Chairman of Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority

In this article, let us give you some information about the current chairman of the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDA). First, let us tell you about IRDA in simple words. IRDA or Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India is the regulatory body that supervises and governs the insurance sector in India.

The primary purpose of IRDA is to protect the interest of the policyholders and ensure the development of insurance in India. IRDA oversees all life insurance, health insurance, and general insurance companies operating in India.

About the Chairman of IRDA

• Debasish Panda, former DFS Secretary, and a retired IAS officer have been approved by the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet, as the chairperson of the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDA).
• Shri Debasish Panda is appointed as the chairman of IRDA on the 14th of March 2022.
• The Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDA) has appointed Mr. Debasish Panda for an initial period of three years to serve as chairman.

Career of Debasish Panda

• Mr. Debasish Panda is a IAS officer of the Uttar Pradesh cadre. Before being appointed as the chairman of the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India, Mr. Panda served as secretary of the Department of Financial Services, Ministry of Finance, Government of India.
• Mr. Debasish Panda also served on the board of various public sector banks and insurance companies. And was also on the board of directors of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI).
• Mr. Panda also served as Special Secretary and Additional Secretary (Financial Services) at the Government of India.
• Mr. Debasish Panda also served as a District Magistrate in Tehri, Deori, Uttarkashi & Ghaziabad District. He also was designated as the Principal Secretary ( Home & Vigilance ) and also held the position of dual charge of Resident Commissioner of Uttar Pradesh.
• Mr. Panda also worked as Chief Executive Officer (CEO), of the Greater Noida Development Authority.

Academic qualifications

Following are the educational qualifications of Mr. Debasish Panda.

• Mr. Debasish Panda is a master’s degree holder in Development Management. He also holds a Masters of Philosophy (M. Phil) degree in Environmental sciences.
• Mr Debasish Panda has also gone through foreign training in Public Administration from The United States of America and Philippines.

Former Chairman

The former Chairman of the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority was Dr. Subhash C. Khuntia. He took over the position in May, 2018 and his tenure is of three years from the date of joining.

Dr. Subhash C. Khuntia has had a career of over 36 years in Civil services. He has worked as a Chief Secretary under the Government of Karnataka and previously he worked as the Secretary of School Education and Literacy under the central government of India in the ministry of Human Resource Development (HRD).

His appointment as the Chairman was announced by the department of personnel and training after the Financial Sector Regulatory Appointment Search Committee (FSRASC) confirmed his candidature. In 1981, he was appointed to the Indian Administrative Service (IAS). Mr. Khuntia belonged to the Karnataka cadre. He has served in various departments under the government of Karnataka at various posts.

Some of the departments he has served are, Departments of Finance, Revenue, Personnel, Urban Development, Rural Development, and Public works and ports. In addition to this, he has also served under the central government of India in numerous ministries. To name them he has served the ministry of finance, ministry of human resource development (HRD), and the ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas.

Dr. Subhash C. Khuntia, the Chairman of Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority is an alumnus of the India Institute of Technology (IIT), Kanpur. From IIT Kanpur he completed his post-graduation in Computer Science and Physics. Furthermore, he has a Ph.D. in economics and is a graduate in Law. He hails from the Jagatsinghpur district of Odisha.

Dr. Subhash C. Khuntia succeeded the former Chairman of Insurance Regulatory and development authority, TS Vijayan who completed his tenure on February 20. Dr. Khuntia was nominated by the Financial Sector Regulatory Appointment Search Committee (FSRASC). The Financial Sector Regulatory Appointment Search Committee shortlisted eight candidates for the post out of which TS Vijayan was chosen.

The other candidates nominated by the FSRASC included G. Srinivasan, the Chairman of New India Assurance Company; Insurance Corporation Chairman VK Sharma; Badri Singh Bhandari, whole-time director of the Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority; former corporate affairs secretary, Tapan Ray; Nilesh Sathe, a current IRDA member along with three managing directors of LIC. Before Dr. Khuntia and T.S. Vijayan, there were three previous chairmen IRDA had- S. Rangachary, C.S. Rao, and Hari Narayan. Ranghachary had a background in the Indian Revenue Service and the other two, C.S. Rao and Hari Narayan were from Indian Administrative Services.

The position of the Chairman of IRDA is of high prestige, the Chairman is considered to be the head of the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority which lies above all the insurance companies in India and regulates their working. This automatically makes the Chairman the regulator of all these companies too. As of now, there are 34 non-life insurance and 24 life insurance companies approved and working under the IRDA. This means that Dr. Khuntia is not only the head of one organization but also the regulator of all of the 58 companies working under the regulatory body.