MUMBAI/NEW DELHI: Government on Thursday named finance secretary Tuhin Kanta Pandey as the new Sebi chairman, opting for a civil servant to once again lead the market regulator after current chairperson Madhabi Puri Buch, a former ICICI Bank executive, faced controversies, including allegations of conflict of interest. Buch’s term ends on Friday.
Pandey, who turns 60 in August, has been given a 3-year term at Sebi. This marks another instance of a serving bureaucrat being appointed to a regulatory post before retirement. Barring Puri Buch, the other 10 Sebi chiefs have either been IAS officers or have come from the public sector.
Once Pandey takes charge, three of four financial regulators will be led by IAS officers, with pension regulator Dipak Mohanty (an ex-RBI executive director) being sole exception. The 1987-batch IAS officer has had a long stint in the finance ministry, having served as secretary in the department of investment and public asset management (DIPAM) for five years.
During that period, he was involved with privatisation of Air India and involved with several public issues by public sector companies, exposing him to stock markets. In Jan, weeks before the Budget, Pandey was moved to the revenue department.
The soft-spoken officer, who hails from Punjab, holds a master’s degree in economics and had served as finance secretary in Odisha and was earlier in Planning Commission. He also holds an MBA from the University of Birmingham.
Pandey is known to be a stickler for rules and has a very clean image. Not shy to speak his mind, he makes his point, without offending anyone. One of the first tasks before him would be to deal with staff challenges, which came to the fore during Puri Buch’s tenure, when Sebi employees held a demonstration at the agency’s BKS headquarters, in what was seen as a revolt against new HR policies. He has to restore the confidence among stakeholders that the Sebi chief is impartial.