Out of five existing managing directors, three including MD and CEO Siddarth Mohanty will be retiring by the first week of June
It is expected that the FSIB will conduct interview for selecting a new MD & CEO in place of Mohanty in June after two new MDs,Dinesh Pant and Ratnakar Patnaik, take over their positions
New Delhi/ Mumbai: Life Insurance Corporation(LIC), after almost over two years, will witness a major make over of its top management, within a month, with a new team, that will steer Rs 60 trillion listed life insurance behemoth amidst tougher challenges and competition in the industry.
Out of five existing managing directors of the state owned corporation, three including MD and CEO Siddarth Mohanty will be retiring by the first week of June.
In Apr, 2023, the government had appointed Mohanty as the chairman of the corporation till June, 2024,and MD and chief executive officer till June 6, 2025 when he will turn 62.
The amendments that were incorporated into LIC Act, before it was listed in May, 2022, had stipulated that the corporation like state owned banks will be run by a MD&CEO along with other four MDs while its board will be headed by a non-executive chairman.
However, the government is yet to appoint a non-executive chairman, after Mohanty became LIC’s MD&CEO.
Also the post amendment, the retirement age of MD & CEO of LIC was extended up to 62 while for the rest of MDs, it remained at 60.
Moreover, Mohanty will be the last head of LIC who is in the rank and pay of secretary to Government of India(GoI) but his successor will be in the rank of additional secretary on par with the post of MD& CEO of PSU banks.
Among the whole state owned financial institutions, only the posts of chairman of State Bank of India as well as LIC used to enjoy the rank of secretary but after LIC’s chairman has been divided into two posts- non-executive chairman and MD & CEO- now only SBI’s chairman remains on par with GoI’s secretary.
The other two MDs, who will be hanging their boots in the month end after reaching 60, are- M. Jagannath and Tablesh Pandey .
The FSIB, the head hunting agency for selecting officials above executive directors of state owned financial institutions, has already selected Ratnakar Patnaik, ED, and Dinesh Pant, ED and appointed actuary, as two new MDs of the corporation in Feb and they are waiting for the approvals of the Appointment Committee of Cabinet.
Dinesh Pant, ED and appointed actuary
It is expected that the FSIB will conduct interview of all MDs for selecting a new MD & CEO in place of Mohanty in June after Patnaik and Pant take over their new positions.
The amendment had also stipulated that the new MD & CEO of LIC can only be chosen among existing MDs and unlike earlier times when EDs had also been promoted as chairman of the corporation.
The MDs who will be appearing for the FSIB interview are-Sat Pal Bhanoo, Ramachandran Doraiswamy, Pant and Patnaik.
Ratnakar Patnaik, ED,LIC
MoF sources said it is likely that Sat Pal Bhanoo, the senior most MD, after Mohanty retires, will be appointed as acting MD&CEO of the corporation till a regular MD & CEO is selected and approved by the ACC.
Bhanoo, who will be retiring in Dec,2025 after reaching 60, being the senior most MD, also has a good chance to become the regular MD and CEO of the corporation till he reaches 62.
Bhanoo has also replaced GP Gupta as LIC’s nominee director in IDBI Bank since 10 Feb.
Barring a few rare cases, the government has always stuck to principle of seniority while selecting LIC’s top functionaries in the last 25 years.
In the new team, Patnaik will be the junior most MD with a term till May 2028 and will be a formidable candidate to succeed Mohanty’s successor in the corporation.
Sri Ratnakar Pattanayak will be the best MD & CEO of LIC keeping in mind his past performance and service left till 6/2028
I think Sri Ratnakar Patnaik will be best candidate for LIC’s MD & CEO because he is the youngest & he has lot of experience in various departments of LIC. He knows how to work with friendly relations.
Thanks
The minimum tenure of MD &CEO should be more than 2-3 years, considering the same selection should happen
The youngest MD with required experience can fetch the corporation to higher levels, Shri Ratnakar patnaik must be the ultimate choice.
Mr Sat Pal Bhanoo is the hottest candidate for this prestigious post
LIC is suffering many legacy issues.The monolith is unable to dance, given its XXL size.
Its shining with its past government backed PSU glory, but not in tune with the Global Insurance Market standards. A simple walk in to any of its nodal operational units, viz Branch Offices, will vouch for such glaring CRM deficit scenario.
It’s yet to embrace any global benchmark standards like 6 sigma, ISO etc., when it comes to CRM services delivery. It has no standardised CRM protocols, to cater to its vast base of Policy Holders in its day- to- day operations.
It’s still using legacy struck in-house #COBOL codes, for its transactions processing under a freeware LINUX environment.
It’s an irony that it’s still rated as the best IT User brand.
Since y2k LIC has not walked tall to embrace any standards in its Agency, HR, SW operations but still struck with legacy issues wrt training it’s manpower upskilling, resulting in tardy service delivery in its Branches.
All its Chairmen have been from its Vintage pool of officers, who would have joined its ranks after about three decades of climbing up it’s hierarchy, thus not able to think out of the box, to scale it up to international standards.
It’s in dire need of a proven technocrat, young, dynamic and change maker as it was with UIDAI’s Nanden NILKENI, who had transformed the KYC process of a large Indian population.
Some such wonders are needed for LIC, so as not to get struck with its senile Board and bureaucracy.
A Visionary leader with proven go getting “gung ho” is the need of the hour for LIC Next!
Good Luck LIC NEXT!
R. Pattanaik is the best deserving candidate for the CEO, as he has got sufficient experience in different field of LIC.
Mr Satpal Bhanoo is the most appropriate personality for this esteemed position
I think Sat Pal Bhanoo is most experienced and suitable candidate to take the corporation to new heights.