The appointment of Finance Secretary Tuhin Kanta Pandey signifies the return of the bureaucracy to steer the market regulator, Security and Exchange Board of India (SEBI). In a matter of just two months, the Government has appointed two top Finance Ministry officials to steer top regulators — RBI and SEBI. Before Sanjay Malhotra was dispatched to the RBI and Tuhin Kanta Pandey to SEBI, they both headed the Revenue Department.
The appointment of a bureaucrat signals curtains to the experiment of bringing a market professional to head SEBI. Madhabi Puri Buch, a banking executive, brought with herself a lot of hope for bringing a professional culture to the market regulator.
However, Buch departs in the wake of the Hindenburg controversy with a question mark over her role as the head of the regulator. Hindenburg alleged conflict of interest in SEBI’s investigations into the Adani group because of previous investments, which Buch and the Adani group both denied. While SEBI’s investigations into allegations against the Adani group have been completed, orders are yet to be released.
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Pandey is a career bureaucrat. He is a 1987 batch IAS officer of Odisha cadre who stepped in as Finance Secretary in September, last year. With over 5 years tenure as Secretary in the Department of Investment and Public Asset Management (DIPAM), earlier known as Department of Disinvestment, Pandey is credited with three major decisions – privatization of Air India, listing of Life Insurance Corporation of India and changing the strategy of privatization to value addition of Central Public Sector Undertakings (CPSUs).
His tenure as DIPAM Secretary saw a big change in the total expunging of the word ‘Disinvestment’ from the budget documents. It was replaced with ‘Miscellaneous Capital Receipts.’ It started with the interim budget of 2024-25 and continued in successive two budgets. He also advocated merging dividend receipts with disinvestment proceed, though he admitted it will not be practical as the former is accounted as revenue while later one as capital. One key task which Pandey leaves unfinished is privatisation of IDBI Bank.
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Pandey moved to the Revenue Department in January, this year and he will be credited for bringing in the new Income Tax Bill, which will replace the nearly six decades old Income Tax Act. He also worked towards lowering import duties on high-end motorcycles as India prepared to shed its protectionist tag.
Pandey moves to Mumbai at a time when the stock market is facing a slowdown. This is the time when the market regulator is trying to expand the suite of regulated financial investment options available to investors while also trying to curb volatility and malpractice in the derivative market.
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Originally from Punjab, new SEBI Chief holds a master’s degrees in economics and business administration from Panjab University and the University of Birmingham.
