NEW DELHI: State-owned life insurer Life Insurance Corporation (LIC) has redesignated its chairman Siddhartha Mohanty as chief executive officer and managing director with effect from 30 June 2024, the insurer informed the exchanges on Sunday.
It is not yet known if the life insurance company would appoint a new chairperson. The capital market regulator wants large listed companies to have separate chairperson and CEO to ensure better corporate governance.
The market regulator wants the chairperson, who heads the board of a company, to be a non-executive position so as to ensure independence of the board. In 2018, the Sebi had amended the Sebi (Listing Obligations and Disclosure Requirements) Regulations, 2015 mandating the top 500 listed companies to ensure the chairperson to be a non-executive director and not be related to the Managing Director or the CEO. However, in 2022 it climbed down from its earlier diktat, and made it optional for the top listed 500 companies to split the positions of Chairman and CEO.
The Companies Act, 2013 also provides for the split of chairperson and CEO’s position. However, a company can depart from the provision, if permitted by the company’s articles of association.
It is to be noted that LIC, which got listed on stock exchanges in May 2022 at a price of R947 per equity share, has been exempted from several provisions Sebi (Listing Obligations and Disclosure Requirements) Regulations, 2015. LIC was incorporated under a LIC Act and not under Companies Act, 1956.