Sanjay Khanna named chairman and MD of Bharat Petroleum

MUMBAI: India’s government has finally filled the corner office at Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd (BPCL), handing the chairman and managing director’s role to Khanna, a refinery veteran who had been minding the shop in an acting capacity for nearly a year.

Khanna, who was director (refineries) at BPCL before his elevation, stepped into the breach after G Krishnakumar walked out the door on superannuation on April 30, 2025, leaving the company rudderless at the top. The wait is now over. His formal appointment, conveyed by the ministry of petroleum and natural gas, took effect on April 9, 2026, and runs until his own superannuation on May 31, 2029, or until further orders, whichever is earlier, BPCL said in a stock exchange filing.

The pick is hardly a surprise. Khanna was among candidates interviewed by the Public Enterprise Selection Board as far back as February 1, 2025, in the search for a Krishnakumar replacement. He spent his career inside BPCL’s machinery, heading its Kochi and Mumbai refineries before being appointed director (refineries) on February 22, 2022. 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.

For BPCL, India’s second-largest state-owned fuel retailer, the appointment draws a line under months of drift at the top. Khanna now has three years to prove the wait was worth it.