MAM
BPCL’s Director (Marketing) takes additional HR charge and IGL chairmanship
Subhankar Sen assumes dual leadership roles effective 1 April 2026.
MUMBAI: When fuel meets people management, sparks are bound to fly and BPCL has just handed the wheel to one of its seasoned drivers for both the road ahead and the team behind it. Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited (BPCL) has announced that Shri Subhankar Sen, Director (Marketing), has taken over the additional charge of Director (Human Resources) with immediate effect. In a related development, he has also been appointed Chairman of Indraprastha Gas Limited (IGL) effective 1 April 2026, succeeding Shri Raj Kumar Dubey under the established rotational nomination process between promoter entities.
With over three decades of experience at BPCL, Sen brings deep expertise across key marketing verticals including Retail, LPG, Lubricants, Aviation, Industrial & Commercial, Gas, and Consumer Retailing. A graduate of the University of Calcutta and holder of a Post Graduate Diploma in Executive Management from S. P. Jain Institute of Management & Research, Mumbai, he has played a pivotal role in strengthening BPCL’s market presence and advancing its integrated energy transition strategy.
In his additional HR role, Sen will oversee the company’s human capital strategy, with emphasis on talent development, leadership building, organisational transformation, and building a future-ready workforce aligned with BPCL’s long-term growth and sustainability goals.
As the new Chairman of IGL, he is expected to bring a strong vision for sustainable growth and customer-centric excellence to the city gas distribution major.
BPCL, a Fortune Global 500 company and Maharatna PSU, is India’s second-largest oil marketing company with a combined refining capacity of 35.3 MMTPA across its refineries in Mumbai, Kochi and Bina. The company operates an extensive marketing network comprising over 23,500 fuel stations, more than 6,200 LPG distributorships, 500+ lube distributorships, 79 aviation service stations and 5 cross-country pipelines.
The energy major is aggressively pursuing its net-zero ambitions, targeting Scope 1 and Scope 2 emissions by 2040, and has already set up electric vehicle charging stations at over 6,500 fuel stations.
From fuelling millions of vehicles to fuelling talent and leadership within the organisation, Subhankar Sen now finds himself at the intersection of BPCL’s operational engine and its people power, a dual responsibility that could prove crucial as the company accelerates towards a more sustainable energy future.
MAM
India’s employability gap persists despite strong hiring intent
Only 1 in 5 institutions achieve 76 to 100 per cent placements within six months of graduation.
MUMBAI: India’s young workforce is ready in numbers, but the real question is whether they are ready for work and senior leaders from industry, academia and policy gathered in Delhi to find practical answers. A closed-door roundtable hosted by Vaishali Nigam Sinha, co-founder of Renew, brought together key voices to discuss actionable solutions for bridging the persistent employability gap. The session highlighted that while job opportunities are expanding, the alignment between education and industry needs remains a critical challenge.
According to Teamlease EdTech’s Career Outlook Report HY1 2026, 73 per cent of employers plan to hire freshers in the first half of 2026, signalling steady recovery in entry-level hiring. However, employers are shifting focus from mere qualifications to demonstrable capability, placing greater value on internships, live projects and proof-of-work.
Teamlease Edtech, founder and CEO Shantanu Rooj emphasised the need for better alignment, “India’s employability challenge is no longer about access alone, but about alignment between education and work. Employers are increasingly relying on demonstrable capability such as internships, projects, and applied learning as indicators of readiness.”
Vaishali Nigam Sinha stressed the importance of execution over intent, “India has both the talent and the opportunity. What is needed now is alignment. We have to move from intent to execution by embedding employability into the system itself.”
Other prominent speakers included Dr Chenraj Roychand, Chancellor of Jain (Deemed-to-be) University, who called for universities to evolve from degree providers to ecosystem enablers, Prof M. Jagadesh Kumar, Chairman of the Board of Governors at IIM Calcutta, who highlighted the need for flexibility and multidisciplinary learning, and Dr T.N. Singh, Director of IIT Patna, who advocated deeper industry engagement through research and experiential learning.
The discussion also drew insights from the book Accelerating Impact. Enabling Dreams – Making India Employable by Shantanu Rooj and co-authors, which features contributions from leaders like Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw, Dr Krishnaswamy Kasturirangan and Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankar.
During the event, Teamlease Edtech Foundation launched Project SEED, a national initiative aimed at bridging the education-employability gap for underserved youth. The project focuses on early intervention at the school level to guide students towards informed career choices and work-integrated pathways.
With only 16.67 per cent (1 in 5) of institutions achieving 76–100 per cent placements within six months of graduation, the conversation made one thing clear, India’s demographic dividend will deliver real value only when education and employability walk hand in hand. The gathering served as a timely reminder that the future of India’s workforce depends not just on creating more jobs, but on preparing young people far better to seize them.
