’s incoming CMD will have to play a major role in expanding the portfolio of NTPC Green and setting up the hub at Pudimadaka, Andhra Pradesh, while ensuring growth of thermal power capacity amid the government’s renewed push for coal to meet the surging power demand and maintain grid stability.
Another major task for the new NTPC CMD would be to consolidate the company’s position in the nuclear power space, where it has forayed. In May 2023, it signed a joint venture agreement with Nuclear Power Corp. of India Ltd for nuclear power plants. NTPC has major plans in the nuclear space through standalone projects, along with developing small modular reactors through global partnerships.
On a consolidated basis, NPTC’s total income in FY24 was ₹1.81 trillion, 2% higher than previous year’s total income of ₹1.77 trillion. Its market capitalization currently stands at ₹3.35 trillion.