Tuhin Kanta Pandey appointed new SEBI Chairperson for 3-year term, Finance Secy to succeed Madhabi Puri Buch | Stock Market News

India’s Finance Secretary, Tuhin Kanta Pandey, has been appointed the 11th chairperson of the capital market regulator, the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI), for a three-year term. The seasoned finance bureaucrat will replace Madhabi Puri Buch as SEBI chief, who will complete her three-year tenure as SEBI’s first woman chairperson on Friday, February 28, 2025.

According to a notification released by the government’s Appointments Committee of the Cabinet (ACC) on Thursday, February 27, the Cabinet has approved the appointment of Pandey, IAS (OR:1987), Finance Secretary and Secretary, Department of Revenue, to the post of SEBI chairman. Pandey’s appointment is initially for three years from the day he assumes charge.

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Tuhin Kanta Pandey succeeds Madhabi Puri Buch 

Pandey will take over as the head of the market watchdog when the Indian stock market experiences bearish pressure following persistent withdrawals in funds by foreign institutional investors (FIIs). Foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) have withdrawn more than ₹1 lakh crore since January 2025.

The first woman to head SEBI, Madhabi Puri Buch, made big regulatory changes, including tighter rules for India’s derivative markets to protect retail investors from punting on risky financial products. Buch championed safer small investment options to widen the reach of financial investments. 

Buch has also enforced tougher disclosures for corporates and fund houses and moved the Indian markets towards same-day settlement. During her term, she oversaw a sweeping overhaul of regulations pertaining to equity derivatives trading in India, which emerged as the world’s top destination for such instruments.

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Tuhin Kanta Pandey’s tenure at Revenue Dept, DIPAM

The 1987-batch IAS officer is the senior officer in the Ministry of Finance handling the Department of Revenue. Pandey was the longest-serving secretary in the Department of Investment and Public Asset Management (DIPAM), a department in the finance ministry that manages government equity in public sector companies, and the Department of Public Enterprises (DPE).

He assumed charge of India’s revenue department on January 9, after his predecessor, Sanjay Malhotra, moved to the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) as its governor. Pandey played a key role in framing Budget 2025, giving middle-class tax reliefs totalling ₹1 lakh crore. He was involved in drafting the new Income Tax Bill, which sought to replace the 64-year-old Income Tax Act of 1961.

In his over five-year stint (October 24, 2019, to January 8, 2025) at the DIPAM, Pandey advanced disinvestments of CPSEs as he implemented the public sector enterprises (PSE) policy, which intended to minimise the government’s presence in PSEs across all sectors of the economy.

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Pandey was instrumental in privatising Air India. On October 8, 2021, the government declared the Tata Group the winning bidder. The conglomerate submitted bids of ₹18,000 crore. On January 27, 2022, the Tata Group took ownership of Air India. Pandey also oversaw the privatisation plans of the IDBI Bank. The bidders are currently undergoing the due diligence process.

Pandey holds an MA in economics from Punjab University, Chandigarh, and an MBA from the University of Birmingham (UK). He has worked in various capacities in the governments of Odisha and India. In the early part of his career, Kanta Pandey was the administrative head of the health, general administration, commercial taxes, transport, and finance department. 

The top officer also served as the executive director of the Odisha State Finance Corporation and the managing director of the Odisha Small Industries Corporation. At the Centre, his previous positions include Joint Secretary, Planning Commission (now NITI Aayog), Joint Secretary, Cabinet Secretariat and Deputy Secretary in the Ministry of Commerce.