New Delhi, Friday, 22 November 2019: Mr. Ajay Kumar Dixit, CEO, Cairn Oil & Gas, Vedanta Ltd., was awarded the Leadership Excellence Award 2019 presented by ABP News Brand Excellence Awards at Taj Lands End, Mumbai on 21 November, 2019.

Cairn is at the cusp of a transformation having grown from 5 to 58 blocks, and ~6,000 to ~65,000 sq km of exploration acreage over the last year, catapulting it to become one of the largest exploration companies around the world. Such a disruptive growth cycle is the result of a powerful vision and strategic leadership. Ajay has been presented this award for being at the helm of this transformational journey.

Resetting bold production goals while refocusing on the importance of operational and people safety, Ajay has been demonstrating transformational leadership qualities to motivate and energise every employee towards Vedanta’s vision of contributing 50 percent of India’s crude oil production. Ajay continues to drive this vision with a strong belief in people empowerment, continuous technological innovation to drive up production, including for enhanced oil recovery, and digitalisation to bring speed in exploration and time-to-production.

On receiving the award, Ajay said, “It is an honour to receive this recognition for my work in the oil & gas sector. I am delighted to have a young, motivated, and focused team committed to taking us to new heights. I would like to dedicate this award to all employees of Cairn who have been instrumental in building a strong legacy for the company, all headed towards the greater ambition of nation-building and achieving performance excellence.”

A veteran in the energy sector, Ajay has 39 years of experience and joined Vedanta in 2015. He served as the Acting CEO of Vedanta’s Aluminium and Power business before taking over as the CEO of Cairn. His leadership is driving Cairn’s vision to help realise the full potential of the prolific Rajasthan oil fields, growing the offshore business, and in continuing to steer a strong and high-growth organisation.

On this occasion, Mr. Srinivasan Venkatakrishnan, Chief Executive Officer, Vedanta said, “I wish to convey my heartiest congratulations to Ajay for this recognition. This award is a testament for his clear business vision and strategy. Ajay also knows how to create an inspiring values-based work environment for everyone in his team.”

The ABP News Brand Excellence Awards is an independent brand recognition exercise that recognises brands that have achieved extraordinary success from innovative and effective marketing practices, with regard to the particular circumstances of different industries, budgets, and the diversity of marketing programs. The awards are based not only on financial valuation, but by consumer preferences as well. The event is hosted by the World Marketing Congress. CMO Asia is the research partner, Asian Confederation of Businesses, and World Sustainability is endorsing the event. The ABP News Brand Excellence Awards are held to foster marketing awareness in the professional community and inspire aspirations to achieve marketing excellence. The mission of the awards is to educate and disseminate the importance of branding in India, with the aim that a branding culture aided by best practices will then position India amongst the world’s great nations. Other winners of the ABP News Brand Excellence Awards were Amazon, Dell, Pidilite, Viacom 18, SAP India, etc. across various categories.