Sat Mar 15 19:50:00 UTC 2025: ## SEBI’s New Chairman Faces Immediate Challenges
**Mumbai, March 16, 2025** – Tuhin Kanta Pandey, the former Union Finance Secretary, has assumed the chairmanship of the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI), inheriting a complex situation marked by immediate legal challenges and market volatility.
Just one day after Pandey took office on March 1st, a Mumbai court ordered the Anti-Corruption Bureau to file FIRs against former SEBI chairperson Madhabi Puri Buch and three whole-time members for alleged complicity in the listing of a now-delisted company in 1994. SEBI issued a statement condemning the court’s decision, citing the applicant as a “frivolous and habitual litigant” and vowing to challenge the order legally.
Pandey, a 1987 IAS officer, is the 11th SEBI chairman and the second Finance Ministry secretary appointed to a regulatory role in the past three months, following Sanjay Malhotra’s appointment as RBI Governor. His extensive career includes key positions within the Union Government, including Union Finance Secretary and roles in disinvestment, notably handling the Air India sale. Colleagues describe him as thorough, methodical, and uncompromising.
Addressing concerns about his predecessor’s tenure, Pandey emphasized SEBI’s integrity in his first public speech. He stated his intention to pursue “optimum regulation” rather than “maximum regulation” in response to recent market volatility attributed to global factors. His background in economics and an MBA from the University of Birmingham equip him to tackle the challenges ahead, including taming volatile markets and combating market manipulation.
First Piper 