ONGC to start new fiscal with restructured Board

Public sector, oil and gas mammoth, ONGC, is preparing itself to begin the new fiscal with a restructured Board.

Come March 1, ONGC will have a restructured board following the Government directive to merge the posts of Director (Offshore) and Director (Onshore) by creating a new position of Director (Production). It will also have a completely new post of Director (Strategy and Corporate Affairs). This will also require certain internal restructuring lower down the cadre, for which ONGC may consider appointing a consultant.

Explaining the rationale behind this Government directive, Pankaj Kumar, Director (Offshore), who is also holding additional charge of Director (Human Resources) for the company, said, “this could be for creating better synergy in the functioning of the company in keeping with the changing dynamics in the global energy space. Besides, a National Oil Company has its own priorities and commitments.”

The restructuring will not narrow down the strength of the Directors on the Board – six full-time directors besides the Chairman. Apart from the six directors, there is also a Government nominee. Besides them, the company also has six independent directors.

To streamline the functioning in keeping with the proposed changes, “the company may require some portfolio re-arrangements between Directors. For this purpose, we are considering appointing a consultant,” he told businessline.

ONGC is managed by its Board, which formulates strategies, policies and reviews its performance periodically.

On what will it mean for management of the subsidiaries, Kumar said, “if need be, a vertical to manage subsidiaries can be created.”

Kumar feels that “with these restructuring, the performance of the company will improve and clearly, there will be seperate units looking after operation and strategy, each setting their own checks and balances.”

The company has been making a lot of staffing changes and has also a structured approach to succession planning that works through a programme routing eligible employee nominations for senior management role.

ONGC has also been looking at a periodic review of its organisational structure to relook at all the activitives/positions (employee roles) in each of the business verticals and their present and future requirement, in consultation with business heads of each strategic unit.

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