Anjan Dey likely to be named acting chairman of New India Assurance

The government is likely to appoint Anjan Dey as acting chairman of the country's largest general insurance firm New India Assurance. Incumbent chairman Atul Sahai is set to retire later this month.

Dey is currently chairman of Oriental Insurance Company.

The government could later confirm Dey as full-time chairman the Mumbai-based New India Assurance, a government official told ET.


“There is a court case pending in the Delhi High Court over Banks Board Bureau (BBB) selecting key officials in insurance firms, so we will wait for that to resolve,” he said.

Last year, the High Court had said BBB cannot select general manager and directors of public sector general insurers as it was not a competent body. “The appointments made pursuant to the impugned selections of general manager and directors of PSICs (public sector insurance companies) are liable to be set aside. It is ordered accordingly,” it had said.

The next hearing on the case is scheduled for March 21.

Dey will continue to be the chairman of Oriental Insurance, making it the first time a chairman will be in charge of two insurers. Generally, the practice is to give senior most executives, joint charge.

"Giving a chairman charge of two firms is unprecedented. It is not good corporate governance," said an industry executive.

New India Assurance, the market leader in non-life insurance space, had reported a net profit of Rs 1,605 crore in 2020-21.

Its state-owned peers National Insurance Company, Oriental Insurance and United India Insurance Company are all loss making insurers. In the last two years, the government has infused more than Rs 12,500 crore in these three companies.

The government had in the 2021-22 Union budget announced its intent to take up one general insurance company and two public sector banks for privatisation. It has also notified the General Insurance Business (Nationalisation) Amendment Act, which will allow the government to cut its stake in state-owned general insurers to below 51%.

The government is yet to firm up the name of the entity that would be taken up for privatisation. Niti Aayog has said to have recommended the name of United India Insurance to the Core Group of Secretaries on Disinvestment headed by the cabinet secretary.