Narender Kothari most likely to become NMDC's next chief

The panel has also recommended Bharat Coking Coal's CMD Tapas Kumar Lahiri as the second choice for the top job in NMDC

SAIL's Burnpur plant CEO Narender Kothari is most likely to become NMDC's new Chairman and Managing Director as a high-level committee today recommended his name as the first choice to head the nation's biggest iron ore miner.

The panel, headed by Planning Commission Member Arun Maira, has also recommended Bharat Coking Coal's CMD Tapas Kumar Lahiri as the second choice for the top job in NMDC which is lying vacant for over a year now, sources said.

Heads of five state-owned firms, one additional secretary and six director level officials were among the 15 candidates interviewed by the panel.

The committee would recommend its choice to the Ministry which would subsequently forward it to the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet (ACC) for the final decision.

Sources said the Steel Ministry is unlikely to alter the recommendations of the panel and Kotahri is likely to take charge of state-owned miner soon.

Applicants included Security Printing and Minting Corporation of India CMD M S Rana, MSTC CMD S K Tripathi, Braithwaite & Co CMD S K Rishi and Engineering Projects (India) CMD S P S Bakshi.

In July 2011, Rana was recommended by the Public Enterprises Selection Board (PESB) for heading the iron ore producer following superannuation of the then incumbent Rana Som on December 31, 2011.

But the Steel Ministry was not happy with the PESB's recommendations and instead gave company's Technical Director, N K Nanda, the additional charge of CMD.

After some issues cropped up, SAIL Chairman C S Verma was given the additional charge of NMDC.

The Steel Ministry had appointed the five-member search panel, which include Steel Secretary D R S Chaudhary and Personnel Secretary P K Mishra, in January this year for selecting the right candidate to head NMDC.

Nanda was also in the fray along with NMDC Directors Subimal Bose, Rabindra Singh and S Thiagrajan. Its Company Secretary and Executive Director K Raghavan and Executive Director for Business Development Atul Bhat also figured in the list.

Rajiv Sharma, Additional Secretary, Ministry of Home Affairs, had also applied for the job. Software Technology Parks of India's Director General Omkar Rai and Bird Group of Companies' Managing Director Satish Chandra were also interviewd by the selection panel.