Sandeep K Gupta picked to be next chairman of GAIL

Sandeep Kumar Gupta, Director for Finance at Indian Oil Corporation, has been picked to head India's largest gas utility GAIL (India) Ltd, the government headhunter said.

The Public Enterprises Selection Board (PESB) selected Gupta, 56, for the post of chairman and managing director of GAIL after interviewing 10 candidates, it said in a post-interview notice.

He will replace Manoj Jain, who is scheduled to retire on August 31.

The PESB recommendation will be vetted by the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet (ACC) headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, after the go-ahead of anti-corruption bodies such as the CVC and CBI.

A commerce graduate and Chartered Accountant by education, Gupta has more than 31 years of working experience at Indian Oil Corporation (IOC), the nation's largest oil refining and fuel marketing company.

He has been Director (Finance) of IOC since August 3, 2019.

With an experience of handling almost the entire gamut of finance and accounts activities, his tenure as Director (Finance) witnessed two extreme volatile global oil price cycles and deregulation of petrol and diesel prices in India.

At IOC, his responsibilities also included financial planning and analysis, corporate finance and treasury, international trade and pricing. He is also on the board of IOC Middle East FZE, Dubai and Indian Oil Petronas Pvt Ltd.

If approved by ACC, Gupta will have a term till February 2026.

GAIL is India's largest gas transmission and gas marketing company, with a 14,502-kilometre gas pipeline network and a capacity of 206 million standard cubic meters a day. Its natural gas pipeline network covers 21 states.

It holds around 70 percent share of the gas-transmission network and more than 50 percent share of natural gas sales in India.

PESB said it interviewed GAIL Directors Rakesh Kumar Jain and Deepak Gupta, as well as four other executive directors of the company on June 28.

Manoj Kumar Dubey, Director (Finance), Container Corporation of India Ltd (Concor) and Airports Authority of India (AAI) executive director Suneel Dutt were others interviewed.