From the public sector insurers, Madhulika Bhaskar, general manager and acting in charge of New India Assurance(NIA) was the lone candidate to have appeared for the interview.
Some of the private sector professionals who had appeared for the interview today are-TA Ramalingam, Bajaj Allianz General Insurance, Sanjeev Mathur, Cholamandalam MS General Insurance, Anurag Rastogi. HDFC Ergo General Insurance, Thomas Devasia, Marsh India Broking
New Delhi:
The government finally held the interviews of short listed candidates, totally dominated by the private sector insurers, on Thursday for appointing a new member, Non-Life, in Hyderabad based Insurance Regulatory Development of Authority(IRDAI).
With a major shift in preference by IRDAI’s new chairman Debasish Panda to rope in only private sector professionals instead of public sector officials for the industry’s key positions, TA Ramalingam of Bajaj Allianz General Insurance is leading the race to be appointed as IRDAI’s non-life member, said industry sources.
There can be always be a dark horse including Thomas Devasia of Marsh India Broking as there have been hectic lobbies among private sector candidates, before the interviews, to corner one of the important positions in the IRDAI, which only had been held by officials from the PSU general insurance companies, said sources.
Though, the post of member, non-life at IRDAI has always been a much sought after job for the senior management of the public sector general insurance companies as they can continue till 62 years of age, this is the first time only private sector professionals seem to be in the race for the post.
From the public sector insurers, Madhulika Bhaskar, general manager and acting-in-charge of New India Assurance(NIA) was the lone candidate to have appeared for the interview.
Some of the private sector professionals, who had appeared for the interviews today are-Ramalingam, Sanjeev Mathur, Cholamandalam MS General Insurance, Anurag Rastogi. an actuary at HDFC Ergo General Insurance and Devasia, Marsh India Broking.
Incidentally, all these private sector professionals had actually started their careers with some PSU general insurers at certain point of time and had joined private sector after 2000.
Earlier, Anjan Dey, CMD, Oriental Insurance Company(OIC), who had applied for the post, had withdrawn his application.
Ramalingam is currently chief technical officer for Pune based Bajaj Allianz General Insurance. In his current role, he is responsible for managing motor and non-motor underwriting, claims, risk management and re-insurance for the organisation.
Prior to this, he handled company’s distribution channels and strategic tie-ups as chief distribution officer for institutional sales.
The post was advertised in January of this year much before T Alamelu, member, Non-Life, IRDAI retired on June 6.
The designated Financial Sector Regulatory Appointment Search Committee (FSRASC), headed by the cabinet secretary Rajiv Gauba, along with other members including Panda had conducted the interviews in New Delhi.
This is the first in-person interview was conducted by the government for the insurance sector since Covid-19 Pandemic hit the nation in March 2020.
In a major shift from the earlier two-decade long practices, IRDAI under Panda is now preferring private sector professionals over public sector officials for key appointments at the insurance regulator and other institutions like Insurance Information Bureau(IIB), General Insurance Council(GI Council).
“This is the reason why not many including a few CMDs from the PSU general insurance sector applied for the post,” said sources.
One of the eligibility criteria for the post for a private sector professional was that he or she should preferably have worked at the level of functional head at a level which is at least one level immediately below the board level of company.
Earlier, Rakesh Joshi, who had worked with SBI Caps, a subsidiary of state owned State Bank of India though runs on private sector principles, was appointed as a member, Finance and Accounts(F&A) at IRDAI.
The post of member, Life, at IRDA has also fallen vacant after K Ganesh retired in July end and advertisement for a new member also has also been done by the government.
The post of member life at Irdai has always been the exclusive domain of the state owned Life Insurance Corporation for the last 22 years.