After a rather long gap, the vital office of the chairman of the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDAI) has finally been filled up. On September 1, 2025, Ajay Seth took over as the IRDAI chairman, succeeding Debasish Panda.    

The government’s choice of Mr Seth for the top post doubtlessly fits to a T, given the former senior bureaucrat’s impeccable credentials and rich experience. The 60-year-old former IAS officer of the 1987 batch from the Karnataka cadre retired as Union secretary of the Department of Economic Affairs in June 2025. Interestingly, a few months before his retirement, Mr Seth was simultaneously in charge of three major departments – economic affairs, finance and revenue – of the Union Ministry of Finance. No wonder then that Mr Seth was the government’s natural choice as the insurance regulator, which had remained headless for nearly six months  

With a BTech in mechanical engineering from IIT Roorkee and an MBA from Ateneo de Manila University, the IRDAI chief has served in critical roles across segments as varied as fiscal policy, urban transport, infrastructure, taxation and development financing, among others. Of his over three-decade career, he spent more than 18 years in the domains of public finance and taxation, mostly in the Union government and the Karnataka government, apart from a stint at the Asian Development Bank. Besides, his work in transforming Karnataka’s commercial tax administration won Mr Seth widespread recognition and brought him the Prime Minister’s Award for Excellence in Public Administration in 2013.

Mr Seth takes over as the insurance regulator during a volatile period as the industry passes through a turbulent phase. The industry is buoyant over meeting the ambitious target of insurance for all by 2047. At the same time, life and non-life insurers and experts tracking the sector opine that the industry is experiencing a slowdown, as it transitions through regulatory changes.

Meanwhile, health insurance is caught up in a tussle between hospitals and insurers over settlement of claims, delays in cashless claims and consumer complaints over steep hikes in premium. In life insurance, concerns around mis-selling, high commissions and banks pushing products are all areas of concerns.

The industry is also awaiting the Insurance Amendment Bill, 2025, which proposes significant reforms, including allowing 100 per cent foreign direct investment (FDI) in the insurance sector. If approved, foreign insurers would be able to increase their stakes in existing joint ventures from 74 to 100 per cent and also enter the Indian insurance market without an Indian partner.

There are also many unfinished businesses – such as operationalising risk-based capital framework, risk-based supervision framework and International Financial Reporting Standards – that the new IRDAI head will have to address urgently. Rollout of the much-awaited Bima Trinity is also very much a priority for Mr Seth. The ambitious project aims at building an Amazon-like digital platform for insurance sales, servicing and claims settlement. A little over two months into office and Mr Seth could already be ready with a strategy to complete the unfinished tasks, one by one.