Meet Madhabi Puri Buch, the first ever woman head of SEBI

New Delhi: Madhabi Puri Buch has been named the next chairman of India's capital markets regulator, the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI).

Buch is the first woman to lead SEBI, and she has been appointed for a three-year tenure. The former SEBI Whole Time Member (WTM) had earlier been chosen to oversee the market regulator's new technology committee.

"The Cabinet Appointments Committee has approved the appointment of Smt. Madhabi Puri Buch, Former Whole Time Member, SEBI, to the post of Chairman, Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI), initially for a period of three years from the date of assumption of charge of the post, or until further orders, whichever is earlier," the government said in a notification on Monday.

Buch was not just the first woman to serve as SEBI's WTM, but also the first person from the private sector to work for the regulator. She began her career at ICICI Bank and rose through the ranks to become the managing director (MD) and CEO of ICICI Securities from February 2009 to May 2011.

In addition, this would be the first time since 2002 that the government appointed a non-IAS individual to lead SEBI. G N Bajpai, the previous chairman of LIC, was appointed chairman of SEBI in April 2002. His term came to an end in February 2005.

Since then, all four SEBI directors – M Damodaran, C B Bhave, U K Sinha, and Ajay Tyagi – have come from the Indian Administrative Services (IAS) cadre.

Buch moved to Singapore in 2011 to work at Greater Pacific Capital LLP. She is the CEO and Founder of Agora Advisory Pvt Ltd. She also worked for three years at the New Development Bank in Shanghai.

The former ICICI banker graduated from the Indian Institute of Management (IIM) in Ahmedabad with a management degree.

Madhabi Puri takes over for Ajay Tyagi, whose time as SEBI chairman concluded today. The finance ministry invited applications for the position of chairman in October, with a December 6 deadline for submission.