Veteran energy sector executive Sanjay Khanna has been appointed Chairman and Managing Director of Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd, India’s second-largest state-owned fuel retailer, marking a significant leadership transition at the public sector oil major.
He previously served as Director (Refineries) at BPCL and had been entrusted with the additional charge of the top post after G Krishnakumar superannuated as CMD on April 30, 2025.
In a stock exchange filing, BPCL confirmed that Sanjay formally assumed charge following communication of his appointment by the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas.
"In terms of the letter dated April 9, 2026, from the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas (MoP&NG), the appointment will be with effect from April 9, 2026, till the date of his superannuation, i.e. till 31.05.2029 or until further orders, whichever is earlier," it said.
A chemical engineering graduate from the National Institute of Technology, Tiruchirappalli, he also holds a postgraduate degree in finance management from the University of Mumbai. Over the course of his career at BPCL, he has occupied several pivotal leadership roles, including heading the company’s Kochi and Mumbai refineries, before being elevated to Director (Refineries) on February 22, 2022.
Sanjay was among the candidates interviewed on February 1, 2025, by the government headhunter, the Public Enterprise Selection Board, to identify a successor to Krishnakumar.
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Following the interviews, PESB declined to recommend any candidate for the post and advised 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, the ministry invited fresh applications for the post, specifying that the "selection shall be through a search-cum-selection committee".
The panel, constituted by the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet on March 24, 2025, was chaired by PESB Chairperson Mallika Srinivasan. Then Oil Secretary Pankaj Jain was the other member of the committee, while former Chairman and Managing Director of Hindustan Petroleum, M K Surana, served as an external expert of eminence, according to an order issued by the Department of Personnel and Training.
The committee ultimately selected Khanna for the role.
"As Executive Director of Kochi Refinery, he (Khanna) played a key role in commissioning the first 'Niche Petrochemical' project of BPCL, Propylene Derivative Petrochemical Project (PDPP), despite the challenges posed by the pandemic," BPCL said in the filing.
"Under his able leadership, BPCL has ideated to invest ₹75,000 crore in the coming five years, including the single-largest investment of BPCL -- the ₹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 the current Chairperson of the ‘Technical Committee for Petroleum Refineries’ under MoP&NG.
Stating that Khanna is not debarred from holding the office of director by virtue of any Sebi order or order of any other authority, BPCL added that he holds 15,050 shares in the company.
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