The former Chairman of India’s Oil and Natural Gas corporation, Subir Raha passed away today in New Delhi due to cancer. He has been looked as the most influential Chairman of ONGC.
According to his familly and friends, 62 years old Raha was diagonsed with lung cancer last year. He has been critically ill since about last week and was under treatment in a private hospital in New Delhi.
Raha died at 3.22 pm today. The whole credit of ONGC’s today’s position as the the largest oil and gas producer of India goes to Raha for his dedication and efforts he gave to ONGC.
By acquiring Mangalore Refinery (MRPL), he alone took the ONGC’s vertical integration to great heights. The overseas forays which had been aggressively pursued by Raha ceased to exist after his departure from ONGC.
Raha had been the Chairman and Managing Director of ONGC for a period from May 2001-2006. During these 5 years, ONGC evolved as the leader among all public and private sector companies in India in terms of networth through an increment in market capitalisation of ONGC which increased more than 10 times to Rs 200,000 crore during the same period.
In 2006, the government refuse to extend Raha’s tenure as the Chairman and Managing Director of ONGC. In the same year, coincidently, the company lost its prestigious position as the nation’s most valuable company.
For a very short period, Raha also linked with Hinduja Group. After that Raha estblished a India-based consulting firm, Team Raha Ideation which mainly focused on strategic advisory services.
Raha has been a part of boards of various companies. He has also been an independent director of GeoGlobal Resources. He also wrote for columns concerning energy issues.
During his tenure as the Chairman of ONGC, Raha also carried the responsibilty of the Chairman of wholly-owned subsidiary of ONGC, ONGC Videsh (OVL). During 2003-2004 Raha also brought a revolutionary change in the Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals (MRPL).
Before Raha, OVL had only one property in Vietnam. But after Raha joined it, OVL expanded to 24 properties (31 Blocks) in 14 countries. When Raha joined OVL, it possessed a minor
reserve base and zero production. But due to his efforts OVL became the second largest E&P company of India in terms of reserves and production, after parent ONGC.
He took ONGC to the position of an integrated energy major on global scale from a sectoral exploration and production company. As the Chairman of ONGC he introduced aggressive exploration, especially in deep waters off India which resulted in increased production from depleted fields.
Before joining ONGC, Raha also chaired the post of Director at the Indian Oil Corp (IOC). Raha started his career in 1970 as a Management Trainee in India Oil Corporation.