Atul Sobti
Mr Atul Sobti is the Chairman & Managing Director of Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited (BHEL), India’s largest Maharatna public sector engineering and manufacturing enterprise. Prior to his taking over the helms at BHEL in January 2016, Mr Sobti was Director on the Board of BHEL, heading two crucial portfolios of Power and Finance. Earlier, he also held additional charge of Director (Engineering, R&D). Mr Sobti is also part-time Chairman on the board of Raichur Power Corporation Limited, a Joint Venture Company of BHEL and Karnataka Power Corporation Ltd.
Mr Sobti is a graduate in mechanical engineering and a post graduate in ‘international management.’ He also has a diploma in ‘project management.’ A brilliant scholar all through his academic life, Mr Sobti was awarded the Gold Medal at IMI while pursuing post-graduation in ‘international management.’ He has also undergone advanced management programmes at Asian Institute of Management, Manila, and at IIM, Ahmedabad. Mr Sobti has also pursued studies in other areas like cost accountancy, etc.
As Director (Power), Mr Sobti was responsible for spearheading and strategizing the power sector business of BHEL. Under his stewardship, BHEL’s power business has achieved major milestones including the highest ever power generation capacity addition/synchronization, and the highest order booking in last five years’ period. In the business development and marketing arena, he has been instrumental in strategizing and securing a series of orders from state utilities of Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Gujarat, Tamil Nadu, Uttarakhand, and Punjab, besides from central utilities like NTPC and NLC.
Prior to joining the Board of BHEL in 2013, Mr. Sobti had a rich repertoire of diverse and versatile professional experience of over three decades in a wide range of strategic as well as operational areas. He worked in various capacities in all major segments of BHEL, including that of International Operations; a major manufacturing plant of BHEL at Hyderabad; Corporate Planning & Development; New Capital Projects; and Project Engineering & Systems Integration Divisions at BHEL Hyderabad, and Bangalore.
During his tenure at BHEL’s International Operations, Mr Sobti was a key contributor to a fifteen-fold increase in its overseas business through securing and executing orders for prestigious power projects and for standalone products from many countries including Oman, UAE, Iraq, Libya, China, Kazakhstan, Suriname, Bhutan, Sri Lanka, Egypt, Kuwait, and Ukraine, etc.
During his tenures at BHEL’s units at Bangalore and Hyderabad, the units achieved record financial and physical performances. He was also instrumental in steering the future growth plans and new business initiatives in those divisions.
As a member of New Capital Projects Group, Mr Sobti was actively associated in setting up of new BHEL plants at Rudrapur, Varanasi, PCRI-Haridwar, Jagdishpur, and, Goindwal, etc. He was involved in drawing corporate plans of BHEL as well as creating the vision, mission, and values for the company.
Mr Sobti was a member of BHEL team that won Gold Shield in the national competition of ‘Computer Simulated Business Management Games’ for three consecutive years, later the team represented India at Asia Pacific Regional Business Management Games.
Mr. Sobti is currently the Co-Chair of the CII Council on Public Sector Enterprises. He has been an active member of ‘CII National Committee of Young Managers,’ national level ‘CII Trade committee,’ 'Bangalore Chamber of Industry and Commerce,' and 'CII sub-group of R&D in Manufacturing.' Mr Sobti has been a regular speaker at national and international seminars and conferences, and also at several management institutes. As Director (Power), Mr Sobti was awarded the India Pride Award 2014-15 for Excellence as 'Head of Department' among Central PSUs.