Government of India has appointed Gurdeep Singh, currently head of Gujarat State Electricity Corp, as the chairman and managing director of NTPC Ltd, India’s biggest power producer. Singh, 51, will be the first person to be appointed to the top job at a Maharatna company through a search committee route.

Government headhunters, Public Enterprise Selection Board (PESB) normally selects board appointees to state-owned firms but in case of NTPC a Search-cum-Selection Committee was constituted after Arup Roy Choudhury was denied an extension of service in August.

The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet (ACC) headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi has approved the appointment of Singh for a period of five years from the date of assumption of charge of the post.

Singh was selected after the Committee headed by PESB chairman Ajit Seth interviewed eight shortlisted candidates out of a list of 24 who had applied for the job.  The post of chairman and managing director at NTPC fell vacant after Choudhury completed his five year term on 31 August last year.