Securities & Exchange Board of India (Sebi) chairman U K Sinha will get a two-year extension, after his three-year term as the market regulator comes to an end. Sinha will now head Sebi till 2016 to provide continuity. This is an achievement for Sinha, the eighth chairman of Sebi, considering none of its past three chiefs – C B Bhave, M Damodaran and G N Bajpai – managed to get extension. The move comes at a time when markets are impacted by global cues and the country is going for general elections, possibly by the middle of April. Sinha has been instrumental in taking steps for the revival of the mutual fund industry, introduction of electronic initial public offerings, new category of foreign investors and more stringent corporate governance norms among other decisions. Prior to this, Sinha was chairman & managing director of UTI Asset Management Company. A former Indian Administrative Services officer from the Bihar cadre, Sinha brings with him several years of experience in the financial sector.