Govt appoints Anurag Jain as NITI Aayog CEO to steer policy think tank for two years

The government on Wednesday appointed seasoned bureaucrat Anurag Jain, a former secretary in the department for promotion of industry and internal trade (DPIIT) and the ministry of road transport and highways (MoRTH) as chief executive of NITI Aayog.

Jain, a 1989-batch Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer of the Madhya Pradesh cadre, brings nearly four decades of experience in industrial policy, infrastructure development, logistics, finance and state administration to the government's apex public policy think tank.

According to an order issued by the department of personnel and training (DoPT) on Wednesday, the appointments committee of the cabinet (ACC) approved his appointment with effect from the date he assumes charge. He will serve until the end of his approved extension in service and thereafter for an overall period of two years or until further orders, whichever is earlier.

Jain succeeds B.V.R. Subrahmanyam, who was appointed cabinet secretary after his extended tenure as NITI Aayog CEO ended earlier this week.

Previous stints

An IIT Kharagpur graduate, Jain has held a wide range of assignments spanning district administration, rural development, finance, information technology, urban development, industrial policy and infrastructure.

Most recently, he served as chief secretary of Madhya Pradesh. Earlier, he held two key secretary-level assignments in the Union government: first as secretary, DPIIT (September 2021-April 2023) and later as secretary, MoRTH.

During his tenure at DPIIT, Jain led the implementation of the PM Gati Shakti National Master Plan, the Centre's flagship initiative to integrate infrastructure planning across ministries through a GIS-based digital platform. The initiative received the Prime Minister's Award for Excellence in Public Administration in 2023. He also oversaw the implementation of the production linked incentive (PLI) schemes, industrial policy, Startup India, logistics reforms, foreign direct investment (FDI) policy, and initiatives under the national logistics policy and industrial corridor programme.

At the road ministry, he oversaw the expansion of the national highways network and initiatives aimed at improving multimodal connectivity and logistics efficiency.

Jain has also held several influential assignments in the prime minister's office and the finance ministry. As joint secretary in the department of financial services, he is credited with conceptualising and implementing the Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana, which went on to become the world's largest financial inclusion programme. He later served as joint secretary to the prime minister, where he worked on key governance and policy initiatives.

His career also includes a stint as vice chairman of the Delhi Development Authority (DDA), where he oversaw urban planning and housing-related initiatives in the national capital. Earlier, he served as secretary to then Madhya Pradesh chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan for nearly five-and-a-half years, during which he played a key role in drafting and implementing the Madhya Pradesh Public Service Guarantee Act, pioneering legislation that was later replicated in several states to ensure time-bound delivery of public services.

As secretary for information technology in the Madhya Pradesh government, Jain spearheaded digital governance initiatives that helped the state emerge among the country's leading performers in e-governance and e-readiness assessments. He later served as additional chief secretary (finance), overseeing the state's finances before moving to the Centre.