HPCL appoints Joshi as its new chairman and managing director
Dr. Pushp Kumar Joshi has formally assumed the post of chairman and managing director of Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd (HPCL) effective May 8, 2022.
Prior to this appointment, Joshi was director for human resources (HR) of HPCL since August 1, 2012. Joshi has the additional responsibility of director of Marketing of HPCL.
Joshi, the senior-most director on the HPCL board, was picked by the Public Enterprises Selection Board (PESB) in January to replace Mukesh Kumar Surana. Surana retired on April 30, 2022. Joshi was named interim head in absence of a formal order from the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet (ACC) headed by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. PESB is responsible for the selection and placement of personnel in the posts of chairman, managing director or chairman-cum-managing director (Level-I), and Functional Director (Level-II) in public sector enterprises (PSEs).
With the ACC confirmation, Joshi has formally taken over as the chairman and managing director of HPCL.
During his career, Joshi held key portfolios in human resource functions including executive director, human resource development (HRD) and head, HR of the Marketing Division.
Joshi has a doctorate in Human Resource Management, Post-Graduate in Human Resource Management from Xavier School of Management (XLRI), the oldest business school in India located in Jamshedpur, Jharkhand, and a Bachelor of Law from Andhra University in Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh.
Joshi had been a member of the Board of Directors of HPCL since 2012. During his tenure on the board, HPCL became a Maharatna company, and achieved the landmark profit after tax of INR10,000 crore (USD1.3 billion) in Fiscal Year 2020-21. HPCL has an annual refining throughput of 16.42 million metric tons (MMT) and market sales equivalent to 36.63 MMT. It has 20,025 retail outlets, six lube blending plants, 31 lube depots, 274 lube distributors, 42 terminals, 1,011 electric vehicle charging stations, and 3,775 kilometres of pipeline network.
Maharatna status allows Indian state-run firms greater financial autonomy. They can decide on investments of up to 15% of their net worth in a project without government approval.
In addition, Mumbai Refinery Expansion Project, Joint Venture Bathinda Refinery Project & numerous infrastructure projects in marketing, which exponentially increased the refining and marketing capacities of HPCL, were implemented. HPCL is also in the process of executing the Visakh Refinery Upgradation Project, Green Field Refinery cum Petrochemical complex at Barmer, Rajasthan, etc.
As director of HR, Joshi has been responsible for overseeing the design and deployment of key human resource policies and strategies while leading human resources practices that are employee-oriented and aimed at building a high performance culture.
