Air India steps up search for COO, ropes in Kotak, Jindal

The government has resurrected the long-stalled plan to name a chief operating officer (COO) for Air India by engaging industrialist Sajjan Jindal and banker Uday Kotak, lending a rare professional touch to the selection of a key person in a public enterprise.
Shortlisted candidates will be interviewed on March 27, said senior government officials requesting anonymity.
Typically, directors in top PSUs are selected by a committee comprising the chief of the public enterprises selection board, the secretary of the administrative ministry concerned — the civil aviation ministry in this case —and chief of the PSU concerned. A departure by getting corporate hotshots to be part of the selection committee that will appoint the person who is expected to play a key role in the revival of the troubled national carrier is aimed at bringing business insights into the process, said the officials.
The move comes close on the heels of the appointment of industrialist Anand Mahindra as an independent director on the AI board along with Ficci’s Amit Mitra, industrialist Harsh Neotia and retired air chief marshal Fali H Major. After banker N Vaghul retired, the airline has been without an independent director.
17/03/10 G Ganapathy Subramaniam/Economic Times

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Categories: NACIL Mar 2010