Dr Kannan succeeds Khan at ASI

19 September 2005

While Life Insurance Corporation of India's (LIC) appointed actuary G N Agarwal and Munich Re's S Madhusudhanan, were reelected as vice president and treasurer respectively, K S Gopalakrishnan, appointed actuary, Birla Sun Life Insurance Company Limited was elected as the new secretary in place of R Hemamalini, the appointed actuary, ING Vysya Life Insurance Company Private Limited.

Interestingly, all the selections were unanimous without any contests.

Dr Kannan assumes office at a crucial juncture. It may be recalled that the government has proposed converting the ASI into a statutory body similar to the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India. The Actuaries Bill 2005, which contains this proposal, is expected to be placed in parliament anytime. If it is passed, Dr. Kannan is likely to go down in history as its first president.

Dr Kannan, a fellow member of ASI, is on deputation to SBI Life from the Reserve Bank of India where he served as adviser, department of economic analysis and policy. During 1994-98, he served as adviser in the International Monetary Fund, Washington, and during 1992-94, he was adviser to the governor, Bank of Mauritius, Mauritius. He is the chairman of the five-member Exempt-Exempt-Taxed (EET) committee formed by the union government.

Dr Kannan holds a masters in econometrics from the Madurai University from where he also acquired an M A in economics. He did his PhD., from Bombay University and in 1987-88 he worked as a post-doctoral fellow at the University of Pennsylvania, under Nobel laureate, Prof. Lawrence Klein. Dr Kannan has written about 40 research papers and served in eight working groups relating to various aspects of money and finance.
Shortly after his selection, Dr Kanana spoke to domain-b on his immediate priorities. Excerpts: