U K Sinha likely to get one year extension

The government is actively considering a one year extension to the current chief of Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi), Upendra Kumar Sinha, given the fact that India is not insulated from the turmoil in global equity markets.

The selection panel led by cabinet secretary P K Mishra, which met on Monday, has also submitted two other names – Arundhati Bhattacharya, chairman of State Bank of India (SBI) and Ramesh Abhishek, former chairman of Forward Markets Commission (FMC) – for the Sebi chief post that would fall vacant on 17th February with the current chairman's retirement.

The panel recommendations were submitted to the Appointments Committee of Cabinet (ACC) that is led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday, with the majority backing the continuity of the present chairman. The announcement is likely to be made in a week's time.

U K Sinha continues to be eligible for the post as he would hit the upper age limit of 65 years only in March 2017.

“While some strongly suggested UK Sinha's extension given his experience in handling volatile markets, a few panelists were opposed to the idea as they felt a year down the line it would need to undergo the cumbersome procedure of finding eligible candidates for the post and clearance from the Central Vigilance Commission (CVC),” a highly placed government source told dna.

Typically, a five-year term is what the usual practice has been so far.

“One of the panel members in the five-member committee suggested Sinha's extension in its first meeting of January 29 but the matter had been toned down,” he said.

Sources said most panel members wanted candidates who would have at least five years of residual service before they hit the upper age limit of 65 years.

Sinha's five-year term ends this February 17, they said. The selection panel had interviewed seven candidates on January 21.

“In last meeting, which was held on February 8, one of the panel members again actively backed Sinha's extension for the experience he comes with, especially under the current volatile market conditions,” he said.

The selection panel comprises of additional principal secretary to the Prime Minister, economic affairs secretary and three other experts of repute.

dna has learnt that the government has overhauled the panel by incorporating a representative from the Prime Minister's office (PMO) for the first time. Earlier, the committee did not have any member from the PMO.

Sinha, a 1976 batch IAS officer of Bihar cadre, was appointed as the Sebi chairman on February 18, 2011, when the previous UPA government was in the power. While Sinha was initially appointed with a three-year term, he was later given a two-year extension.

If Sinha gets the extension, he would be the second-longest serving chief of Sebi in the history of capital market regulator after DR Mehta’s term of seven years (from 1995 to 2002).

For the Sebi chief post, 54 candidates had applied including bureaucrats and private sector people. The prominent applicants included Competition Commission member MS Sahoo, disinvestment secretary Aradhana Johri, former economic affairs secretary Arvind Mayaram and former capital markets joint secretary Thomas Mathew (now an additional secretary in the President’s office).