Madhabi Puri Buch has been appointed as the new Sebi chairperson.

Madhabi Puri Buch, a former full-time member of the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI), has been named as the market regulator's new chairman, making her the first woman to do so.

Buch, who would succeed Ajay Tyagi, the current SEBI chairman, has been appointed for a three-year term.

Buch, who has worked in the financial markets for over three decades, served as a full-time member of SEBI from April 5, 2017, to October 4, 2021, where she was responsible for portfolios such as surveillance, collective investment schemes, and investment management.

Her first order of business will be to deal with the NSE co-location scandal and former NSE MD & CEO Chitra Ramkrishna. The regulator is already under fire for failing to do more to prosecute the perpetrators in the co-location case, which is currently being investigated by the CBI. In 2016-17, however, Ramkrishna and former NSE Chief Operating Officer Anand Subramanian were essentially untouchable by SEBI.

The order from SEBI against Ramkrishna and Subramanian was only issued on February 11 this year, despite the fact that their involvement had been known since 2016. According to one observer, despite having search and seizure powers, it did not act effectively in the co-location and Ramkrishna cases.

While several bureaucrats were also vying for the top job at SEBI, the Financial Sector Regulatory Appointments Search Committee (FSRASC), chaired by the Cabinet Secretary, narrowed down the field.

Buch was recognized at SEBI for prosecuting two popular television anchors of a business news channel for engaging in fraudulent trading.

She also issued a contentious order in the Deep Industries Limited insider trading case in 2021. The regulator looked at the accused entities' Facebook profiles and discovered they were 'friends' on the network and had 'loved' each other's posts. "An insider can be a result of their association in any role or frequent communication with the company's officers."

Buch issued a number of decisions in 2017 prohibiting trade in suspected shell businesses, based on a list compiled by the government during its anti-black money campaign.

Buch became the leader of a seven-member expert committee after her time at SEBI, which was designed to help the regulator design in-house technical platforms.

Buch worked as a consultant for the New Development Bank in Shanghai prior to joining SEBI. She has also worked as the head of Greater Pacific Capital's Singapore office, as well as as the MD and CEO of ICICI Securities Limited and an executive director on the board of ICICI Bank.

Buch joined ICICI Bank in 1989 as a mathematics graduate from St Stephen's College in New Delhi and alumni of the Indian Institute of Management (IIM)-Ahmedabad.