Debasish Panda, chairman, IRDAI
The appointments committee of Cabinet (ACC) has approved the appointment of Panda, a former secretary, department of financial services, as chairman of the IRDAI for three years on Friday
New Delhi;
Finally, the government has appointed Debasish Panda,IAS,60, former secretary, department of financial services(DFS), ministry of finance(MoF) as the new chairman of Hyderabad based insurance regulator IRDAI.
Panda retired as financial services secretary in January this year after a two-year stint.
The appointments committee of Cabinet (ACC) has approved the appointment of Panda as chairman of the IRDAI for three years on Friday.
Panda is a 1987-batch IAS officer of the Uttar Pradesh cadre and has earlier served the MoF in different capacities including additional secretary, looking after Insurance and Financial Inclusion), secretary, DFS, for almost last four years before his retirement.
He was also in the board of IRDAI as a government nominee till a few months back was also in the board of Reserve Bank of India(RBI).
The post of chairmanship of IRDA had been lying vacant following Subhash Chandra Khuntia retired after completing his three- year tenure in May 07, 2021.
More than two dozens of candidates including many civil servants and current chairman of Life Insurance Corporation MR Kumar had applied for the post after the government had advertised for the post in May.
As per the procedure for the appointment of regulators, the name is suggested , with or without interview, by the Financial Sector Regulatory Appointments Search Committee (FSRASC) headed by the Cabinet Secretary.
Industry observers, who were earlier critical about a long delay in the appointment of a new IRDAI chairman, have opined that with good exposure to insurance and banking industry, Panda is a good choice for the top post of the IRDAI at this moment.
“Indian insurance Industry, which had a tough time during the last two years due to Covid-19 Pandemic, is now recovering fast and gaining momentum. Industry is now waiting for a lot of new measures in many areas for its efficient functioning and deepening insurance penetration in the country. Next three years will be a very crucial for the growth of the industry as the Modi government is targeting a $ 5 trillion domestic economy with a lot of headwinds,” said industry observers while welcoming Panda’s appointment in the IRDAI.
Panda himself had a short stint in the PSU insurance sector as an assistant administrative officer(AAO) in New India Assurance(NIA) between 1985-1987 before joining Indian Administrative Service.
IRDAI is a 10-member regulatory body consisting of a chairman, five whole-time members and four part-time members.
IRDAI is entrusted with the task of protecting the interest of insurance policyholders and bringing about speedy and orderly growth of the insurance industry (including annuity and superannuation payments), for the benefit of the common man and to provide long term funds for accelerating growth of the economy.