'IOC ex-chairman joining RIL was his personal decision'

PUNE:

Indian Oil Corporations

(IOC's)

chairman Shrikant Vaidya

said on Monday that the oil behemoth's ex-chairman, Sanjiv Singh, joining

competitor Reliance Industries Limited

(RIL) is his personal decision and that does not derail any of IOC's plan.


"It is his personal decision. It is part of the game. I don't have any comments on that," Vaidya said.

He added that IOC's plans are firmly in place and Singh joining RIL does not impact IOC's business in anyway.

RIL appointed former IOC chairman as group president and member of the oil-to-chemicals business leadership team.

When Singh joined RIL in August 2020, after superannuating in June 2020, it raised quite a few eye-brows in the industry and markets. Singh is the second head of a public sector oil, fuel and gas firm allowed by the federal government to maneuver to a non-public competitor earlier than the necessary one-year cooling-off interval. In 2001, C R Prasad had moved to British Gas after retiring as CMD of state-run gas utility GAIL.

Vaidya also said that the fall in IOC's fortune 500 rankings is in consonance with its falling revenues and the overall situation in the industry. In the latest rankings, the country's largest oil refiner slipped 34 places to 151 in the Fortune 500 rankings.