Tuhin Kanta Pandey | The calm bureaucrat Premium
The Hindu
Tuhin Kanta Pandey borrows from a near four-decade career in public administration that had him serving as a district collector and magistrate of Odisha’s Sambalpur district to being recently made Revenue Secretary in addition to his position as Finance Secretary.
Anyone who knows the incoming Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) chairman, either as a reporter or as a former colleague, inevitably recall his calm demeanour and commitment to work. For Saroj Sarangi, now retired as the medical officer of the Jagatsinghpur district of Odisha, the news of Tuhin Kanta Pandey’s appointment as the next SEBI chief was of much joy. He told The Hindu about the appointment bringing immense value considering his efficiency and fluid expertise in dealing with public matters.
The 1987 batch Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer of the Odisha cadre succeeds Madhabi Puri Buch. While Ms. Buch brought in her experience from the corporate world to the regulator’s office, she also faced conflict of interest allegations in the conduct of a SEBI investigation against the Adani Group for stock price manipulations.
In contrast, Mr. Pandey borrows from a near four-decade career in public administration that had him serving as a district collector and magistrate of Odisha’s Sambalpur district to being recently made Revenue Secretary in addition to his position as Finance Secretary. However, his most notable run was at the Department of Investment and Public Asset Management (DIPAM). During his five-year stint there, he oversaw the privatisation of then struggling national carrier Air India and the IPO of the state-insurer Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC). Mr. Pandey’s five-year tenure at DIPAM is the longest of any secretary at the department since its formation in 1999.
He was a student of Economics at the Panjab University (Chandigarh). He went on to attend the University of Birmingham for his MBA.
In his four-decade long career, Mr. Pandey has moved back and forth between Delhi and Odisha — each time holding crucial social and economic departments. Early in his career, Mr. Pandey worked as the executive director of the Odisha State Finance Corporation (OSFC) and managing director of Odisha Small Industries Corporation (OSIC). This was before he took charge of Sambalpur district. He then moved from Odisha on central deputation to New Delhi, as the Deputy Secretary at the Department of Commerce and later to the regional office of the United Nations Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO).
Later, on his return to the Odisha cadre, he worked with the State’s transport, health and commercial taxes departments. Mr. Pandey took over as the Principal Secretary of Odisha’s Finance Department in 2016.
He returned to Delhi as the DIPAM Secretary in October 2019.
