Debasish Panda, a retired IAS officer, and former financial services secretary has been appointed chairperson of the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDAI.)
Panda’s appointment as chairperson of the insurance regulator was approved by the Cabinet Appointments Committee (ACC) for a three-year term.
Panda, a 1987-batch IAS officer from the Uttar Pradesh cadre, retired as financial services secretary in January this year after a two-year tenure. Panda’s appointment to IRDAI comes at a time when the government has announced the IPO of the Life Insurance Corporation of India, the country’s largest insurer, though the plan has been put on hold due to the ongoing Russia-Ukraine conflict.
The vacancy was created about nine months ago when Subhash Chandra Khuntia’s term expired in May 2021.
The name is suggested by the Financial Sector Regulatory Appointments Search Committee (FSRASC), which is chaired by the cabinet secretary, as per the procedure for the appointment of regulators.
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