Centre appoints energy titan Gurdeep Singh NTPC CMD

Government on Thursday appointed Gurdeep Singh, currently head of Gujarat State Electricity Corp, as the Chairman and Managing Director of NTPC Ltd, India’s biggest power producer. Singh, 51, will be the first person to be appointed to the top job at a Maharatna company through a search committee route. 

Government headhunters, Public Enterprise Selection Board (PESB) normally selects board appointees to state-owned firms but in case of NTPC a Search-cum-Selection Committee was constituted after Arup Roy Choudhury was denied an extension of service in August.

The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet (ACC) headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi has approved the appointment of Singh for a period of five years from the date of assumption of charge of the post, official sources said. Singh was selected after the Committee headed by PESB Chairman Ajit Seth interviewed eight shortlisted candidates out of a list of 24 who had applied for the job. When contacted, Singh said that he will wait for a formal communication from the Ministry of Power before assuming office. “I will have to consult them before joining.” Among those considered in reckoning for the job were Rural Electrification Corporation Chairman Rajiv Sharma. Others considered in reckoning were Praveer Sinha, the chief executive of Tata Power Delhi Distribution Company, Aman Singh, principal secretary to the Chief Minister of Chattishgarh, and NTPC’s finance director K Biswal.

Gurdeep Singh is a Mechanical Engineer and has over 26 years’ experience in Power Generation sector. He started his career with NTPC and has worked at various levels both in Indian and multinational corporations namely Powergen, CLP and AES and has worked in different areas of power sector ranging from business development, projects and operations.Prior to joining GSECL, Singh was the President – Power at Calcutta Electric Supply Corporation. The post of chairman and managing director at NTPC fell vacant after Choudhury completed his five year term on August 31 last year. He was appointed as head of India’s largest power producer by the UPA government in September 2010 for five years, which was extendable till he attains retirement age of 60 years. He was to achieve the retirement age in December 2016. 

After his exit, A K Jha, Director (Technical), NTPC was given additional charge of the post of CMD. Chowdhury was the second PSU head who was not allowed to continue till retirement after completing a five-year term. Earlier in June, the government had denied extension to C S Verma as head of Maharatna PSU Steel Authority of India Ltd (SAIL). 

Verma was appointed SAIL Chairman and Managing Director for a five-year term in June 2010 by the previous government, but was eligible for an extension till he attained the superannuation age of 60 years in September 2019.