New Delhi, Feb 27: On Thursday, the government appointed Finance Secretary Tuhin Kanta Pandey as the 11th chairman of the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI), the capital market regulator.
Pandey, an officer from the Odisha cadre of the Indian Administrative Service (IAS), will succeed Madhabi Puri Buch, who concludes her three-year term on Friday (February 28).
According to a government order released late Thursday evening, the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet approved Pandey’s appointment as SEBI chairman, effective from the date he takes charge, with an initial tenure of three years.
He will assume leadership of SEBI amidst challenging market conditions, marked by significant selling pressure from foreign institutional investors (FIIs), with foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) withdrawing over Rs 1 lakh crore since January.
As a senior officer from the 1987 IAS batch, Pandey is currently the most senior official in the Ministry of Finance, managing the Department of Revenue.
Previously, he held the longest tenure as secretary of the Department of Investment and Public Asset Management (DIPAM), which oversees government equity in public sector companies, and also served in the Department of Public Enterprises (DPE).
On January 9, Pandey took charge of the revenue department after Sanjay Malhotra was appointed as the governor of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI). He played a significant role in shaping the 2025-26 Budget, which provided tax relief totaling Rs 1 lakh crore for the middle class. He was also involved in drafting the new Income Tax Bill aimed at replacing the long-standing Income Tax Act, 1961.
During his over-five-year tenure at DIPAM (October 24, 2019, to January 8, 2025), Pandey advanced disinvestment initiatives of CPSEs as part of the public sector enterprises (PSE) policy designed to decrease government involvement across various sectors of the economy.
His efforts were crucial in the privatization of Air India, with the Tata group emerging as the successful bidder on October 8, 2021, offering Rs 18,000 crore. The Tata group officially took ownership on January 27, 2022.
Pandey also managed the privatization processes for IDBI Bank, with bidders currently in the due diligence phase.
He holds an MA in economics from Punjab University, Chandigarh, and an MBA from the University of Birmingham (UK), having served in multiple capacities within the government of Odisha and the government of India.
Early in his career, Pandey was the administrative head in several departments including health, general administration, commercial taxes, transport, and finance, in addition to roles like executive director of the Odisha State Finance Corporation and managing director of the Odisha Small Industries Corporation.
At the central level, his past roles encompass Joint Secretary at the Planning Commission (now NITI Aayog), Joint Secretary at the Cabinet Secretariat, and Deputy Secretary in the Ministry of Commerce. (Agencies)
