Amitabh Kant (born 1 March 1956) is a retired member of the 1980 Indian Administrative Service (IAS) batch, the All India civil service of the Government of India. He served as India's G20

Sherpa SHERPA (Securing a Hybrid Environment for Research Preservation and Access) is an organisation originally set up in 2002 to run and manage the SHERPA Project. History SHERPA began as an endeavour to support the establishment of a number of open ...

from 8 July 2022 till 16 June 2025. He is an Indian bureaucrat and the former chief executive officer of

NITI Aayog The NITI Aayog (; abbreviation for National Institution for Transforming India) serves as the apex public policy think tank of the Government of the Republic of India, and the nodal agency tasked with catalyzing economic development, and foste ...

, a

public policy Public policy is an institutionalized proposal or a Group decision-making, decided set of elements like laws, regulations, guidelines, and actions to Problem solving, solve or address relevant and problematic social issues, guided by a conceptio ...

think tank A think tank, or public policy institute, is a research institute that performs research and advocacy concerning topics such as social policy, political strategy, economics, military, technology, and culture. Most think tanks are non-governme ...

of the

Government of India The Government of India (ISO 15919, ISO: Bhārata Sarakāra, legally the Union Government or Union of India or the Central Government) is the national authority of the Republic of India, located in South Asia, consisting of States and union t ...

Early life

Amitabh Kant was born on 1 March 1956. He first studied at Modern School, Delhi, graduated with a degree in Economics (Hons.) from St. Stephen's College, Delhi and earned an M.A. in International Relations from

Jawaharlal Nehru University Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU; ISO: Javāharalāla Neharū Viśvavidyālaya) is a public research university located in Delhi, India. It was established in 1969 and named after Jawaharlal Nehru, India's first Prime Minister. The university ...

. He was a Chevening Scholar.

Career

Kant began his

Indian Administrative Service The Indian Administrative Service (IAS) is the Public administration, administrative arm of the All India Services of Government of India. The IAS is one of the three All India Services along with the Indian Police Service (IPS) and the Indian ...

career in the

Kerala Kerala ( , ) is a States and union territories of India, state on the Malabar Coast of India. It was formed on 1 November 1956, following the passage of the States Reorganisation Act, by combining Malayalam-speaking regions of the erstwhile ...

cadre, working as sub collector of

Thalassery Thalassery () (also called Tellicherry) is a city and municipality on the Malabar Coast in Kannur district in the state of Kerala, India, bordered by the districts of Mahe and Kozhikode. Thalassery municipality has a population of just under ...

., where he carried out infrastructural work such as widening roads, removing encroachments, relocating the town's fish market from the town-centre to the beach area, and initiating the Tellicherry Carnival for communal harmony. After his tenure in Tellicherry, Kant was appointed as the Managing Director of the Kerala State Co-operative Federation for Fisheries Development Ltd., known as ' Matsyafed.' In this role, he is credited with introducing fibreglass boats and outboard motor technology in the fisheries sector, as well as launching beach-level auctions. As District Collector of

Kozhikode Kozhikode (), also known as Calicut, is a city along the Malabar Coast in the state of Kerala in India. Known as the City of Spices, Kozhikode is listed among the City of Literature, UNESCO's Cities of Literature. It is the nineteenth large ...

(Calicut), he played a pivotal role in the expansion of the Calicut airport. His efforts included revamping the Mananchira Maidan, reconstructing the building of the Kozhikode Public Library and Research Centre, and organising the 'Malabar Mahotsav' cultural festival. As Tourism Secretary in Kerala, Kant promoted the state as a tourist destination, and is credited with popularising the slogan “Kerala: God's Own Country” during his tenure. After his term in Kerala, Kant was appointed as Joint Secretary in the Ministry of Tourism in 2001, where he stayed till 2007. During this time, he conceived the 'Incredible India' campaign through Ogilvy and Mather, intending to transform India into a sought-after tourist destination. He also conceptualised and executed the ‘Atithi Devo Bhava’(Guest is God) campaign to train taxi drivers, tourist guides, and immigration officials. Later, as the Secretary of the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP), Kant drove initiatives such as "

Make in India is an initiative by the Government of India to create and encourage companies to develop, manufacture and assemble products in India and incentivize dedicated investments into manufacturing. The policy approach was to create a conducive envi ...

," " Start Up India," and "

Ease of Doing Business Ease or EASE may refer to: Computing * Ease (programming language) * Enhanced Acoustic Simulator for Engineers, software for optimizing acoustics Health and medicine * Methylone, marketed briefly in New Zealand as Ease *Examination of Anomalous ...

." Kant was CEO of NITI Aayog from 2016 to 2022. During his tenure, he chaired Empowered Group 3 for COVID-19 management and initiated national-level projects like Asset Monetization and National Mission for Transformative Mobility. Additionally, he advocated for natural farming methods. In this role, he drove India’s Aspirational Districts Programme (ADP), aimed at improving the socio-economic indicators of 112 of India's most backwards districts. He served as India's

G20 The G20 or Group of 20 is an intergovernmental forum comprising 19 sovereign countries, the European Union (EU), and the African Union (AU). It works to address major issues related to the global economy, such as international financial stabil ...

Sherpa to Prime Minister

Narendra Modi Narendra Damodardas Modi (born 17 September 1950) is an Indian politician who has served as the Prime Minister of India, prime minister of India since 2014. Modi was the chief minister of Gujarat from 2001 to 2014 and is the Member of Par ...

from 8 July 2022 till 16 June 2025. ''India Today's'' High & Mighty rankings of 2019 featured Kant as one of the most powerful people in India under the category of "The Supercrats - India's Top Bureaucrats".

Publications

Kant is the author of books ''Branding India-An Incredible Story'', ''Incredible India 2.0'', ''Made in India: 75 Years of Business and Enterprise,'' and ''The Elephant Moves: India's New Place in the World co-authored with Amit Kapoor.'' "How India scaled Mt G20: The Inside Story of The G20" He is also the editor of ''The Path Ahead- Transformative Ideas for India,'' and has written over 500 articles in leading Indian and foreign publications.

Honours

The Order of the Rising Sun, Gold and Silver Star (2023)

Controversies

In December 2020, Kant attracted controversy after remarking at a public event, organized by Swarajya magazine, that enacting "tough reforms" were hard in India, since it is "too much of a democracy".

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Kant, Amitabh Living people 1956 births Indian Administrative Service officers