Renowned industrialists Kumar Mangalam Birla and Y C Deveshwar were today appointed as non-official independent directors in Air India, an official order said.

It is perhaps for the first time that big industrialists like them have been named on the board of a public sector enterprise, officials said.

Birla heads the $ 44.3 billion multinational Aditya Birla Group, which operates in 35 countries across six continents.

Deveshwar is the chairman of ITC, a Kolkata-based company having diversified business in Fast Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG) sector and hotels among others.

The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi approved the appointment of Birla and Deveshwar as non-official independent directors in Air India for a period of three years, the order issued by Personnel Ministry said.

Besides them, Shyamvir Saini and Gurmohinder Singh will be non-official independent directors in National Seeds Corporation Ltd and Bharat Earth Movers Limited respectively.

Arun Tandon has been appointed non-official director in Balmer Lawrie and Co Ltd, the order said without citing any details about these people.

Tapan Kumar Mandal has been named non-official independent directors in Kolkata Metro Rail Corporation Ltd, the order said.

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