He is a consummate bridge player. Irrespective of pressures, Sarthak Behuria, 53, who took over as chairman and managing director of India's largest oil company, Indian Oil Corporation, on March 1, shuffles a pack of cards with friends.
Indeed, Behuria has represented Bharat Petroleum Corporation, where he is currently chairman and managing director, at bridge matches and won trophies. He says playing bridge is similar to running a department or corporation.
Explains Behuria: "It's a game of partnership, understanding and winning."
Certainly, he brought some understanding to his job of running India's smallest but smartest state-owned refining and marketing company during the last two years.
Behuria's initiatives during his tenure at BPCL will have a long-term impact on the company. A couple of years ago, BPCL had flirted with the idea of entering the lucrative oil exploration business but decided against this and stuck to what it knows best, marketing.
Behuria, who was part of the team that made BPCL a smart marketing company, took the plunge into the exploration business. BPCL has been awarded two exploration and development blocks from which it will see profits gushing once oil is extracted a few years from now.
Another development under Behuria's watch that will have a long-term impact on the company is the merger of Kochi Refinery with BPCL. The merger will help BPCL increase the refining capacity under its control and reduce its dependence on imported petroleum products.
Still, his critics say that most of the changes that were introduced at BPCL were done by his predecessor, U Sunderarajan, and that Behuria reaped the rewards of Sunderarajan's initiatives.
But Behuria is known as a man who has an ability to connect with people and is widely regarded as extremely intelligent, and ambitious.
"He has an ability to network and has political connections," says one senior BPCL executive. Adds another: "He is not cowed by pressures. I have rarely seen him get excited, not even when deadlines are close," says a confidante and a colleague.
Behuria will be changing jobs for the first time in his life when he joins IOC. He has worked at BPCL for over three decades, ever since he passed out of the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad, and joined the company (then Burma Shell) as a management trainee.
His years in personnel, sales, distribution, marketing and coordination at the industry level have helped Behuria hone his skills. When he was executive director (sales) in 1995, BPCL undertook a massive upgradation of retail outlets.
As marketing director, Behuria further pushed marketing initiatives like the 'Pure for Sure' slogan and the introduction of high octane fuels, something that was later emulated by other oil companies.
Those marketing skills will be of help at IOC. The oil giant is not widely regarded as being market savvy but as a follower rather than a leader.
Behuria is likely to change that. But IOC will be a challenge for him -- IOC executives would have preferred an insider as chairman and managing director. A former boss and friend of Behuria's notes that he'll now have to interact much more with the government.
Adds a mid-level IOC executive who does not wish to be identified: "BPCL has a much smaller pipelines division, and has no petrochemicals business. IOC presents a bigger canvas for him."
And perhaps a chance at playing a higher stake bridge game?
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