LIC chairman denied extension, may head UTI MF

T S Vijayan, whose five-term as the chairman of government-owned Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) ended on Tuesday, is likely to shift to UTI Mutual Fund as the new head.

Vijayan, who still has two years service left and has been denied extension as chairman, was today asked to serve as one of the three managing directors (MDs), a post he had held before becoming chairman in 2006.

Sources said Vijayan's appointment as UTI Mutual Fund chairman will be made in a month's time.

The post fell vacant after U K Sinha became chairman of the Securities and Exchange Board of India.

"The decision (to make him the MD of LIC) is a stop-gap arrangement. There is a real possibility that he would be appointed the next Chairman of UTI Mutual Fund," sources close to the development said, on condition of anonymity.

Vijayan could not be reached for comments. As an interim measure, Rakesh Singh, additional secretary, department of financial services in the Union ministry of finance, has been given additional charge of chairman of LIC for the next three months.

A 1978-batch officer of the Indian Administrative Service, he is also holding additional charge as head of the National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development.

Finance ministry officials have begun the process of appointing the next chairman of the largest life insurer in the country.

According to sources with direct knowledge, two of the existing MDs, D K Mehrotra and Thomas Mathew, are being interviewed by the selection panel for the LIC chief's post.

The panel is headed by finance secretary R Gopalan and financial services (banking) secretary Shashikant Sharma.

"Going by seniority, holds a slight edge over Thomas Mathew," sources added. A K Dasgupta, the third MD, is apparently not in the running.

Mehrotra was also in the race for LIC's top position in 2006. Vijayan and he both became MDs in 2005.

In February, UTI Mutual Fund hired an executive search firm to identify a suitable candidate to head the company.

Currently it is run by a four-member committee of Jaideep Bhattacharya, chief marketing officer; I Rahman, chief finance officer; Anoop Bhaskar, head-equity and Amandeep Chopra, head of fixed income, said an official from there.