Government Open to Hiring Coal India Chief from Private Sector: Power Minister

The government is open to hiring chairman and managing director of state-owned Coal India Ltd from the private sector, Coal and Power Minister Piyush Goyal said on Friday.

"I have also initiated a dialogue to see if we can attract talent going beyond the routine selection process, to attract talent from the private sector, of well meaning people of high integrity and proven management skills who are willing to sacrifice a few years may be for less pay," Goyal told reporters.

The post of chairman and managing director (CMD) has been lying vacant after after Narsing Rao resigned last month.

Meanwhile, Additional Secretary A K Dubey has been given the additional charge of CMD of the company on June 26 for a period of three months.

Goyal said "The process of appointment of CMD is driven by the selection board (public enterprises selection board). As soon as the PESB is able to finalise the selection, we would of course be appointing the CMD."

However, he emphasised that there is need to look for the larger talent pool available in the the private sector.

"The idea is only to bring about a more competitive spirit and larger pool of talent, to enable the selection process to be more vibrant and improve the efficiency of working of these people," Goyal said.

Amid fuel shortages, Coal India - which accounts for over 80 per cent of the domestic coal production - is drawing flak from across the quarter for missing the output target.

Last fiscal, the company produced 462 million tonnes (MT) coal as against the target of 482 MT.