Former finance secretary Ajay Seth appointed IRDAI chairperson

The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet has approved the appointment of Ajay Seth, former finance secretary, as chairperson of the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDAI) for three years or until he attains the age of 65, whichever is the earliest.

The insurance regulator has been looking for candidates for the top post since March 2025 after Debasish Panda resigned. The Centre had given Seth the additional charge of Revenue Secretary in March after Tuhin Kanta Pandey was appointed as the Sebi chairperson.

"The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet has approved the appointment of Shri Ajay Seth, IAS (KN:1987) (Retd.), former Finance Secretary and Secretary, Department of Economic Affairs, to the post of Chairperson, Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDAI) for a period of three years or till the incumbent attains the age of 65 years or until further orders, whichever is the earliest," the Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions said in a notification.

Seth, a member of the Indian Administrative Service (1987-batch IAS officer) and an alumnus of University of Roorkee and Ateneo de Manila University, spent most of his professional career in several domains including public finance, social sector administration, urban transport, and infrastructure, dealing with matters concerning public expenditure, tax policy and administration, budget, accounts, project appraisal, foreign investments, bilateral and multilateral financial cooperation, development financing, public-private partnerships, school education, health, urban transport, and infrastructure.

Of his 33-year career, he has been in the public finance and taxation domains for 18 years, and in the social sector and urban transport and infrastructure domains for almost 3 years each in different positions in the Government of India, the Government of Karnataka, and the Asian Development Bank. He is a recipient of the Prime Minister’s Award for Excellence in Public Administration in 2013, as a member of the team for "transformation of commercial tax administration in Karnataka."