Chennai, Mar 14 (IANS): Retired bureaucrat Debasish Panda on Monday took charge as the Chairman of Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDAI).

He will hold office initially for a period of three years.

After a gap of more than 11 months since the post fell vacant, the Central government has appointed Panda, a former Secretary in the Department of Financial Services, as the IRDAI Chairman.

Subhash C. Khuntia retired as IRDAI chief in early May 2021 and the government didn't fill up the post after that.

Setting the house in order, working towards its core mission of policyholder's interest, speeding up the new company licensing process, and avoiding micromanagement are some of the important tasks for IRDAI's incoming Chairman, as per a cross section of industry officials.

They also said simplification of its regulations, and levelling the playing field are some of the other areas that he should focus on to make IRDAI a vibrant regulatory body.