The managing director and chief executive officer of Petronet LNG Ltd, the country’s biggest gas importer, has received a 15-month extension of his role, till May 12, 2027, according to a regulatory filing.
Akshay Kumar Singh, 64, took over as Petronet CEO on February 1, 2020, for an initial five-year term, and the extension means he would retire at the age of 66 years.
“The Board of Directors of the company, in its meeting held on November 7, have accorded their approval for extension of tenure of Akshay Kumar Singh as Managing Director & CEO and whole time Key Managerial Personnel (KMP) of the company from February 1, 2026, to May 12, 2027, inter-alia, on the existing terms and conditions,” Petronet said in the filing.
Petronet, though headed by the government’s top bureaucrat in the Union Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas, is registered as a private limited company. It is also not under any government watchdog, like CAG or CVC, and is beyond the purview of the RTI.
While the superannuation age in public sector companies is 60 years, Petronet’s board executives enjoy a higher remuneration than PSUs and also retire at the age of 65 years.
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Appointments to the board are made by a search-cum-selection committee of the board, which is made up of representatives of lead shareholders in the company, an independent director and an outside expert.
State-owned Indian Oil Corporation (IOC), GAIL (India) Ltd, Oil and Natural Gas Corp (ONGC) and Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd (BPCL) hold 12.5 per cent stake each in the company. The heads of the four blue-chip oil firms, who sit on the board of Petronet, superannuate at the age of 60 years.
Singh is a mechanical engineer from MIT, Muzaffarpur (Bihar), and a post-graduate from South Gujarat University. He came to Petronet from Indian Oil Corporation (IOC), where he was Director (Pipelines). He was previously also an executive director at state-owned gas utility, GAIL India Ltd.
According to Petronet’s latest annual report, Singh got a total remuneration of ₹3.04 crore in 2024-25 (April 2024 to March 2025), including ₹25.5 lakh as commission on profit. His remuneration included ₹2.63 crore as salary and allowances, ₹11.13 lakh as contribution to Provident Fund (PF) and ₹3.81 lakh in other benefits and perks.
Alongside Singh, the Petronet board has also extended the tenure of Pramod Narang as Director (Technical) for the company for a further period of two years, starting November 26 2025.
In 2024-25, Narang drew a total remuneration of ₹1.94 crore.
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