The government is likely to appoint former RBI Deputy Governor Usha Thorat and former Finance Secretary Arun Ramanathan to the board of Oil and Natural Gas Corp (ONGC) so as to pave the way for the share of the state-owned firm by July.
The Oil Ministry has short-listed Thorat, Ramanathan and Deepak Nayyar, ex-vice chancellor of Delhi University, for appointment as independent directors on the board of ONGC, which currently does not meet market regulator Sebi's listing requirement.
"The three names will sent to a Search Committee, which will screen the names before they are sent to the Cabinet Committee on Appointments for approval," an official with direct knowledge of the development said.
"The whole process may take at least a month," he said, adding ONGC will file papers for the follow-on public offer once its meets the Sebi requirement of having an equal number of executive and non-executive or independent directors on its board.
The government plans to sell 5%, or 427.77 million equity shares, through the FPO to raise up to Rs 12,000 crore. The FPO was to hit the market in March, but was deferred.
