Alka Mittal takes additional charge as CMD at ONGC

Alka Mittal, director-HR at ONGC has been given an additional charge at the PSU as its chairman & managing director (CMD). The PSU announced the development on January 03, 2022. Mittal is the first ever woman to become the CMD at ONGC. She was also the first woman to become a whole time director at the ONGC board in 2018.

Prior to this, Subhash Kumar, former director (finance) took additional charge as the Company’s CMD. ONGC has not had a full-time managing director since Shashi Shanker, who retired on March 31, 2021. After Shanker, it is reported that the PSU interviewed 10 candidates including two IAS officers for the post, but the board did not recommend anybody for the post.

Since then, Kumar has had the additional charge and now, with Kumar superannuating on December 31 the additional responsibility was entrusted upon Mittal. As of now, she is an interim CMD for six months or till the time a full-time managing director is not designated, whichever is earlier.

For the time being, Anurag Sharma, director (offshore), ONGC has been given additional charge of director (finance), as ordered by the Ministry of Petroleum & Gas.

Mittal, who became the director-HR at ONGC in 2018 was was the most experienced one amongst the existing board members. Generally, in PSUs, the appointment of a director is announced much before the retirement of an outgoing director. However, in this case, it did not happen because of which, the CMD position at ONGC was vacant for 48 hours.

Mittal joined ONGC as a graduate trainee in 1985 and has held HR and ER positions at various locations, such as Vadodara, Mumbai, Delhi and Jorhat in her more than three-decade long career in the Company. Prior to becoming the director – HR, Mittal held the position of chief – skill development. She streamlined the activities and brought in uniformity in the working of the Skill Development Centres of ONGC. During this period, she also implemented the National Apprenticeship Promotion Scheme (NAPS) at ONGC, engaging more than 5000 apprentices across all work centres.

Additionally, she also held the position of head of CSR and corporate communication at ONGC.

She has a passion for training and mentoring and has trained over 11,000 graduate trainees (GTs) in her career. Mittal is a post-graduate in economics, MBA in HRM and doctorate in commerce and business studies.