PESB Recommends Pravin Kumar as Director (Finance), SAIL

The Public Enterprise Selection Board has recommended Pravin Kumar, General Manager for Finance, Costing and Funds Management at SAIL's ERP Centre in Bhilai, for the post of Director (Finance) at Steel Authority of India Limited.

The Director (Finance) is a board-level position at SAIL, India's largest state-owned steel producer, responsible for the company's capital allocation, borrowing programme and financial reporting across its integrated steel plants. The post carries direct influence over how the company funds its ongoing capacity expansion and modernisation projects at plants including Bhilai, Rourkela and Bokaro, and sits alongside the Chairman and other functional directors on the apex committee that approves major capital expenditure decisions.

Kumar's career at SAIL has run through finance functions at the company's Bhilai-based ERP Centre, where he has handled costing, funds management and real estate management for the corporate office, a portfolio that has given him direct exposure to the company's centralised financial systems ahead of this board-level recommendation. His work at the ERP Centre placed him at the heart of SAIL's enterprise-wide financial reporting infrastructure, a system that consolidates cost and funds data across the company's multiple integrated steel plants.

Before this recommendation, Kumar served as General Manager at the SAIL ERP Centre, a role focused on financial systems integration across the company's plants rather than a single-unit finance charge, distinguishing his background from officers who typically rise through plant-level finance postings before reaching the corporate office.

The recommendation follows the PESB's standard process for board-level appointments at central public sector enterprises, under which the board screens serving general managers and executive directors from within the company and from comparable PSUs before recommending a name to the administrative ministry for final approval, a process that typically involves interviews before a selection panel comprising the PESB chairman and independent experts.

If confirmed, Kumar will take charge of SAIL's finances at a time when the company is pursuing a capacity expansion plan requiring sustained capital investment, placing fundraising and cost discipline squarely under the incoming Director (Finance)'s remit, alongside the company's continuing efforts to manage input-cost volatility in the global steel and raw-material markets.

The PESB's recommendation now goes to the Ministry of Steel for final approval before Kumar's appointment is formally notified.