Gupta had not applied for the position but was nonetheless called for the interview, as revealed by three sources familiar with the process.

One of these sources noted that while 10 candidates who had applied were invited for interviews, Gupta was the 11th individual to be interviewed.

Gupta, who is 58 years old, previously served as the director of finance at IOC before becoming the CMD of gas utility GAIL in October 2022.

The candidates interviewed on Sunday included two directors from the IOC board: Satish Kumar Vaduguri, Director-Marketing, and Arvind Kumar, Director-Refineries. Additionally, five executive directors from the company were also interviewed.

Sources added that Sukhmal Kumar Jain, director of marketing at Bharat Petroleum Corporation (BPCL), and S Khanna, the director of refineries at BPCL, were among those interviewed. Amit Garg, the director of marketing at Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd (HPCL), also participated.

The panel is searching for a replacement for Shrikant Madhav Vaidya, whose one-year extension beyond his retirement age of 60 will conclude on August 31. In June, the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas had requested applications from engineers, chartered accountants, and cost accountants with postgraduate management degrees from prominent institutions and at least five years of experience in leadership roles for the top position at IOC.