The Union government has appointed Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer Tuhin Kanta Pandey as Finance Secretary.
Pandey replaces TV Somanathan, who has been appointed as the new Cabinet Secretary of India, succeeding Rajiv Gauba in August.
Tuhin Kanta Pandey is a 1987-batch IAS officer of Odisha cadre. He is currently the secretary of the Department of Investment and Public Asset Management (DIPAM). Before joining DIPAM in 2019, he was the principal secretary in the Odisha government.
Pandey has a master’s degree in economics from Punjab University and an MBA from the UK.
In his career as a bureaucrat, he served in various capacities both in Odisha and at the central level.
In Odisha, he held posts such as executive director at the Odisha State Finance Corporation (OSFC) and managing director at the Odisha Small Industries Corporation (OSIC). Moreover, Pandey served as the district magistrate of Sambalpur district.
Notably, he is credited with successfully completing the long-pending sale of the national carrier Air India and for overseeing the listing of the national insurer, the Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC).
Pandey briefly held the additional charge as Secretary of the Ministry of Civil Aviation in 2021.
He managed the ministry during a transition period, from April 26 to May 13, while the regular secretary Pradeep Singh Kharola was on leave.