Coal India appoints B Sairam as chief executive officer
Prior to his appointment at CIL, he served as CMD of Northern Coalfields Limited (NCL), a wholly owned subsidiary of Coal India.
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State-owned miner Coal India Limited (CIL) on Friday appointed B. Sairam, its Chairman-cum-Managing Director (CMD), as the company’s Chief Executive Officer (CEO).
Sairam, who took over as CMD of Coal India earlier, will now hold the additional charge of CEO, the company said. Prior to his appointment at CIL, he served as CMD of Northern Coalfields Limited (NCL), a wholly owned subsidiary of Coal India.
With over three decades of experience in the coal sector, Sairam has worked across a wide range of functions including mine operations, project planning, coal logistics and regulatory affairs. He is a graduate mining engineer from NIT Raipur and holds an MBA in Energy Management from the NTPC School of Business, New Delhi.
Before leading NCL, Sairam was Director (Technical) at Central Coalfields Limited (CCL), where he played a key role in strengthening coal logistics, executing First Mile Connectivity projects, securing forest and environmental clearances, and projectising both greenfield and brownfield mines.
At NCL, his leadership was central to the Jayant expansion project, which involved what is considered one of the largest mining rehabilitation and resettlement programmes in the sector. The project included projectisation, structuring of project financing and the development of a comprehensive compensation and rehabilitation framework for the relocation of an urban township—accomplished within a year.
Sairam also expedited multiple regulatory approvals for critical mining projects, helping ensure uninterrupted coal production. During his tenure at Coal India and its subsidiaries, he has also been closely involved in community development initiatives, with a focus on stakeholder engagement and building trust in mining-affected regions.
The company said Sairam’s broad-based understanding of the coal mining ecosystem is expected to strengthen Coal India’s leadership as it navigates operational expansion and regulatory challenges in the coming years.
