IRS officer Sandip Pradhan appointed new SEBI Whole-Time Member

Sandip Pradhan, IRS, appointed new SEBI Whole-Time Member

The government has appointed Sandip Pradhan, an IRS (Income Tax) officer from the 1990 batch, as a Whole-Time Member (WTM) of the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI). Pradhan currently serves as the Director General of Income Tax (Investigation) in Pune. His appointment, for a tenure of three years, was notified through a gazette notification issued on Wednesday by the Ministry of Finance’s Department of Economic Affairs.

“The Central Government hereby appoints Shri Sandip Pradhan, IRS (IT:1990), Director General of Income Tax (Investigation), Pune, as Whole Time Member of the Securities and Exchange Board of India, for a period of three years from the date of assumption of charge of the post or until further orders, whichever is earlier,” the notification stated.

Pradhan’s appointment fills the vacancy created after the completion of Ashwani Bhatia’s tenure on May 31 this year. Bhatia retired after serving a full three-year term as SEBI’s WTM, following his earlier retirement as MD. During his tenure, he passed several crucial orders related to corporate governance issues.

Another WTM position at SEBI continues to remain vacant following the exit of Ananth Narayan G, who demitted office on October 9 after completing his three-year stint. Ananth Narayan introduced changes in derivatives regulations and passed the order against Jane Street for alleged index manipulation.

SEBI has four Whole-Time Member positions, with key regulatory and supervisory responsibilities divided among them. Currently, only two WTMs are in place; Pradhan’s induction will raise the count to three, leaving one post still unfilled. The current WTMs are Amarjeet Singh and Kamlesh Chandra Varshney an IRS (Income tax) officer of 1990 batch. This will be for the first time that two IRS batchmates will be at SEBI as WTM.

An IIT Kanpur graduate, Pradhan has also served as Director General of the Sports Authority of India for over five years and has held the position of CEO of the Khelo India programme.