The names of Ajay Sheth, who have been appointed as finance secretary just a few days back, Girdhar Armane, former Defense Secretary , Pankaj Jain, Petroleum secretary are still in the reckoning though it is unlikely that the government will now shift Sheth from the top job of the Ministry of Finance(MoF) to the IRDAI

From the private sector Thomas Devasia, former member , Non-Life, IRDAI and RM Vishaka, former MD & CEO , IndiaFirst Life have also applied along with a few others

New Delhi: As the last date, 6th April, for applying the post of IRDAI chairman just got over, the Indian insurance industry is agog with the set of next possible developments- who is donning the hat and how quickly the government is appointing a new head at the Hyderabad based insurance regulator.

The post had fallen vacant after Debasish Panda completed his three-year tenure on Mar 13 and government had advertised for the post just around that time.

Almost, all names of the heavy weight bureaucrats, whose names have been doing rounds for the IRDAI job for some time, continue with additions of couple of new names.

The names of Ajay Sheth, who have been appointed as Finance Secretary just a few a days back, Girdhar Armane, former Defense Secretary , Pankaj Jain, Petroleum Secretary are still in the reckoning though it is unlikely that the government will now shift Sheth from the top job of the Ministry of Finance(MoF) to the IRDAI.

Apparently, from the private sector, Thomas Devasia, former member , Non-Life, IRDAI and RM Vishaka, former MD & CEO , IndiaFirst Life, have thrown their hats in the ring along with a few others.

Another bureaucrat, who seems to have joined the race of late, for the IRDAI job is Sriram Taranikanti, director of the Lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy of Administration (LBSNAA), Mussoorie, a premier training institution for the civil services in India.

A 1992-batch IAS officer, Taranikanti belongs to Tripura cader and had served as an execuitive dirtector of IRDAI for five years between 2011-2016.

Taranikant’s predecessor at IRDAI was Armane.

Industry observers say it is unlikely that the government will take that long, 11 months, to get a new person, which it had taken after Subhas Khuntia, Panda’s predecessor, retired in May 2021.

Industry sources point out that both PMO and Ministry of Finance are very concerned about the falling insurance penetration and high cost of health insurance and want to ensure appointment of a new IRDAI chairman quickly to address these issues affecting the common man.

Also, though, the Financial Sector Regulatory Appointments Search Committee (FSRASC) headed by Cabinet Secretary, does the ground work like shortlisting and interviewing of candidates for selecting any regulator in the financial sector services, the government will unlikely to follow normal procedures and instead announce a name who may not have applied for the IRDA job.

In an indication, going by the trend of recent appointments- Sanjay Malhotra as Governor RBI, Tuhin Kanta Pandey as Chairman of Sebi, S Ramann as PFRDA chairperson, who are all below 60, government will prefer to have a younger person at the IRDAI also.

The new IRDAI chairman will have a heavy agenda from the day one as Insurance Amendment Bill 2025, allowing 100 per cent FDI along with host of other reforms including composite license is getting ready by the MoF and may be tabled during its monsoon session of the Parliament .

Besides, two of the IRDAI’s game changing moves-Bima Sugam and Bima Vistaar have missed their deadlines go live , need to be expediated with the involvement of the new IRDAI chairman.

With a new CEO , Chief Technology Officer(CTO) and Chief Financed Officer, Bima Sugam’s funding programme is not complete yet for its smooth functioning.