Centre appoints senior bureaucrat Tuhin Kanta Pandey as finance secretary

Tuhin Kanta Pandey, a 1987-batch Indian Administrative Service officer of Odisha cadre, is currently the secretary of the Department of Investment and Public Asset Management (DIPAM).

The Centre appointed senior bureaucrat Tuhin Kanta Pandey as the new finance secretary, an official order issued late on September 7 said.

The position of the finance secretary became vacant after T V Somanathan moved as the Cabinet secretary last month.

Pandey, a 1987-batch Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer of Odisha cadre, is currently the secretary of the Department of Investment and Public Asset Management (DIPAM). Before joining DIPAM in 2019, he was the principal secretary in the Odisha government.

The IAS officer from the Odisha cadre is credited with successfully completing the long-pending sale of the national carrier Air India and for overseeing the listing of the national insurer, the Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC).

Pandey has a master's degree in economics from Punjab University and an MBA from the UK. In his career as a bureaucrat, the IAS officer has served in various capacities both in Odisha and at the central level. In Odisha, he held several posts such as executive director at the Odisha State Finance Corporation (OSFC) and managing director at the Odisha Small Industries Corporation (OSIC). Moreover, Pandey served as the district magistrate of Sambalpur district.

Pandey's appointment at the Centre came during a period when the government was considering a second attempt at the sale of Air India.

The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet has approved designating Pandey as the finance secretary, the order issued by the personnel ministry said.

As per the convention, the senior-most secretary in the Union finance ministry is designated as the finance secretary.

With PTI inputs