Hunt for LIC chief on

Sarkar seen as the front-runner

A panel headed by the department of personnel & training Secretary P K Misra has interviewed five candidates for the post of the chairman of the Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC). Those interviewed are LIC’s MD Sushobhan Sarkar, LIC Housing Finance MD & CEO V K Sharma, and three executive directors of LIC — S B Mainak, S K Roy and Usha Sangwan.

Sarkar is the front runner for the top job, sources said.

The post of the LIC chairman will fall vacant when D K Mehrotra steps down from the position on May 31 after the end of his one-year tenure.

The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet (ACC) will give the final approval.

Sarkar was appointed MD in February 2012. Prior to this, he was executive director (international operations) handling LIC’s global business in Fiji, Mauritius, Kenya, Nepal, Saudi Arabia, and the UK, among others. He had also served as director and CEO of LIC MF AMC for some time.

LIC Managing Director Thomas Mathew will also retire at the same time, this year. Sources said that the other four applicants will be considered for the post of managing directors.

LIC is the largest insurance company in India, in terms of assets and insurance premiums. In the April to February period, LIC collected new premiums of Rs 60,705.46 crore. According to data collected by the Insurance Regulatory Development Authority (Irda), total new business premium collection of life insurers till February 2013 stood at Rs 84,501.74 crore.

LIC’s total investment corpus touched Rs 14.8 lakh crore (provisional) as on December 31, 2012, according to a presentation it made to the Standing Committee on Finance. Its total investment at the end of March 31, 2012 was at Rs 13.49 lakh crore.