Milind Kharat and G Srinivasan have been shortlisted for the post of GIC Re chairman. GIC Re's current chairman, Yogesh Lohiya, is scheduled to retire on December 31.
Though there are no clear favorites, sources said Kharat, being the most senior of the candidates, was leading the race.
Kharat is currently the director and general manager at state-run United India Insurance, while G Srinivasan is the company's chairman. If G Srinivasan is appointed GIC Re chairman, Kharat would takeover as the chairman of United India Insurance.
State-owned GIC Re is the only designated resinsurer in the country, and had collected premiums of around Rs 11,000 crore in 2010-12.
Last month, a five-member search panel, headed by finance secretary, R S Gujral, interviewed eight candidates, who were called on the basis of seniority. The final decision is expected by the end of this month.
Other members of the search committee included D K Mittal, secretary, financial services, Alka Sirohi, secretary, department of personnel & training, B Chakrabati, former chairman, New India Assurance, and J Hari Narayan, chairman, Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority.
Srinivasan was also given additional charge as the acting chairman of New India Assurance Co, following the suspension of the then chairman, M Ramadoss, in August. Ramadoss was suspended for alleged violations in issuing insurance cover to an airline during his stint as the chief of another state-run insurer. Srinivasan was relieved of this additional duty last month, when A R Sekar was appointed chairman and managing director, New India Assurance.
A K Roy, acting chairman of Agriculture Insurance Company (AIC) of India, is set to be appointed the permanent chairman. He would succeed M Parshad, who retired last month.
"Roy was also one of the candidates interviewed for the post of GIC Re's chairman, but given his agriculture background (he is an agriculture engineer), the search committee felt a person with domain knowledge was required to run AIC, especially because of stiff competition from private players like ICICI Lombard and HDFC Ergo," ministry sources said.
A K Saxena and N K Singh from Oriental Insurance, Joseph Pallapali and Asha Nair from United India Insurance and Kuldeep Singh from National Insurance, all general managers, were also called for the interview.
