Lucknow: N Franklin Jayakumar assumed charge as chairman-cum-managing director (CMD) of Northern Coalfields Limited (NCL), the Singrauli-based subsidiary of Coal India Limited, on Tuesday.Jayakumar is a mining professional with over 34 years of experience in mechanised underground and opencast coal and lignite mining operations in India and abroad.Before joining NCL, he served as Director (Technical), Operations, at South Eastern Coalfields Limited (SECL), where he led the company to record coal production, offtake and overburden removal, besides driving mine modernisation and mechanisation.At SECL, he also spearheaded sustainability initiatives in solar power, green mobility, coal gasification and energy storage, and promoted technology-led automation and transparency in coal sampling.Earlier, Jayakumar held various positions at Neyveli Lignite Corporation India Limited (NLC), including Executive Director/Coal Coordination and Project Head of Talabira II&III Mines.A graduate in Mining Engineering from the College of Engineering, Guindy, Anna University, Chennai, he holds a Post Graduate Diploma in Environmental Engineering and Management from Central University, Hyderabad, and an MBA in Human Resource Management from Alagappa University, Tamil Nadu.Jayakumar began his career with Singareni Collieries Company Limited, working in mechanised underground and opencast mines. He later headed mining operations at a coal mine in Indonesia before joining NLC India, where he held several operational and technical positions, including heading the Lignite-to-Methanol Project.
