Retirements To Queer Pitch For Lic Top Job

A Ramamurthy, managing director, took charge at the Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) today following the exit of G N Bajpai, who has joined the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) as chairman.

Since Ramamurthy is slated to retire in July this year, his term will be temporary till such a time the finance ministry decides on the appointment of the next LIC chief.

According to the current norms, a chairman is usually appointed from the post of managing director and should have at least two-years residual service. Bajpai's appointment was an exception as he was an executive director. This time round, forced by the fact that both Ramamurthy and N C Sharma, the two current managing directors, will be retiring this year, another ED is likely to be promoted to the top post. S V Mathur a zonal manager of western zone is likely to head LIC as chairman-cum-managing director (CMD).

There are few eligible candidates within LIC as the three top posts will fall vacant shortly, and even directors of various departments will be retiring this year. Of the 27-odd executive directors at LIC, half are retiring this year, and others are on deputation to other state-owned insurance companies.

Following Ramamurthy's retirement in July, Sharma will be stepping down in October. M P Bali, director (publicity), steps down in December. R Chandrasekaran, ED, HRD, will be stepping down next month. Similarly, J S Bhandari, director inspection, will also be retiring in March. C H Mahadavan, ED IT retired earlier this year. K S Dey, ED, real estate, will be stepping down in August. D Mishra, ED pension & group, will also be retiring in April.

Other EDs are on deputation as in the case of V Ramakrishna, chief vigilance officer to the General Insurance Corporation of India, but he will retire in September. Likewise, K Mahapatra and S Pandey are on deputation at state insurance companies. Their terms also end shortly. Even Kranti Sinha, director and chief executive of LIC Housing Finance, retires in December this year.

B C Boda, director personnel, has already been shifted to Nepal to head LIC Nepal Ltd as the managing director and CEO.