Petronet CEO Akshay Kumar Singh gets extension of 15-month

New Delhi: Akshay Kumar Singh has received a 15-month extension till May 2027 as the managing director and chief executive officer of the country’s biggest gas importer, Petronet LNG Ltd, according to a regulatory filing.

Singh, 64, who took over as Petronet CEO on February 1, 2020, for an initial five-year term, will now superannuate on May 12, 2027.

While the superannuation age in public sector companies is 60 years, Petronet, though headed by the government’s top bureaucrat in the Union Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas, is registered as a private limited company.

Petronet is not under any government watchdog like CAG or CVC and is beyond the purview of RTI.

Its board executives enjoy higher remuneration than PSUs and also retire at the age of 65 years.

Appointments to the board are made by a search-cum-selection committee of the board. It is made up of representatives of lead shareholders in the company, an independent director and an outside expert.

State-owned Indian Oil Corporation (IOC), GAIL (India) Ltd, Oil and Natural Gas Corp (ONGC) and Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd (BPCL) hold 12.5 per cent stake each in the company. The heads of the four blue-chip oil firms, who sit on the board of Petronet, superannuate at the age of 60 years.

According to Petronet’s latest annual report, Singh is 64 years old, and the extension means he would retire at the age of 66 years.

“The Board of Directors of the company, in its Meeting held on November 7, have accorded their approval for extension of tenure of Akshay Kumar Singh as Managing Director & CEO and whole time Key Managerial Personnel (KMP) of the company from February 1, 2026, to May 12, 2027, inter-alia, on the existing terms and conditions,” Petronet said in the filing.