UK Sinha to be Sebi chairman

The government has decided to make UTI MF CMD U K Sinha as Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) Chairman.

A formal decision in this regard will be made in a couple of days, a TV report said. Sinha will replace C B Bhave, who retires on February 17. Sinha, who is also mutual fund industry body Association of Mutual Funds in India’s (AMFI’s) Chairman, was considered to be a front-runner for the post right from the start.

Besides Sinha, others in the race included Corporate Affairs Secretary R Bandyopadhyay, Department of Disinvestment Additional Secretary S Pradhan, Madhya Pradesh Principal Secretary G P Singhal and two managing directors at SBI, S K Bhattacharya and R Sridharan. Prior to joining UTI Mutual Fund in 2005, Sinha, an IAS officer from Bihar cadre, served as joint secretary, capital markets division, in the finance ministry.

As Sebi Chairman, Sinha will have to take a decision on far-reaching reforms in the capital markets that include draft proposals on takeover code and Jalan Committee report on framework governing stock exchanges and others.