Race for top post of United India Insurance hots up

KOLKATA: As many as 10 directors-cum-general managers are in the race for the post of chairman and managing director at United India Insurance (UII) which fell vacant recently. There is, however, just one contender from United India, while the others are from the three public sector general insurance companies — Oriental Insurance, New India Assurance and National Insurance — and reinsurer General Insurance Corporation of India (GIC).

Interestingly, Mr MK Garg had taken over as the CMD of UII in December 2004 and he had at least five more years to retire. Nevertheless, he opted for voluntary retirement in July this year and the post subsequently fell vacant. “I was due to retire in the year 2013 but have opted for voluntary retirement due to personal reasons,” Mr Garg told ET.

According to sources close to the development, the finance ministry interviewed as many as 10 general managers while 12 were shortlisted. These includes SK Tanana from Oriental Insurance (OIC) — the senior most among all contenders — followed by Sujit Das from National Insurance Company (NIC) and J.K. Gupta from NIC.

Others in the race are A Asthana from UII, R Chandrashekharan from GIC, NSRC Prasad, AR Sekar and G. Srinivasan from New India Assurance (NIA) and A. Bandopadhyay and RK Kaur from NIC.

All these general managers have at least two years of service left which is a prime eligibility requirement for posts of CMDs at any public sector insurance company. Sources also said: “Two more candidates shortlisted for the post, however, did not appear for the interview.

They are RC Jain and Mrs B Ramani.” A final decision has, however, not been taken yet by the finance ministry. According to the practice, after selection of the chairman and managing director, the ministry will send it to the prime minister’s office (PMO) for approval and a notification is subsequently made.