The Government of India has appointed Ajay Seth as the new Chairman of the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDAI), filling a vacancy that had persisted since March 2025 following the conclusion of Debasish Panda’s tenure.
The appointment places a seasoned and experienced bureaucrat at the helm of India’s primary insurance regulator during a crucial period of industry transformation.
Seth is a 1987-batch Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer from the Karnataka cadre with an extensive background in financial administration and policy formulation. Over his career, he has held several key positions within the Ministry of Finance, notably serving as Finance Secretary.
He has been serving as Secretary of the Department of Economic Affairs since 2021 and briefly took on the additional charge of Revenue Secretary earlier this year, following Tuhin Kanta Pandey’s appointment as SEBI Chairperson.