Ajay Seth appointed new IRDAI chairman

HYDERABAD: Ajay Seth, former finance secretary and department of economic affairs secretary, has been appointed the new chairman of the insurance regulator, Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDAI).Seth, who had been the frontrunner for the post, has been appointed IRDAI chairman for a period of three years or till he attains the age of 65 years, whichever is earlier.The appointment, approved by the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet, finally draws to a close the search for the top job at IRDAI, which had been lying vacant for over four months.The top post at IRDAI, which is headquartered in Hyderabad, fell vacant after Debashish Panda’s departure in mid-March this year, after the completion of his term.Seth takes the helm at IRDAI at a time when Panda’s departure left several key ongoing initiatives such as Bima Sugam, Bima Vistar and Bima Vaahaks hanging fire.Along with Seth, the others in the race for the IRDAI chief’s post included former defence secretary Giridhar Aramane, financial services department secretary M Nagaraju.A retired IAS officer of the 1987 batch from the Karnataka cadre, Seth retired as the finance secretary in June this year.

He has over three decades of experience in economic policy-making and was the officer-in-charge of the finance track during India’s G20 presidency.He has been focused on public finance, tax policy, public expenditure, budgeting, foreign investments, infrastructure funding, development financing, public-private partnerships, as well as the social sector.Seth is a BTech in mechanical engineering from IIT Roorkee and an MBA from the Ateneo de Manila University in Philippines.