Decision on two new wholetime Sebi members next week

Five candidates were shortlisted after interviewing 11 of the nearly 50 candidates who had applied for the post.

Five candidates have been short-listed for the two wholetime member (WTM) posts in the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi), that fall vacant later this month. Sebi’s current WTMs, M S Sahoo and K M Abraham, will relinquish their jobs on July 13 and July 21, respectively. The two new names will be announced next week.

The shortlisted members include Usha Narayanan, executive director in Sebi; S. Sridhar, former chairman and managing director of Central Bank of India; Shashank Saxena of the department of banking in the Union finance ministry, Kshatrapati Shivaji, chief executive officer of Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporation; and Rajiv Agarwal, from the Mumbai income tax department.

After interviewing 11 candidates from nearly 50 who who had applied for the post, the shortlist of five was prepared. This list has been given to Sebi’s search committee. While quite a few government officials had put in their applications, three Sebi employees had also shown interest.

The decision will be made by a panel comprising Union cabinet secretary A K Seth, finance secretary Sunil Mitra and Sebi chairman U K Sinha.

Sebi has also sent interview calls to eligible Sebi chief general managers for executive director posts which have opened up. The eligibility is at least three years of completed service as CGMs.

K N Vaidyanathan, quit as ED on June 30 and another ED, Pradnya Saravade, will step down on July 4, to return to the Maharashtra police. J N Gupta, who steps down as ED on July 8, has sought re-appointment. In case Narayanan is not chosen WTM, she will retire next year as one of the longest serving EDs.