CCI chief Ravneet Kaur given additional charge of NFRA chairperson

The government has entrusted Ravneet Kaur, chairperson of the Competition Commission of India (CCI), with additional charge as the chairperson of the National Financial Regulatory Authority (NFRA) for three months starting April 1.

 

Kaur will serve as NFRA chairperson till the appointment of a regular incumbent or until further orders whichever is earliest, according to the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet.

 

The post of NFRA chairperson fell vacant after the three-year term of its previous chief, Ajay Bhushan Pandey, came to an end on March 31.

 

Kaur, who is the fifth chairperson of CCI, has been dealing with cases related to anticompetitive conduct in the new-age digital economy and across sectors such as pharmaceuticals, automobile, media and entertainment, and aviation.

 

Her role as NFRA chair would focus on audit firms for listed companies. 

 

Kaur’s additional role as NFRA chair comes at a time when the regulator is facing legal challenges on the division of its review and disciplinary action-related functions. 

 

An interim order of the Supreme Court has allowed NFRA to carry on with its investigations where no audit quality review reports have been prepared and final orders are yet to be passed.

 

Kaur, a postgraduate in economics and public economic management from University of Birmingham in the UK, has been a joint secretary in the department of industrial policy and promotion under the Ministry of Commerce and Industry. 

 

Prior to that, she was the chairperson and managing director (CMD) of India Tourism Development Corporation.

 

She also worked as principal secretary in the departments of higher education and languages, Cabinet, coordination, and parliamentary affairs with the Government of Punjab.

 

Earlier in her career, she also served in the department of financial services, department of economic affairs, and department of disinvestment.

 

She has also held multiple positions, including vice-chairperson and MD of Punjab Communications Limited, CMD of Exim Bank, CMD of India Infrastructure Finance Company Ltd, and additional MD of Markfed.  

 

She was also a consultant with the International Food Policy Research Institute in Washington D C, and spent a year as a Hubert H Humphrey Fellow at Cornell University in the US.