The government has invited applications for the position of the next chairperson of the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDAI), with April 6, 2025, set as the deadline for submissions.
The consolidated pay and allowances for the new chairperson have been set at ₹562,500 per month without the facility of house and car.
This comes as the tenure of current IRDAI Chairman Debasish Panda is scheduled to conclude on March 13, 2025. The application ends any speculation about a possible extension for Panda.
When asked in November 2024 about the possibility of an extension, Panda stated that serving as IRDAI Chairman had been an honour and said that institutional growth should take precedence over individuals.
Since his appointment in March 2022, Panda has overseen significant reforms in India’s insurance sector, including the shift to principle-based regulations, the transition to a ‘use and file’ system, and new Expense of Management (EoM) Regulations. The latest reform under his tenure aims to provide higher surrender value to policyholders.
While he has acknowledged the progress made during his tenure, Panda stressed that further efforts are needed to achieve the vision of “Insurance for All by 2047.”
Until a new chairperson is appointed, one of the existing IRDAI members is likely to assume the role in an interim capacity.
Former Financial Services Secretary Panda took over as IRDAI chairman on March 14, 2022, after the position had remained vacant for nearly 11 months following the retirement of the previous chairman Subhash Chandra Khuntia in May 2021.
First Published: Mar 10, 2025 9:06 am IS
