Govt appoints former Finance Secretary Ajay Seth as IRDAI chairman for 3 years

The central government has appointed former Finance Secretary Ajay Seth as the chairman of Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDAI) for three years, according to a government order.

The post has been vacant since March 2025 after Debasish Panda resigned.

Seth earlier served as DEA Secretary in the Finance Ministry.

In March this year, the government had given Seth, then Department of Economic Affairs (DEA) Secretary, additional charge of Revenue Secretary after Tuhin Kanta Pandey moved to SEBI as its Chairperson.

Ajay Seth is a 1987-batch IAS officer from the Karnataka cadre. He has served as DEA Secretary since 2021. Seth has played a key role in policy-making for economic growth, fiscal management, infrastructure funding, and digital payments.

Most of his career has focused on public finance, tax policy, public expenditure, budgeting, foreign investments, project appraisal, development financing, and public-private partnerships. He has also worked in social sector administration, school education, health, urban transport, and infrastructure.

He spent 18 years in public finance and taxation roles and about three years each in the social sector and urban transport and infrastructure, serving in the Government of India, Government of Karnataka, and Asian Development Bank.