Another Odia Gets Top Job, Siddhartha Mohanty Appointed LIC’s Acting Chairperson

New Delhi: Siddhartha Mohanty, who is currently serving as the managing director (MD) of Life Insurance Corporation (LIC), has been appointed as its Acting Chairperson for three months from March 14.

He will continue to carry out his existing duties apart from being the interim chairman.

In a stock exchange filing, LIC announced: ““We advise that in view of the completion of term of Kumar as Chairperson of LIC of India, on March 13, 2023, the Ministry of Finance has conveyed the approval of the Competent Authority, for entrusting financial and administrative powers and functions of Chairperson, LIC in the interim to Siddhartha Mohanty, Managing Director in addition to his own duties, for a period of three months, with effect from 14th March, 2023, or till assumption of the charge by the regular appointee to the said post, or until further orders, whichever is the earliest.”

There was speculation that Kumar might get one more extension. He got two extensions — one from July 2021 to March 2022 and one from April 2022 to March 2023 – after the government amended the LIC (Staff) regulations and increased the superannuation age to 62 for the chairperson. It was mainly done to get LIC listed on the stock exchange.

Mohanty is a post graduate in Political Science with a degree in Law. He also holds a post-graduation in Business Management and a Licentiate from the Insurance Institute of India. He started his career as a direct recruit officer with LIC in 1985 and has risen through the ranks to this senior position. He earlier served the company’s Chief Operating Officer (COO) and was appointed as the MD on February 1, 2021, till his superannuation on June 30, 2023.

Notably, the current RBI Governor, Shaktikanta Das, is perhaps the first person from Odisha, that too from a non-economist background, to head the top bank of the country. Similarly, RBI deputy governor Michael Debabrata Patra, a native of Cuttack, has been reappointed for a period of one year with effect from January 15, 2023.