Govt Raises ONGC Chairman Entry Age To 59, Offers Up To Five-year Tenure

New Delhi: The government has relaxed eligibility conditions to appoint the next chairman of the state-owned Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC), expanding the pool of eligible candidates to head India’s largest oil and gas producer by increasing the maximum entry age to 59 and offering the successful candidate a fixed term of three years, extendable by up to two years.

The government’s headhunter Public Enterprises Selection Board (PESB) has invited applications for the key position at the state-owned oil and gas company, which will remain vacant when incumbent Arun Kumar Singh completes his extended term on December 7. However, the selection for the post is likely to be made by an exploration-selection committee constituted by the petroleum ministry instead of the normal PESB selection process.

According to the ONGC notification, candidates must not have completed the age of 59 on December 7, 2026, the date on which the vacancy occurred. The selected candidate will be appointed for an initial three-year term and the term may be extended for a further two years following a performance review. “Any employment or extension of tenure beyond the age of 60 will be contractual,” the ad said.

The revised age limit marks a departure from the norms followed for most board-level appointments in Central Public Sector Enterprises (CPSEs). Although final appointments are largely governed by remaining service criteria rather than fixed age limits, the advertisement sets the maximum entry age at 59, allowing both internal and external candidates who would otherwise not be considered.

Tenure conditions also differ from the common practice of appointing PSU chiefs up to retirement age, which is usually 60 years. Under the revised framework, a president can contractually continue in office beyond that age. The government had made a similar relaxation when appointing Singh to office in 2022.

A search-selection committee formed by the oil ministry selected him in August of the same year, just two months before he turned 60, making him the first executive of that era to be appointed chairman of a top-notch state company. Singh, who retired as chairman and managing director of Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd in October 2022, took charge of ONGC on December 6, 2022, after the government relaxed the eligibility criteria.