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).
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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.