Finance Secretary Tuhin Kanta Pandey has been appointed chairman of the country’s capital markets regulator the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI).

Mr Pandey’s tenure will be for a period of three years. He will be replacing Madhabi Puri Buch, whose term ends this month.

Tuhin Kanta Pandey takes over the reins at SEBI at a time when the stock markets are witnessing a slide after the withdrawal by Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs). Foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) have withdrawn more than Rs 1 lakh crore since January.

SEBI is also trying to expand the regulated financial investment options available to investors while also trying to curb volatility and malpractice in the derivative market.

Who Is Tuhin Kanta Pandey?

– Tuhin Kanta Pandey is an IAS officer from the 1987 batch of the Odisha cadre. He was appointed as the finance secretary in September 2024. He is also the longest-serving divestment secretary.

– Mr Pandey also served as the head of the Department of Investment and Public Asset Management (DIPAM). Previously, he was appointed as the district collector in Sambalpur, deputy secretary in the Ministry of Commerce, and joint secretary at the Planning Commission. He, for a brief period, also worked with the Ministry of Civil Aviation.

– Tuhin Kanta Pandey played a key role in the listing of the country’s largest insurer, Life Insurance Corporation of India.

– He was also instrumental in the government’s successful sale of Air India to the Tata Group in January 2022.

– Mr Pandey holds a master’s degree in Economics from Panjab University, Chandigarh. He did his MBA at the University of Birmingham.