LIC MD Siddhartha Mohanty begins tenure as interim chairman

Currently, Mohanty is a Managing Director at the insurance behemoth.

“Mangalam Ramasubramanian Kumar has ceased to be the Chairperson of the Corporation, with effect from March 13, 2023, after close of business hours, upon completion of his term,” LIC said in a regulatory filing on Monday.

The government is set to appoint a full-time chairman at LIC by June, a finance ministry official said, Mint reported. The official said the chairman would be selected from among candidates available within the life insurer and would serve a term of around a year.

The government is keen to revamp the structure of LIC by 2024 and allow the appointment of a chief executive officer (CEO) — instead of chairman — and four MDs who would report to the CEO. If this structure is adopted as per amendments to LIC Act carried in 2021, the government may rope in professionals outside of LIC as its CEO while the position of chairman would be removed.

LIC currently has four MDs: Bishnu Charan Patnaik, Ipe Mini, Siddhartha Mohanty, and Raj Kumar. With the government looking at continuing with this structure in future too, these four positions may be maintained while one among the candidates or any other internal candidate would be appointed as chairman for this year before a restructuring involving appointment of a CEO is finalised.

LIC is the country’s biggest life insurer and fifth-largest life insurer in the world. Comparing market leaders in the top 7 markets worldwide, LIC has the largest margin in market share when compared to the second-largest life insurer in the Indian market. With 13.35 lakh agents and ₹27.80 crore in policies being serviced, the LIC is the third-strongest insurance brand globally.