In mid-March, Vikas Kaushal assumed charge as chairman and managing director of Hindustan Petroleum Corporation (HPCL). Interestingly, Mr Kaushal’s appointment is a rather rare break from convention. This is for the first time that a private-sector executive – Mr Kaushal was until recently associated with global management consultancy Kearney – has been chosen to lead a public sector undertaking (PSU) in India’s oil and gas industry.

Mr Kaushal heading State-owned HPCL may be something quite new. Yet, Mr Kaushal himself is not new to the Mumbai-headquartered oil refining and marketing company. The new HPCL chairman has closely worked as a top-notch consultant with many of Indian public and private energy companies, including HPCL, for the past many decades.

A chemical engineering graduate from Panjab University with an MBA from IIM Ahmedabad, Mr Kaushal began his career at ICICI, where he worked in the project finance and advisory services division. Since 2000, he had been associated with Kearney, where he served as a partner for over 17 years. Mr Kaushal has held key leadership positions throughout his career. He was twice elected to Kearney’s global board of directors and had also served as managing director and country head for Kearney India for five years.

A veteran in the energy sector, Mr Kaushal has had an extensive global exposure in oil, gas, power and renewable energy for over three decades. He has played a crucial role in shaping the Indian oil and gas sector as an adviser to leading State-run oil companies, including Indian Oil Corporation (IOCL), HPCL, Bharat Petroleum (BPCL) and GAIL.

At IOCL, Mr Kaushal had led a five-year digital transformation programme, making the company a consistent award winner for the best digital oil company. He had spearheaded multiple strategic projects in petrochemicals, gas and related domains. He had also led a refinery maintenance transformation programme and spearheaded IOCL’s Dhruva retail transformation and cost transformation of its lubes business.

HPCL had in the past benefited from Mr Kaushal’s expertise as a top energy consultant. He had established the centralised procurement office, implemented energy-saving measures and had led many diversification strategies in the petrochemical sector. BPCL’s net-zero emission planning and a strategy to develop petrochemicals were also largely executed by Mr Kaushal’s expertise. In the power sector, he had played a vital role in designing and implementing NTPC’s corporate plan and had introduced reliability-centred maintenance for Tata Power.

It is over a month since Mr Kaushal took charge of HPCL. In this period, he may perhaps have realised that unlike a private entity, managing a public sector company is a different ball game. Besides, the current period also coincides with volatility in the global energy environment amid growing uncertainty. But these issues would hardly deter a veteran like Mr Kaushal, who may already be executing a grand plan for HPCL’s big-bang growth.