The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) has appointed Senior IAS Officer Alkesh Kumar Sharma as its new secretary. He is an Indian Administrative Services (IAS) officer of the 1990 batch from the Kerala cadre. Alkesh replaces Ajay Prakash Sawhney, who was the secretary since June 2017.
Key Points
The Kerala cadre IAS officer, Sharma will now be responsible for the smooth implementation of the $10 billion semiconductor incentive scheme to boost chip manufacturing and design facilities in the country. Among immediate tasks as secretary MeitY, Sharma will also be responsible for putting MEITY's 1,000-day strategy into action, which aims to turn India into a $1 trillion digital economy in the next several years. Under the programme the Union ministry is tasked to make India the largest connected nation in the world, bringing coherence into digital governance, simplifying rules and legislation for technology and social media companies, and emphasising on building India high-tech.
Alkesh Kumar Sharma
Prior to his appointment, Alkesh Kumar Sharma served as the secretary (Coordination) at the Cabinet Secretariat. From May 2020 to April 2021, Alkesh Kumar Sharma was Kerala's additional chief secretary for industries. From September 2019 to April 2021, Sharma was the Managing Director of Kochi Metro Rail and the CEO of the Cochin Smart City Mission.
Sharma worked as Chief Executive Officer (CEO) & Managing Director (MD) of the National Industrial Corridor Development Corporation Limited (NICDC) from October 2015 to September 2019 and was a member of a task force on programme management set up by Niti Aayog.
As Joint Secretary of the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways from 2012 to 2015, Alkesh Kumar Sharma (IAS) handled matters relating to National Highways Planning, land acquisition, forest and environment clearances, review and monitoring of National Highways Projects, coordination with Railways, Defence and other agencies and all matters related to toll and toll policy on the national highways. During his stint as chairman of Indian Highways Management Company, he oversaw deployment of FASTAGs for toll collection.
In the state of Kerala, he worked as the Managing Director of Kochi Metro Rail Ltd, Kochi and Additional Chief Secretary (Special Projects-Infrastructure) and Industries, where he monitored the implementation of mega infrastructure projects like Semi-High Speed Rail, Airport, Ports, Smart Cities, Multi-modal Transport Hub, Waste to Energy Projects, Kochi-Bangalore Industrial Corridor and Development of Industrial Townships and Integrated Smart Manufacturing Clusters in Kerala.
Sharma was the managing director of Kerala Tourism Development Corporation. He played a key role in branding and promoting Kerala Tourism as 'God's Own Country' during his two tenures spanning over seven years, in Kerala. Sharma worked with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) for three years (2006-2009) as National Project Director of Urban Development and Poverty Alleviation.