The Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) announced the appointment of Vivek Chandrakant Tongaonkar as the new Director (Finance). Tongaonkar, who has spent over 37 years in the energy sector, takes over from his previous position as Director (Finance) & CFO at ONGC?s subsidiary, Mangalore Refinery & Petrochemicals (MRPL).

During his tenure at MRPL from May 2023 to June 2024, Tongaonkar implemented strategic financial initiatives. He mentioned that he had preemptively repaid high-interest term loans amounting to Rs 31.73 billion. This move, according to him, was to save the company approximately Rs 2 billion annually in interest costs, while also to deleverage and enhance the firm's debt-equity ratio.

Moreover, bolstering his credentials, he mentioned that his proactive engagement with investors had led to a 477% increase in MRPL's market capitalization. He said that he was currently serving as the Chairman of the Board for Mangalore Special Economic Zone Limited (MSEZL), which was part of the ONGC Group.