Sakthimani likely to be the next CMD of RINL

Visakhapatnam: Fertilisers and Chemicals Travancore Ltd (FACT) Director (Finance) S Sakthimani has been chosen as the next Chairman-cum-Managing Director of Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Limited (RINL), at a time when the Visakhapatnam-headquartered company is facing an uncertain future due to raw material insecurity, increasing debt burden and cut in production further compounding its woes. His name has been recommended after an interview conducted among two short-listed aspirants by the Public Enterprises Selection Board (PESB) on Tuesday.

The post will fall vacant once the tenure of present incumbent Atul Bhatt comes to an end in November. Sakthimani, who has still nine years of service left, will be one of the youngest CMDs of a Navratna company. The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet headed by the Prime Minister will issue the formal order only after getting clearance from the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), Central Vigilance Commission (CVC) and other investigation bodies. Steel sector is not new to him as he worked as AGM (F&A) at RINL, the corporate entity of Visakhapatnam Steel Plant (known as Vizag Steel) during 2013-2016. He also worked as Deputy Company Secretary 2010 to 2013 and Head of Department, Cost Monitoring Group from 1998 to 2010 at RINL. Earlier, he had a stint as a Junior Manager for two years and nine months from November, 1994 at SAIL’s Bokaro Steel Plant.

He is set to assume charge at a critical juncture when the unions are turning restive with the talk that the Centre will take disinvestment of RINL anytime. The privatisation of RINL, its subsidiaries and joint ventures was cleared by the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs in January, 2021. DIPAM under the Ministry of Finance has been tasked with finding out the modalities for carrying out the strategic disinvestment.

Setting across their differences, as many as 26 unions formed Visakha Ukku Parirakshana Samiti to spearhead an agitation against the privatisation decision. They have called for protests across the State and in national capital Delhi to build up pressure to drop the decision and explore various options including merging it with SAIL to retain it in the public sector.