Govt appoints Finance Secretary Tuhin Kanta Pandey as next SEBI Chief

The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet has approved the appointment of Finance Secretary Tuhin Kanta Pandey as the new Chairman of SEBI (Securities and Exchange Board of India). Pandey will assume office for an initial tenure of three years.

“The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet has approved the appointment of Shri Tuhin Kanta Pandey, IAS (OR:1987), Finance Secretary and Secretary, Department of Revenue to the post of Chaiman, Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI), initially for a period of three years from the date of assumption of charge of the post or until further orders, whichever is earlier,” the government order stated.

A CNBC-TV18 report had earlier said that Pandey was among a list of contenders for the role. Ajay Seth – Secretary, the Department of Economic Affairs (DEA), Pankaj Jain – Secretary, the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas and KC Varshney – Whole-Time Member, SEBI, were other contenders, according to the CNBC-TV18 report.

In January, the government invited applications for the position, setting February 17, 2025, as the deadline for submissions.

The tenure of the current SEBI Chairperson, Madhabi Puri Buch, ends on March 1. She assumed office on March 2, 2022, for a three-year term, becoming the first woman to lead SEBI. Buch succeeded Ajay Tyagi, who served for five years from March 2017 to February 2022. Before him, UK Sinha held the position for six years, marking back-to-back extended tenures in SEBI's leadership.