New Delhi/Bhubaneswar: Odisha-cadre IAS officer Tuhin Kanta Pandey will succeed Madhabi Puri Buch as the next Chairman of the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi).
The term of India’s first woman Sebi chief ends on March 1, 2025.
The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet has confirmed Pandey’s tenure for three years. He will be the eleventh person to head the markets regulator since its establishment in 1988.
Pandey will take on the mantle at a particularly challenging time with stock markets witnessing a slide after the withdrawal of over Rs 1 lakh crore by Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) since January, influenced by rupee depreciation, rising US bond yields, and a lackluster earning season.
Speaking to the media, he said: “The Government has given the responsibility. I will go there and join…” He, however, declines questions on his priority areas. “I will not speak at this moment, let me first assume charge,” he added.
Let’s know more about the new chief of the country’s market regulator:
1. Currently, he is the senior-most bureaucrat in the Finance Ministry and heads the Department of Revenue.
2. He was one of the key figures in shaping the Union Budget 2025, which provided Rs 1 lakh crore in tax relief to the middle class.
3,. He was also involved in the drafting of the new Income Tax Bill aimed at replacing the 64-year-old Income Tax Act, 1961.
4. Pandey is one of the longest-serving secretaries in DIPAM and was instrumental in the privatisation of Air India in January 2022.
5. He played a key role in the initial public offering of LIC Ltd. He also oversaw the privatisation process of IDBI Bank.
6. He served as deputy secretary in the Ministry of Commerce, and joint secretary at the Planning Commission. He, for a brief period, also worked with the Ministry of Civil Aviation.
7. The 1987-batch IAS officer has led various key departments in Odisha including Finance, Health, General Administration, Commercial Taxes, and Transport.
8. In the early part of his career, he worked as Executive Director & Managing Director of Odisha State Finance Corporation (OSFC) and Odisha Small Industries Corporation (OSIC) respectively.
9. He was Collector and District Magistrate of Sambalpur district.
10. Pandey holds a master’s degree in economics from Panjab University, Chandigarh, and an MBA from the University of Birmingham.