Govt approves M K Surana as HPCL CMD

The government on Wednesday appointed M K Surana as the new Chairman and Managing Director of Hindustan Petroleum Corp Ltd (HPCL), the nation’s third largest oil marketing company. Surana, 54, is currently the CEO of Prize Petroleum Co Ltd, the upstream oil exploration arm of HPCL, and will replace Nishi Vasudeva on her retirement at the end of March.“The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet (ACC) has approved the proposal of the Ministry of Petroleum & Natural Gas for appointment of M K Surana... as Chairman & Managing Director (CMD), HPCL,” a Department of Personnel & Training (DoPT) order said. He has been appointed in the pay scale of Rs 80,000-1,25,000 for a period of five years from the date of his assumption of charge of the post on or after April 1, 2016 or till the date of his superannuation, or until further orders, whichever is the earliest.

Surana was selected for the top job at HPCL by government headhunter Public Enterprise Selection Board (PESB) in October last year after it interviewed a dozen candidates including HPCL Director (HR) P K Joshi and STC Chairman Khaleel Rahim. Four HPCL Executive Directors -- S P Gupta, G S Ganesh, S Jeyakrishnan and Ajit Singh -- were the other candidates interviewed.

Non-controversial and low-profile Surana was selected after PESB, in the first round of interviews on August 6, 2015, found none of the nine candidates appearing suitable for the job. Those appeared for the interview in August included Joshi.

Surana had not appeared for the interview then. Surana is Executive Director with HPCL since September 2012 who has been posted as Chief Executive Officer at Prize Petroleum.

A Mechanical Engineer, he is a refineries man and had served as the General Manager of Projects for Vishaka Refinery of HPCL. The ACC approved his candidature after getting go-ahead from anti-corruption watchdog CVC and CBI clearance.