S.S.V. Ramakumar
Indian Oil Corporation Ltd.
Director, Research & Development
S.S.V. Ramakumar is Director (Research & Development) on the Board of Indian Oil Corporation Ltd. (IndianOil), a Fortune 500 company. With a doctorate in chemistry from IIT-Roorkee (erstwhile University of Roorkee), Dr. Ramakumar has more than three decades of uninterrupted R&D experience in downstream hydrocarbon sector, notably in the areas of lubricant technology, refinery process research streams, including catalyst development. He is instrumental in developing India's home-grown, OEM-approved marine lubricant technology, which catapulted IndianOil's SERVO lubes into the select league of five MNC oil companies. He spearheaded the complete indigenization of IndianOil’s flagship resid up-gradation technology- INDMAX by way of developing in-house catalyst for the process. Under his able guidance, IndianOil has developed bouquet of technologies for producing BS VI quality fuels in the refineries. He spearheaded the fastest ever development and commercial deployment of Indane Nanocut high-therm metal-cutting gas and on-purpose technologies like Octamax for octane enhancement of MS pool and differentiated LPG for domestic applications. He is leading a team of scientist to develop cutting-edge solutions in energy storage (batteries), hydrogen and fuel cells, and solar energy. Dr. Ramakumar is currently steering the setting up of Centre of Excellences in Alternative Energy, nanotechnology, and Synthetic Biotechnology & Corrosion Research at the second R&D campus of IndianOil. He has over 150 research publications in peer-reviewed national/international journals and 133 national and international patents besides winning several prestigious awards for presenting the best research papers in international conferences. Dr. Ramakumar is also a board member of Lanzatech, USA; Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB); and the Oil Industry Development Board (OIDB), besides presiding the activities of industry bodies like Society for Petroleum Laboratories and India Energy Forum. He is also currently a member of Executive Council of PCRA, National APEX Council of Prime Minister Research Fellowship Scheme for doctoral programme, and the Nano Applications and Technology Advisory Group (NATAG). He is the convener of Methanol utilization task force constituted by NITI Aayog, Adjunct Professor at Institute of Chemical Energy, Mumbai and Bhubaneswar Campuses, and Senate Member of IIT-Delhi. Dr. Ramakumar also heads the DBT – IOC Bio-Energy Research Centre and is on the Governing Council of International Centre for Genetic Engineering and Bio-technology (ICGEB), Governing Council member for Centre of Excellence in Advanced Biofuels and Biocommodities, and Governing Council member of Centre of Excellence in Oil, Gas & Energy, IIT Mumbai. Several national scientific societies like International Council of Internal Combustion Engines – India Chapter (CIMAC INDIA), Indian Society of Fuels and Lubricants (ISFL), Tribology Society of India (TSI) are currently being presided over by Dr.Ramakumar. In his long career, Dr. Ramakumar received many prestigious awards like NPMP, FIPI, NRDC, AIIMA Innovation, Bangalore Nano, and World Petroleum Congress (WPC) excellence award for various technologies he developed at IndianOil.
