SEBI Chief’s Mantra: The new SEBI Chairperson, Tuhin Kata Pandey, has a four-point mantra in mind — trust, transparency, teamwork and technology — for ensuring the continued efficiency of the capital markets regulator. After taking charge of the SEBI headquarters at the Bandra Kurla Complex here, Pandey said, “SEBI is a very robust market institution. It has been built over the years with successive leadership and will continue with it.”
“We work for trust, we work for transparency, we work for teamwork, and we work for technology. We will continue to create one of the best market institutions in the world,” Pandey told journalists. Highlighting trust as “the most important thing,” Pandey said SEBI holds the trust of India’s population, the Parliament, the government, the investors and industry stakeholders.
Pandey, a 1987 batch IAS officer, brings with him a rich experience in handling the country’s economic policy and financial administration. He has just concluded his tenure as the Finance Secretary and Secretary of the Department of Revenue, which saw him playing a key role in the formation of the Union Budget and the drafting of the new Income Tax Bill, based on global best practices. The new Bill has simplified the language and structure of the Income-tax Act, 1961, reducing the Act’s volume by close to 50 per cent.
Before this, he had held key positions in the government, including Secretary of the Department of Investment and Public Asset Management (DIPAM) and Secretary of the Department of Public Enterprises (DPE).
Pandey is one of the longest-serving secretaries in DIPAM, which is responsible for managing the government’s stake in public sector enterprises. In these roles, Pandey played a major part in formulating disinvestment programmes and public sector management.
He oversaw the sale of loss-making Air India to the Tata Group, marking one of the most important disinvestment initiatives of the government to reduce the drain on the national exchequer and pave the way for the revival of the commercial airline.
He also handled the successful public listing of government-owned life insurance giant LIC, which was the country’s biggest ever IPO. Besides, he started the privatisation process of IDBI Bank, which is still ongoing as bidders conduct their due diligence. Pandey holds a Master of Arts degree in Economics from Punjab University and an MBA from the University of Birmingham, UK.