Mumbai: Prashant Saran, a chief general manager at the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), has been selected as a whole-time member of the Securities and Exchange Board of India, or Sebi, the capital markets regulator.
A senior Sebi official confirmed the development. He didn’t want to be named.
Saran replaces T.C. Nair, whose term at Sebi ended on 15 January. He is currently in charge of banking operations and development at the central bank.
Market watchdog: The Securities and Exchange Board of India building in Mumbai. Adeel Halim / Bloomberg
Saran joins Sebi at a time when the market watchdog is trying to improve disclosure standards and dealing with the aftermath of the Rs7,136 crore fraud at Satyam Computer Services Ltd.
The selection committee headed by Union cabinet secretaryK.M. Chandrashekar picked Saran from a shortlisted group of eight candidates. Three other contenders were P.L. Gairola, the retired chairman of Dena Bank Ltd, P.P. Pattanayak, managing director of State Bank of Mysore, and C.P. Swarnkar, executive director of Punjab National Bank.
Three other chief general managers from RBI had also been shortlisted.
Saran could not be reached for comment. His office said he was at a meeting and would not be available immediately.
Nair told Mint he has not decided his next move yet. “It will be pretty much around capital markets,” he said.
Saran will be joining M.S. Sahoo and Kandathil Mathew Abraham, two other whole-time members at Sebi. Both Sahoo and Abraham had joined in July, some months after C.B. Bhavetook over as Sebi chairman. Typically, the term of a whole-time member is three years.
Saran was part of an expert group set up by Sebi in 2004 to identify inconsistencies in the Sebi Act. Saran will also join the Sebi board, which comprises Bhave, K.P. Krishnan, joint secretary at the department of economic affairs, Anurag Goel, secretary at the ministry of corporate affairs, G. Mohan Gopal, director at the National Judicial Academy, and T.V. Mohandas Pai, director at Infosys Technologies Ltd.