New Delhi:
Ending month-long speculations,Atul Sahai,56, general manger,Oriental Insurance Company,has been appointed as the CMD of Mumbai based New India Assurance(NIA) the largest non-life company in the country,for four years.
Sahay has assumed his new charge in New Delhi on Tuesday.
“My overall agenda will be growth with profitability for the company. I will ensure differentiation of products with customers' delight,'' said Sahay to Asia Insurance Post after taking over his new charge .
Sahay had joined NIA in 1984 and would retire in 2022. He had moved to OIC in 2012 after getting promoted as a DGM.
He has managed all kinds portfolios of a general insurance company including technical ones. Besides, he has got a very good field experience, having extensively worked at divisional and regional offices of public sector insurance companies.
The Appointment Committee of Cabinet(ACC) headed by the Prime Minister decided about the appointment of Sahai on Monday .
“The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet (ACC) has approved the proposal of the Department of Financial Services for appointment of Atul Sahai, General Manager, Oriental Insurance Company Limited (OICL) as Chairman and Managing Director (CMD), New India Assurance Company Limited (NIACL) in the scale of pay of Rs. 2,05,400 — 2,24,400/- for a period of five years from the date of notification of his appointment or upto the date of his superannuation or until further orders whichever is the earliest,'' said an order by Depart of Personnel Training(DOPT) on Tuesday..
The ministry of finance will be issuing an formal order naming Sahai as the CMD of NIA on Tuesday,
The post had fallen vacant after G Srinivasan had retired in July end.
Sahai will have a lot of immediate and mid-term challanges, said analysts.
“Immediately, he has to arrest the declining performance of the company during last four months,'' said analysts.
Though the interview to fill up the post of NIA chief was done in May,the government had taken some time to finalise name.In Sept, the government had appointed Girish Radhakrishnan and Tajinder Mukherjee as the CMD of Uinted India Insurance and National Insurance Company(NIC) respectively.
Earlier, the government had considered to bring in a private sector professional to run NIA as it is a listed company. However, it dropped the idea as it couldn’t find a suitable candidate for the post.
The government has already announced further disinvestment in NIA that has to be completed in the current fiscal.