New Delhi, April 9 Seasoned energy sector executive Sanjay Khanna has been appointed as the chairman and managing director of Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd, India's second-largest state-owned fuel retailer.
Khanna was the Director (Refineries) at BPCL prior to his appointment. He was also holding the additional charge of chairman and managing director after G Krishnakumar retired as CMD of BPCL on April 30, 2025.
In a filing with the stock exchange, BPCL said that Khanna has taken over after the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas conveyed his appointment.
"In terms of the letter dated April 9, 2026 from the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas (MoP&NG), the appointment will be effective from April 9, 2026, until his retirement date, i.e., until May 31, 2029, or until further orders, whichever is earlier," it said.
Khanna, who holds a chemical engineering degree from the National Institute of Technology, Tiruchirappalli, also has a postgraduate degree in finance management from the University of Mumbai. Throughout his career at BPCL, he has held key leadership positions, including heading the company's Kochi and Mumbai refineries and serving as Director (Refineries) since February 22, 2022.
Khanna was one of the candidates that the government's recruitment agency, Public Enterprise Selection Board (PESB), interviewed on February 1, 2025, to find a replacement for Krishnakumar.
After the interviews, PESB did not recommend any candidate for the post and asked the administrative ministry to "choose an appropriate course of further action for selection, including the Search-cum-Selection Committee (SCSC) or as deemed appropriate with the approval of the competent authority."
More than six months later, MoPNG invited applications for the post of chairman and managing director of BPCL, saying that "the selection will be through a search-cum-selection committee."
The panel, which was constituted by the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet (ACC) on March 24, 2025, was headed by PESB Chairperson Mallika Srinivasan. Pankaj Jain, the then Oil Secretary, was also a member of the committee, while M K Surana, the former chairman and managing director of Hindustan Petroleum (HPCL), was also included as an external expert, according to an order issued by the Department of Personnel and Training.
The committee selected Khanna for the job.
"As Executive Director of Kochi Refinery, he (Khanna) played a key role in commissioning the first 'Niche Petrochemical' project of BPCL, the Propylene Derivative Petrochemical Project (PDPP), despite the challenges posed by the pandemic," BPCL said in the filing.
"Under his leadership, BPCL has planned to invest Rs 75,000 crore in the next five years, including the single-largest investment by BPCL – the Rs 50,000 crore Bina Petrochemical and Refinery Expansion Project (BPREP) at Bina, Madhya Pradesh."
Khanna also serves as a Director on the boards of Bharat PetroResources Ltd, Petronet LNG Ltd and Ratnagiri Refinery and Petrochemicals Ltd. Additionally, he is also the current chairperson of the 'Technical Committee for Petroleum Refineries' under MoP&NG.
Stating that Khanna is not barred from holding the office of director by virtue of any Sebi order or order of any other authority, BPCL said that he holds 15,050 shares of the company.