Government headhunter PESB has recommended N Franklin Jayakumar, the current Director (Technical) of South Eastern Coalfields Ltd as the next chairman of Coal India arm Northern Coalfields Ltd (NCL).
The recommendation comes at a time when Coal India Ltd (CIL) has missed its production target in the first quarter, underscoring pressure on its arms to ramp up output, improve efficiency and address logistical bottlenecks.
Besides Jayakumar, 10 other people were in the race for the key post, as per the Public Enterprises Selection Board (PESB) website.
1 June 2026
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Jayakumar has over three decades of experience across coal and lignite mining. Prior to joining SECL, he served NLC India. Earlier in his career, he served the Singareni Collieries Company for 18 years, gaining extensive experience in highly mechanised underground and opencast mining.
Headquartered in Singrauli, Madhya Pradesh, NCL operates in the Moher Sub-Basin of the Singrauli Coalfield, covering parts of both Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh.
Singrauli is popularly known as the 'Energy Capital of India,' and rightly so-NCL’s coal alone contributes 10 per cent of the country’s electricity generation.
