After the appointment of CB Bhave as the new chairman of the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi), the search committee which appointed him for the post has once again become active to look for whole-time members (WTMs) of the capital market regulator. The search panel is meeting in the first week of next month to select suitable candidates for the two posts of Sebi WTMs. The selection of the candidates for the post are expected to go through the same process as was followed for the Sebi chairman.
G Anantharaman and VK Chopra, currently WTMs with Sebi, are retiring in the second week of March and before their retirement, the panel is expected to fill the slot by selecting suitable candidates for the post at its meeting scheduled on March 4, a day ahead of Sebi’s first board meeting under new chairman CB Bhave in New Delhi.
According to sources in the ministry of finance, all present executive directors (EDs) at Sebi are in the fray for the post. A senior Sebi official too said, all the four EDs are in the fray as joint secretary (capital market division) KP Krishnan has allowed their candidature for the post.
Besides, several retired members of the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) and Central Board of Excise & Customs (CBEC) are also in the fray and will go through the screening process on March 4.
According to sources in the know, one of the Sebi WTM posts will be filled by way of internal promotion, whereas one from the two senior EDs can be considered for the WTM post. The two senior EDs are PK Nagpal and Usha Narayanan. Nagpal is heading the investigation function, while Narayanan is heading the primary market, FII and takeovers divisions.
Other Sebi EDs who are in the fray include Manas Ray, looking after market regulation department, Sandeep Parekh, legal chief and RK Nair, who handles the mutual fund division. The search panel comprises highly-placed goverment officials along with eminent personalities from outside the government. This is the first instance that the private sector has got representation on the selection panel which has the mandate to make a senior-level government appointment.