NEW DELHI :Madhabi Puri Buch, the current chairperson of the Securities & Exchange Board of India (SEBI) has achieved a remarkable feat by becoming the first ever woman to lead the organisation.
Madhabi Puri Buch, an alumni of the IIM- Ahmedabad is known for being the only female student to have pulled out from the placement process to which the country’s premier institution generously wished her luck to find the job she was looking for.
However, after she graduated in 1998, the current chairperson of SEBI returned to her alma mater as the Chief Guest for the 59th Convocation, and the Business-school shared a post on X in her honour with anecdotes about her time at the institution.
“This month’s #IIMAArchives spotlight celebrates Ms Madhabi Puri Buch, a 1988 IIMA alumna who rewrote the rules. Choosing her own path over placement, she made history as SEBI’s first female chairperson,” wrote IIM Ahmedabad on X.

The image attached along with the post by the B- shcool contained creative text from the IIMA Student Yearbook of 1987-88.

‘Madbhai Puri Buch morning invariably begins with a call from home after which she goes about zapping the academics scene in her own neat, organised way. This I-schol doesn’t stop at excelling in academics but also enjoys debating, elocuting and amateur dramatics – when she is on campus. Friday evenings, inevitably find Mad rushing off to Bombay. The only girl who’s pulled out of placement. We hope she finds just the job she is looking for. Good luck, Mad!”