The government on Thursday appointed Finance and Revenue Secretary Tuhin Kanta Pandey as Chief of the Securities and Exchange Board of India. The Appointment Committee of Cabinet on late Thursday issued an order to appoint Pandy as the SEBI chief. He will be replacing the outgoing chief Madhavi Puri Butch whose tenure ends today. Madavi Puri Butch was the first women chief of the capital markets regulator and assumed her role March 2, 2022.

Madhavi Puri Buch was the only person from the private sector to hold the position of chief of the market regulator. Before her, all the chief of the market regulator were either an IAS officer or from a public sector entity. In her three years of tenure, she focused on investor protection, strengthening regulations, enhancing market efficiency, the introduction of a new asset class and a crackdown on finfluencer and other unregulated activities. In September last year, Buch announced several changes that strengthened the equity index derivatives framework.

Her three-year tenure was riddled with controversies, in August last year, US-based Hindenburg Research alleged that Buch and her Singapore-based husband, Dhaval Buch, had stakes in offshore funds used in the Adani money siphoning scandal. She also faced a backlash from her officers due to toxic work culture.

Tuhin Kanta Pandey is an Indian Administrative Service officer of Odisha 1987-batch. He holds a master’s degree in economics and an MBA, had earlier played a key role in finalizing the sale of Air India as DIPAM Secretary. He was appointed as the Finance Secretary in September 2024. Under his appointment as Revenue Secretary, Budget 2025, he finalized the income tax relief measures.

He comes in at a time when the market regulator is trying to expand the suite of the regulated financial investment options available to investors while trying to curb volatility and malpractice in the derivative market.

The appointment of the Sebi chairman is overlooked by the central government on the recommendation of the Financial Sector Regulatory Appointments Search Committee (FSRASC). Even though private sector candidates are considered for the position of Chairperson of Sebi, the central government decided to return back to an IAS officer and signifies reposing faith on the bureaucracy. Appointment of Tuhin Kanta Pandey is the second major appointment following the appointment of Sanjay Malhotra as RBI Governor in December 2022.