NEW DELHI: India has appointed Tuhin Kanta Pandey, (pic) the top bureaucrat in its Finance Ministry, to head the country’s capital markets regulator, according to a government notification Thursday (Feb 27).
The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet has approved Pandey’s appointment initially for a period of three years, it said. Pandey would replace Madhabi Puri Buch, whose term ends Feb. 28, as chairman of the Securities and Exchange Board of India.
Pandey will become the second czar from Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government to be assigned a powerful role in the financial hub of Mumbai, after his colleague in charge of revenue policies assumed the post of central bank governor a few weeks earlier.
A career bureaucrat, Pandey is currently India’s Finance Secretary. He oversees the revenue department that is responsible for collection of taxes.
Buch, who was an investment banker-turned-regulator, had a tumultuous term marked by allegations from shortseller Hindenburg Research of conflict of interest in investigating the Adani Group. Buch has denied the allegations.
She also oversaw a sweeping overhaul of regulations pertaining to equity derivatives trading in India, which emerged as the world’s top destination for such instruments during her term. - Bloomberg
