The name of Sanjeev Mathur, 1987 batch of Oriental Insurance Company(OIC), who has been working with Cholamandalam General Insurance after quitting state- owned OIC in early 2000 ,is current doing the round for the post of member, Non-Life, IRDAI

There are now moves to bring in a private sector professional as the secretary general of GI Council as the incumbent MN Sarma’s three year tenure is coming to an end in July end

New Delhi/Hyderabad/Mumbai:

The two-decade long hold of public sector insurance officials over the posts of members in the insurance regulator IRDAI and secretary generals in both the councils, General Insurance Council and Life Insurance Council, may now be coming to an end as the government and the IRDAI, for the first time, are now looking for private sector honchos to occupy these posts.

By all indications, the next member, Non-Life, IRDAI, will be picked up from the private sector insurance industry than the public sector companies by the government without even conducting any interviews.

The name of Sanjeev Mathur, a 1987 batch official of Oriental Insurance Company(OIC), who has been working with Cholamandalam General Insurance after quitting state- owned OIC in early 2000, is current doing the round for the post of member, Non-Life, IRDAI.

Industry observers say, though, the government had advertised for the post almost three months back as TL Alamelu, member ,Non-life, was retiring on May 6 and had received around 40 applications from various interested candidates, it has not held any interviews till now.

It may not hold any interview at all and may directly appoint Mathur as the member, Non-Life, IRDA as the Financial Sector Regulatory Appointment Search Committee (FSRASC) headed by Cabinet Secretary Rajiv Gauba, which selects members and chairmen of all financial sector regulatory bodies like, Sebi and IRDAI has the power to reject all the applications and can appoint somebody of its choice.

Earlier, Rakesh Joshi, member (Finance & Investment) was picked up in a similar manner. Joshi had never applied nor appeared for the interview though an interview was held, last year, where Mamta Suri, then a chief general manager along with few senior bankers and executive directors of Life Insurance Corporation had appeared, soon after Pravin Kumar Kutumbe. member,(Finance and Investment) completed his three year term and was not given further extension till the age of 62.

Joshi, though, had started with the country’s largest bank State Bank of India, had quit the bank to join the private sector and was working with SBI Capital markets at the time of his  appointment as one of the members of the IRDAI.

Since, it was set up in 2000, all the members of IRDAI have always been appointed from PSU insurers and banks.

But, government is now changing its mind to make the regulatory institutions more efficient and deliver desired results with talented professionals to achieve a Rs 5 trillion economy in couple of years..

Industry observers point out that no interviews were held for the top posts of regulatory bodies like Sebi and IRDAI as both Madhabi Puri Buch, chairman, Sebi, and Debasish Panda, chairman, IRDAI  were directly appointed recently by the government.

Unconfirmed report suggested that both of them had not even applied for these jobs.

Earlier, Anjan Dey, CMD, OIC and the senior most of CMD in the PSU general insurance industry had withdrawn his application for the post of member, Non-life, IRDAI.

Meanwhile, there are moves to bring in a private sector professional as the secretary general of Mumbai based GI Council as the incumbent MN Sarma’s three year tenure is coming to an end in July end.

Though, the post has been advertised already and some six-seven applications, mostly from the senior or retired PSU insurance officials, have been received, IRDA is keen that a dynamic private sector professional will be a right choice for the job to implement the new schemes of things as outlined by the new chairman.

For that the IRDA may also allow a quantum jump in the pay hike for the post which has currently a package of Rs 3.5 lakh per month.

As an indication about the amount of salary the post can offer to attract  right talents, the IRDAI has recently advertised the post of CEO of Hyderabad based Insurance Information Bureau of India(IIBI) with an annual salary package of Rs 1.5 crore, which is now carrying a annual package of Rs 40-50 lakhs.

Currently, all the terms and conditions and salary package for the post of GI Council’s secretary general, are being redrawn and post will be advertised again soon.

Sarma will be getting a few months of extension as secretary general as the appointment of his successor will get delayed now.

Earlier Panda had said GI Council and LI Council should be run by more hard- core professionals and do data crunching and industry research for the benefit of the industry, .

He had emphasised that the body like Insurance Information Bureau(IIB) and Indian Institute of Risk Management(IIRM) located in Hyderabad,  should more function for the industry and IRDAI shouldn’t own them.