Meet Madhabi Puri Buch, the first woman chief of stock market regulator SEBI

The government has appointed Madhabi Puri Buch as the chairperson of the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI), making her the first woman to head the capital markets regulator.

The Appointments Committee of Cabinet on Monday approved Buch’s appointment for an initial period of three years. This decision comes a few months after her tenure as a whole-time member of SEBI ended in October last year.

Puri Buch is not only the first woman to head the regulatory body that oversees stocks, bonds and commodities markets in India but also the first person from the private sector to head the organisation.

Thus far, mostly senior bureaucrats were appointed as chiefs of one of the most important financial market institutions in India.

So, when does Puri Buch take charge as SEBI chief?

Puri Buch took charge of her new role on March 1.

Who did she succeed?

She succeeds Ajay Tyagi, whose tenure as SEBI chairman ends today. He served as chairman for five years.

Puri Buch previously worked closely with Tyagi as she was the whole-time member of SEBI between April 2017 and October 2021.

At SEBI, what were Puri Buch’s previous responsibilities?

As a whole-time member at SEBI, she had handled important portfolios such as surveillance, collective investment schemes and investment management.

What are Puri Buch’s educational qualifications?

Puri Buch graduated from the prestigious St Stephen's College in Delhi. She is also an alumna of the Indian Institute of Management (IIM), Ahmedabad.

Before joining SEBI, where did Puri Buch worked in the private sector?

Puri Buch has had almost three decades of experience in financial markets. She began her career with ICICI Bank in 1989 and had a long stint with the financial services giant.

At the private-sector lender, Puri Buch worked in a variety of departments including corporate finance, branding, treasury and loans, and eventually rose to the position of executive director on the board of ICICI Bank.

Puri Buch later shifted to the bank’s brokerage arm, ICICI Securities, where she was appointed as the managing director and chief executive officer.

Apart from ICICI Group, Puri also worked with a couple of other organisations. She headed private equity firm Greater Pacific Capital and later worked as a consultant with the New Development Bank, a lender set up by the BRICS bloc of nations.