'He is positive and likes to get work done,' is how a retired bureaucrat described him. 'I assume he will push the reform agenda with strength.'

Illustration: Dominic Xavier/Rediff.com.

To the world of regulation, Ajay Tyagi, the chairman-designate of Securities and Exchanges Board of India, may be a new name, but for him, it is something he did more than a decade back, albeit in a different stream.

Tyagi was the first to be appointed secretary in the Petroleum and Natural Gas Regulatory Board in November 2006. When he joined PNGRB, the chairman to the board had not been appointed and he was responsible for coming out with the early regulations for the city gas distribution sector.

Drafting regulations was not tough for him since he had been involved with the framing of PNGRB Act itself as joint secretary in the ministry of petroleum and natural gas.

After completing his five-year tenure in the ministry, first as director and then as joint secretary, Tyagi spent two years in PNGRB before moving back to his cadre state handling portfolios as diverse as finance, IT and printing and stationery.

The 58-year-old Tyagi is a post-graduate in economics as well as computer science. Prior to joining the finance ministry in October 2014, he spent two years in the environment ministry. “He is positive and likes to get work done” is how a retired bureaucrat described him. “I assume he will push the reform agenda with strength.”

In the finance ministry, Tyagi’s responsibilities include investment, capital markets, bilateral relations and currency.

Some of the key decisions that Tyagi has been involved in are the setting up the monetary policy committee, demonetisation, development of the corporate bond markets, and foreign investments.