Many market participants hope he will start by reducing India’s dizzying number of regulations.
Pandey, a career bureaucrat, succeeds banker-turned-regulator Madhabi Puri Buch, whose term ends on Friday. Buch oversaw a boom period for stocks, including a sharp growth in retail accounts, and implemented some regulatory changes investors welcomed – but she also faced concerns over policy flip-flops, allegations of conflicts of interest and signs of discontent among SEBI staffers.
Pandey, who was picked as India’s finance secretary in September, previously spent five years running the government’s divestment initiatives. That will help him bring a “unique experience” to the market regulator, said Mumbai-based Vikas Gupta, chief investment strategist at OmniScience Capital.