Govt appoints G Mahalingam as Sebi whole-time member

Government has appointed Reserve Bank's Executive Director G Mahalingam as a Whole-Time Member of markets regulator Sebi.

Apart from the Chairman, the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) can have three Whole-Time Members (WTMs). Mahalingam's appointment follows the retirement of Prashant Saran as WTM in June this year.

In a recent notification, the Finance Ministry said Gurumoorthy Mahalingam has been appointed as WTM for a period of five years or till he attains the age of 65 years, whichever is earlier.

He would be getting a consolidated monthly salary of Rs 3.75 lakh.

Meanwhile, the search process for another WTM has been started as an existing member is due to retire this year. The current tenure of Sebi Chairman U K Sinha would end next year.

Mahalingam is Executive Director and former regional director of Reserve Bank of India. He has also been associated with NISM (National Institute of Securities Markets), an educational initiative of Sebi, as part of its visiting faculty.

Associated with RBI for last 30 years, he has served in various roles including that of Inspecting Officer, Chief Forex Dealer, Chief Investment Dealer, Head of Internal Debt Management Department.

In his current role at the central bank, Mahalingam is involved in monitoring and surveillance of money, forex, government securities and derivative markets intervention operations, among others.