Five months after names proposed, no full-time CMDs for GIC Re & AIC

General Insurance Corporation (GIC Re) and Agricultural Insurance Corporation of India (AIC) — two key public sector insurers in India — have been functioning without a full-time Chairman and Managing Director for nearly five months, with the government yet to clear the candidates selected for the post.

The government has now appointed Reena Bhatnagar and Deepak Prasad, both general managers, to jointly look after the financial administrative functions of GIC Re till a new CMD is appointed or till further orders. The CMD post has been vacant since Alice Vaidyan superannuated on July 31. Sashikala Muralidharan, GM, Whole-time Director and CFO, who was looking after the functions of the CMD, also superannuated on November 30.

In July, the Centre appointed AIC’s General Manager Rajeev Chaudhary as the officiating CMD, after T Alamelu joined the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (Irdai) as Whole-time Member (non-life).

In August, the Banks Board Bureau (BBB) proposed Devesh Srivastava and Malay Kumar Poddar for the post of CMD in GIC Re and AIC, respectively. “It has been almost four months since the BBB recommended the names for the CMD post to the government. Ideally, a CEO should be appointed on the same day of the superannuation of the person holding the post. These two are premier insurance companies which have monopoly in their segments,” said a former Irdai official.

Srivastava is currently a general manager in GIC Re. Poddar is the general manager in AIC. The final decision on the appointment will be taken by the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet. The BBB started selecting the heads of PSU insurance companies in 2019.

The board, which, so far, used to select top management of PSBs, selected the LIC Chairman for the first time earlier this year. The selection was earlier done by a panel constituted by the Finance Ministry. AIC commands around 50 per cent of the crop insurance market. As the sole reinsurer in the domestic reinsurance market, GIC Re provides reinsurance to direct general insurance firms.

Source: The Indian Express