Iyer, Vohra vie for Irdai post

R K Nair had retired as member (finance & investment) in mid-March

Vijayalakshmi R Iyer, chairperson and managing director of Bank of India, and K K Vohra, executive director of Reserve Bank of India (RBI), are in contention for the post of member (finance & investment) at Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (Irdai). This post fell vacant in mid-March after R K Nair retired from the post. Interviews for this position have already been conducted by the government.

Iyer, who took over as chairperson and managing director of Bank of India on November 5, 2012, will retire in May. Prior to this, Iyer was executive director of Central Bank of India from September 1, 2010. A post-graduate in commerce and a certified associate of the Indian Institute of Banking and Finance (CAIIB), Iyer started her career with Union Bank of India in 1975.

Vohra was promoted to the post of executive director at RBI on November 3, 2014. He looks into portfolios including central security cell, corporate strategy and budget department, department of corporate services and the human resources management department.

According to the notification by the Department of Financial Services, a whole-time member in the area of finance and investment should preferably have at least 25 years' experience in the area of finance and investment with a minimum of three years experience at a senior level not below the rank of chief general manager of RBI or its equivalent in other financial institutions or regulatory bodies.

Also, the applicant should have at least two years of residual service with reference to the post of whole-time member in Irdai as on the last day for receipt of applications and age should not exceed 60 years on that day.

The tenure of appointment to this post will be five years from the date of joining office with a provision of re-appointment subject to the maximum age of 62 years. The consolidated pay and allowances of the whole-time members would be Rs 3.75 lakh a month without facilities such as house or car.

According to the Section 4 of Irda Act, 1999, the regulatory body is composed of a 10-member team consisting of a chairman, five whole-time members and four part-time members. All of them are appointed by the Government of India. Senior appointments under the Centre require approval from the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet (ACC).

Member (F&I) at Irdai looks into all finance and investment related regulations and norms governing the insurance sector. This includes auditing, accounting, investments in the equity and debt market and solvency margins, among others.

Irdai will see several top-level exits in the next few months. The positions of whole-time members of non-life, and distribution will become vacant in the next few months, while the post of member-life has been lying vacant since February 2014.

M Ramaprasad, member (non-life) is retiring in May 2015, while member (distribution) D D Singh will also retire in July.

Similarly, the position of member-life is vacant since February 2014 after S Roy Chowdhury retired. Nobody has been appointed for this post, though the member-distribution is handling this portfolio for the time-being.