Navratna boards' restructuring likely to be completed this month
Madhumita Chakraborty & Anupma Airy
NEW DELHI, January 9: The restructuring of the "Navratna" boards is likely to be completed within the coming few weeks, lending new wings to the mega corporations among the PSUs (public sector undertakings) to fly with, in the coming fiscal.The names of the professionals and experts, who will adorn the National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC) board have already been approved by the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet (ACC) and a formal announcement is likely in a few days. The names that have found favour with the Union ministry of power, the prime minister's office and the home ministry include those of Pradeep Khandelwal, director at the Indian Institute of Management at Ahmedabad and S J Coelho, former chairman of the Gujarat Electricity Board. Administrative Staff College (Hyderabad) principal T L Shanker and Housing Development and Financial Corporation chairman Deepak Parikh are also expected to join the NTPC board. The five hydrocarbon sector PSUs, who crowd the ranks of the jewels in the
nation's crown (navratnas,) are awaiting a nod from the Cabinet secretariat. The Union ministry of fertilisers and chemicals is believed to have taken its pick of the panel referred to it by the "search committee" and is expected to communicate its preferences for the Indian Petrochemicals Corporation Limited (IPCL) board to the Department of Public Enterprises (DPE) soon. The DPE will then forward the names to the Cabinet secretariat.The "navratnas" that may have to wait just a wee bit longer for their empowerment are the Steel Authority of India Limited (SAIL), the Videsh Sanchar Nigam Limited (VSNL) and the Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Limited (MTNL). The telecommunications ministry's short-list of the panel of professionals, financial experts and academics referred to it by the search committee, were among the last to be forwarded to the Cabinet secretariat. The MTNL (along with the Gas Authority of India Limited) was acknowledged as a "navratna" on October 14, last year, when the names of non-functionaldirectors for most other "navratnas" had already been screened. Names of non-functional directors chosen for the Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC), Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited (BPCL), Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited (HPCL) and Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) had been forwarded to the Cabinet Secretariat as far back as September last year. Names of the MTNL directors were forwarded to the Cabinet Secretariat last month. The empowerment of SAIL as a "navratna," may get a setback, since the drill of picking directors had to be repeated. The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet (ACC) only gave its blessings for one name on the panel of four that the steel ministry had picked for SAIL. Economist Atul Sharma is, so far, the only value addition to SAIL's 14-member board, comprising a government nominee, a labour representative, seven functional directors and managing directors of four plants. The "search committee" has sent back the original panel of roughly eight names it had short-listed
for SAIL to the steel ministry, after the ACC suggested that it suggest some more names. Sources that prefer anonymity, said Union steel and mines minister Birendra Prasad Baishya was more inclined to allow the new government after the polls, to select the resurrected SAIL board. Since the ACC comprises the Prime Minister, the Union home minister and the minister of the administrative ministry, the three other names for the SAIL board obviously got crossed out somewhere at the Prime Minister's Office. Highly-placed sources in DPE said they knew nothing about the change of heart of the steel ministry and were still awaiting the new list of names for SAIL. Department of Public Enterprises secretary P G Mankad, moreover, scotched speculations that the "navratna" board selection drill had lost momentum with the dissolution o the Parliament. The rather long spell of silence that followed the announcement of the non-functional directors for the Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited (BHEL) led to speculations that the
other gems may have to wait for their empowerment as "navratnas" after the elections. The autonomy granted to blue chips among the PSUs in investment, forming alliances and joint ventures, only becomes effective once their boards are restructured. The restructuring of the boards awaits the induction of the four non-functional directors, who are being screened by the search committee, selected by the administrative ministries and vetted by the ACC. The search committee showed a preference for academies like Indian Institute of Management (Ahmedabad) director Pradeep Khandelwala, experts in finance like Tarjani Vakil or management like Mritunjaye Arthreya. The idea was to add value to the "navratna" boards at a time when the government was "distancing itself from decision-making."
Copyright © 1998 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.
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