(PTI)
A government search-cum-selection committee on Thursday chose Alok Kumar Gupta to head ONGC Videsh Ltd, India’s flagship firm for acquisition of oil and gas assets abroad. The panel selected Gupta, who is currently Director Operations at OVL, after interviewing more than a dozen candidates, sources with direct knowledge of the development said.
The post of Managing Director of OVL had been lying vacant since Narendra K Verma retired on January 31, 2019. In the absence of any full-time head, OVL did not make a single acquisition in the last one-and-a-half-years, records on the company website showed. The search-cum-selection committee comprised Oil Secretary Tarun Kapoor, former Indian Oil Corp (IOC) Chairman M A Pathan, and Public Enterprise Selection Board (PESB) Chairman Rajiv Kumar. Among those interviewed by the panel included OVL Director (Finance) Vivekanand and IFS officer Anurag Bhushan, presently India’s high commissioner to Malawi. A few IAS officers too had applied and appeared for the interview.
