New Delhi:
The government on Thursday has appointed SN Rajeswari,58,general manager,New India Assurance(NIA),as the CMD of Delhi based Oriental Insurance Company.Rajeswari will take over as CMD of OIC on Monday.
After Appointment of Committee of Cabinet(ACC) cleared Rajeswari for top post at OIC on Thursday,the ministry of finance will formally notify her appointment shortly.
“Rajeswari has been appointed as the CMD of OIC in the scale of pay of Rs 2,05,400-2,24.400 for a period from the date of notification of her appointment till the date of superannuation ie 31st May 2022,’’ said a official order issued by the department of personnel & Training..
Earlier, the Banks Board Bureau (BBB),the high ranking government panel to choose the CEOs of state owned banks and insurance companies, had had recommended Rajeswari’s name to the government for the OIC after conducting virtual interviews of five senior general managers of the public sector general insurance industry on May 26 and . .
Considering the existing financial conditions of OIC,Rajeswari has a number of challengers to face from the day one. Now that the government has shelved the merger of three PSU general insurnace companies,including OIC,she has to revive the fortune of OIC which is almost losing its fourth position in the industry to ICICI Lombard General Insurance,said industry observers.
Rajeswari,a qualified charted accountant, had started her career as an insurer with the Chennai base United India Insurance(UII) and was later shifted to NIA as a deputy general manager(DGM).
Interestingly, when Rajeswari had appeared for the interview on May 26, the proposed merger of three state owned general insurers, OIC, United India Insurance(UII) and National Insurance Company(NIC), was still on but was called off afterwards.
While announcing the move to scrap the two-year old merger proposal, the government had decided to infuse a fresh capital of Rs 10,000 crore into three financially ailing general insurance companies and chart out their turn-around by putting in place stringent Key Performance Areas (KPA).