Manoj Jain, currently the Director (Business Development) at GAIL (India) Ltd has been picked by the Public Enterprises Selection Board (PESB), the government’s head-hunter, to helm GAIL (India).

PESB selected Jain for the post of chairman and managing director of GAIL, a maharatna PSU, after an interview held in New Delhi on Friday from a short-list of eight candidates that included five from GAIL, according to sources.

PESB’s recommendation will have to be ratified by the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet (ACC) headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Dr. Ashutosh Karnatak, Director (Projects) has been holding the additional charge of CMD, GAIL from August 1 after the government denied an extension to B C Tripathi on completing his second five-year term on July 31 as CMD of the state-owned company.

GAIL is India's biggest natural gas marketing and trading firm, owning more than two-thirds of the country's 16,234-km pipeline network, giving it a monopoly over the market.

This had triggered complaints from users of natural gas on getting access to GAIL's 11,551-km pipeline network to transport their fuel.

The government has floated a plan to hive off GAIL’s pipeline business into a separate entity to resolve the conflict of interest arising from it's role as an infrastructure provider and carrier.

As per the plan, GAIL’s pipeline business will be transferred to a 100% subsidiary, which will be sold to a strategic investor at a later date.

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