Kishore Kumar Mohanty, Former Director of Marketing, Indian Rare Earths Limited
Kishore Kumar Mohanty is a distinguished mining and mineral processing professional known for his leadership in India’s rare earth and critical minerals sector. He served as Chairman and Managing Director of IREL (India) Limited (formerly Indian Rare Earths Limited), a Government of India enterprise under the Department of Atomic Energy.
With decades of experience in mineral sands, rare earth extraction, and strategic materials, Mr. Mohanty played a key role in strengthening India’s capabilities in the exploration, mining, and processing of rare earth elements (REEs) such as monazite, ilmenite, rutile, and zircon. Under his leadership, IREL focused on expanding production capacity, modernising processing facilities, enhancing value addition, and aligning operations with national strategic and energy-transition priorities.
He has been closely associated with India’s efforts to secure domestic supply chains for critical minerals, reduce import dependence, and position India within the global rare earth ecosystem — an area of increasing geopolitical and clean-energy significance.
Mr. Mohanty is widely recognised for combining technical expertise with strategic vision in advancing India’s mineral security and sustainable resource development agenda.
Kumud Kumar Sharma, Former Executive Director, Indian Oil Corporation Ltd.
Kumud Kumar Sharma is a seasoned energy professional with over 38 years of experience in the oil & gas, petrochemicals, cryogenics, supply chain, and sustainability domains. He superannuated as Executive Director at Indian Oil Corporation Ltd. in July 2023.
Throughout his career, Mr. Sharma has held diverse leadership roles, including Head of Sustainable Development, Business Head of Cryogenics, and State Head of Odisha, where IOC was ranked 2nd nationally in MOU performance. He was instrumental in key projects like IOC’s petrochemicals and international business expansions, green logistics models, and sustainability initiatives. A strong advocate of knowledge sharing, he has developed over 30 e-learning modules and regularly delivers talks on climate change, supply chain strategy, and energy transition.