A Chemical Engineer with over 36 years of experience in the downstream petroleum industry and refinery-petrochemical integration, Shrikant Madhav Vaidya is a leading global energy technocrat and a key contributor to the worldwide discourse on energy security and sustainability. He is the former Chairman of IndianOil Corporation Ltd (IndianOil), a Fortune-500 Indian energy major ranked #94 in 2023.
Vaidya was named the top Indian CEO and #81 globally by the CEOWORLD Magazine in March 2023. During his tenure at IndianOil from July 2020, SM Vaidya delivered consistent excellence in key operational areas. He successfully steered the company to record-breaking achievements, including its highest-ever net profit and revenue from operations, despite the hurdles posed by the COVID-19 pandemic and global geopolitical conflicts.
During his time with IndianOil, SM Vaidya played a pivotal role in steering the organization towards fueling the growth of an ascendant Indian economy and ensuring energy justice for over a billion Indians. Under his leadership, IndianOil greenlit refining projects worth over $8 billion and petrochemical projects worth $12 billion to meet India’s rising energy demands and provide uninterrupted access.
SM Vaidya steered the Fortune 500 company through a critical phase of transformation, laying the foundation for its ambitious vision of becoming a One Trillion Dollar Giant by 2047, contributing over 3% to the nation’s GDP. During his tenure, he aligned IndianOil with India’s green energy transition, spearheading efforts to achieve Net-Zero Operational Emissions by 2046 across Scope 1 and Scope 2 emissions. Under his leadership, the company committed an envisioned investment of $30 billion towards this goal, strengthening its sustainability initiatives and driving a robust ESG performance. These efforts earned IndianOil top rankings in prestigious global indices, making it the leading Indian corporation in the Bloomberg NEF Global Rankings and the S&P Dow Jones Sustainability Indices.
SM Vaidya played a transformative role in advancing India’s energy landscape, with a strong focus on building a robust green hydrogen ecosystem. His strategic vision facilitated collaborations for green hydrogen plants at IndianOil refineries and initiatives to fuel hydrogen mobility, positioning the company as a leader in India’s clean energy transition.
During his tenure, Vaidya also pioneered the launch of innovative fuels like AVGAS 100LL for aviation and enriched IndianOil’s product portfolio with niche offerings such as the high-performance racing fuel ‘Storm’ for international motorcycle circuits, XP100 premium fuels, India’s first ETHANOL 100 fuel, and Reference Gasoline and Diesel fuels for OEM vehicle testing.
Vaidya has also put IndianOil firmly on the forefront of corporate India’s conservation efforts through initiatives like sponsoring the Cheetah program in India – the world’s first intercontinental wildlife translocation project – and protecting Indian single-horned rhinos, among others.
SM Vaidya championed social stewardship through transformational initiatives like ‘Umeed – A Hope,’ establishing prison retail outlets operated by current and former inmates in partnership with State Prisons. Driven by his belief in the rehabilitative power of sports, he launched impactful programs such as ‘Prison to Pride’ and ‘Smile for Juvenile,’ which have transformed the lives of over 6,300 inmates and juveniles across nearly 130 prisons and correction centers. Under these programs, participants achieved global recognition, including winning FIDE’s International ‘Chess for Freedom’ Championship in October 2023. In honour of his initiatives, the International Chess Federation conferred upon him the prestigious ‘Friend of FIDE’ title in February 2024.
Vaidya also played a vital role in advancing Indian sports, from empowering young girls and raising India’s first corporate women’s hockey team to supporting para-athletes and nurturing sports icons. His leadership earned IndianOil the country’s highest national honour for sports promotion, awarded by the President of India in 2021, along with other accolades.
During the COVID-19 crisis, his humane approach inspired IndianOil’s teams to ensure uninterrupted operations. Over 30,000 fueling stations worked round the clock, while LPG delivery teams supplied up to 3.3 million cylinders daily during lockdowns. Vaidya personally led efforts to strengthen India’s Liquid Medical Oxygen logistics, leveraging IndianOil’s global reach to source ISO tankers from around the world, further demonstrating his leadership in times of adversity.
