Mumbai,Reliance Industries (RIL) has appointed the head of its Jamnagar refinery Pawan Kumar Kapil, 64, as executive director on its board, reflecting chairman Mukesh Ambanis plan to professionalise the board of Indias largest private sector company.

Mr Kapil is the third home-grown professional to find a place on RILs board after Hardev Singh Kohli and PMS Prasad, the head of the oil and gas business. Mr Kapil replaces Mr Kohli, who has stepped down after a long innings on the board of petroleum-to refinery major. His appointment comes into effect from May 16.

Mr Kapil - who was a director on the board of the former Reliance Petroleum, which has been merged into Reliance industries - is a chemical engineer and has more than 40 years of experience in different facets of petroleum refining industry.

This former executive director of Indian Oil Corporation joined RIL in 1996 to lead the commissioning of the Jamnagar refinery.

He is among the high-ranking professionals who had joined RIL from public sector refinery companies in the late 1990s and rose to become the site head in 2001.

Staring his career in the Indian Oil Corporation in 1966, Mr Kapil honed his skills in Mathura Refinery as the head of refinery operations and later set up Panipat Refinery, one of IOCs newest refineries. He is man of details and is well-versed with technical issues, said an executive who works with him in Jamnagar.

RIL began attempts to professionalise its board by appointing R Ravimohan, the former head of rating agency Crisil, and PMS Prasad as executive directors in August last year. Mukesh Ambani, Ramaniklal Ambani, Hital Meswani and Nikhil Meswani are among executive directors who represent the family on the board.

RIL board has 13 members with seven being independent directors. Independent directors include Dipak C Jain and A Mashelkar.

Notes to Editor

The Reliance Group, founded by Dhirubhai H. Ambani (1932-2002), is Indias largest private sector enterprise, with businesses in the energy and materials value chain. Groups annual revenues are in excess of US$ 44 billion. The flagship company, Reliance Industries Limited, is a Fortune Global 500 company and is the largest private sector company in India