Some of the officials who are appearing for a virtual interview are- N Ramaswamy, general manager, GIC Re, Hitesh Joshi, general manger, GIC Re, M Rajeswari Singh, general manger & director, United India Insurance, BS Rahul, general manger, Agriculture Insurance Company and others

Ministry of finance sources expected Rajeswari Singh may be chosen for NIC while Ramaswamy may be selected for GIC Re

New Delhi:

On Tuesday, the Financial Services Institution Bureau (FSIB), the government’s head hunting agency for the top posts of state owned bank and insurers, will be interviewing  four shortlisted senior officials of different PSU general insurance companies and GIC Re to select CMDs for Mumbai based reinsurer GIC Re and Kolkata based National Insurance Company(NIC) .

Four shortlisted senior officials who are appearing for a virtual interview are- N Ramaswamy, general manager, GIC Re, Hitesh Joshi, general manger, GIC Re, M Rajeswari Singh, general manger & director, United India Insurance, BS Rahul, general manger, Agriculture Insurance Company.

The fifth shortlisted candidate Smita Srivastav, GMD, New India Assurance, had pulled out of the race voluntarily.

The results of the interview will be known by same day evening.

One of the basic criteria of shortlisting of names for CMD posts is that the candidates need to have two years of residual services by the time vacancies happen.

The post of CMD at GIC Re will fall vacant after Devesh Srivastav completes his 4-year tenure in September end after reaching 60 while NIC CMD post needs to be filled up after Suchita Gupta calls it a day in August end.

For two posts of CMDs, the government normally shortlists seven to eight candidates for the interviews. But for two CMD posts in GIC Re and NIC, it has only shortlisted four candidates.

Among the candidates, Rajeswari Singh is the senior most while Joshi is the junior most and both have longer tenure of services till 2027.

Except Joshi, the other three have already appeared for interviews for the selection of CMDs earlier.

Ministry sources expected Rajeswari Singh may be chosen for NIC while Ramaswamy may be selected for GIC Re.

Normally, the government in recent years has preferred to choose a GIC Re insider to head the institution as the person needs to have reinsurance expertise to run the global company which is Asia’s third largest reinsurer.

According to sources, going by the earlier practices, the coveted CMD post of GIC Re will either go to Ramaswamy or Joshi.

After top posts in GIC Re and NIC get filled up , the Indian general insurance industry will see next round of CMD vacancies in 2024 when Satyajit Tripathy, CMD, United India Insurance and Neerja Kapur, CMD, New India Insurance, will be ending their tenures in the first half the year.

Ministry of Finance sources said that the FSIB is holding the interview for the top posts of GIC Re and NIC much in advance so that all official time consuming formalities will be completed and selected candidates should be getting their appointment letters by the time vacancies are happening.

After FSIB selects the candidates,  names will be sent to the department of financial services (DFS) which will start obtaining vigilance clearance or reports regarding ongoing/contemplated inquiry or investigation or proceeding, if any, against the recommended person from various bodies like Central Vigilance Commission(CVC) before seeking approval of Appoint Committee of Cabinet(ACC) headed by the Prime Minister .

FSIB, constituted under Bhanu Pratap Sharma, former secretary, Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) has three insurance experts, Girija Kumar, former CMD of OIC, Sujay Banarji, former member of IRDAI and Usha Sangwan, former MD of Life Insurance Corporation(LIC).

Along with these three experts, the panel will have Debasish Panda, chairman, IRDAI and Vivek Joshi, secretary, Department of Financial services(DFS).