Senior bureaucrat Ajay Tyagi was today appointed chairman of the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) to succeed U.K. Sinha, whose extended tenure ends on March 1.
Tyagi, a 1984 batch IAS officer of the Himachal Pradesh cadre, is at present additional secretary (investment) in the department of economic affairs and handles capital markets, among others.
The appointments committee of the cabinet, headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, has approved his appointment for a period not exceeding five years or till the age of 65 years, an order issued by the personnel ministry said.
Fifty eight-year-old Tyagi, who hails from Uttar Pradesh, is a post-graduate in economics. He did masters in public administration from Harvard and holds master degree in technology (computer science), according to his official resume. He holds a bachelor degree in electronics also.
He was joint secretary in the ministry of environment, forest and climate change before joining the finance ministry on November 1, 2014, as additional secretary.
During his stint at the Centre, Tyagi has also worked in the ministries of petroleum and natural gas, steel and rural development. For a short while, he was also on the RBI board. In the run-up to the appointment of the capital market regulator, many senior bureaucrats, including power secretary P.K. Pujari, were in contention.
Incumbent Sinha, a 1976 batch IAS officer of Bihar cadre, had assumed office as Sebi chairman on February 18, 2011, when the previous UPA government was in power. He was later given a two-year extension. Days before the end of his tenure in February last year, he was given another extension till March 1, 2017.
Government appoints Ajay Tyagi as new Sebi chief
