Ajay Kumar (civil servant)

Dr. Ajay Kumar is the former Defence Secretary of India and currently an advisor for electronics development projects. He is an Indian Administrative Service officer from the 1985 batch. Dr. Ajay Kumar is an alumnus of IIT Kanpur and the University of Minnesota.

Dr. Kumar currently holds the position of Distinguished Visiting Professor in Department of Management Sciences and the Department of Economic Sciences at the Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur.

Dr. Kumar's has served in the technology and policy domains, particularly in areas like electronics manufacturing, mobile production and defence production. Notably, he has played a leadership role in shaping and implementing key decisions for the Government of India's Digital India initiative as Additional secretary to the Government of India.

His career also includes involvement in expanding defense exports and introducing modern warfare capabilities. Dr. Ajay Kumar is the visionary behind the iDEX program, which received the Prime Minister Award for Public Policy in the Innovation Category in 2021. He has been associated in Project 75I, a program focused on developing next-generation submarines and fighters, and laying the groundwork for a thriving marine and aerospace industrial ecosystem in India.

He is an active writer for Indian national dailies and maintains a monthly column in Business Standard titled "Off the Grid."

Education
Kumar has a Bachelor of Technology in electrical engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur, has a master's degree in development economics from the University of Minnesota, and has a PhD degree in business administration from the Carlson School of Management at the University of Minnesota.

Ajay Kumar was awarded two separate fellowships by the University of Minnesota and recognized as the distinguished alumnus by the IIT Kanpur for his professional excellence and nation-building efforts

Career
Kumar has served in various posts in both the Government of India and the Government of Kerala, such as Principal Secretary (Information Technology), managing director of the Kerala State Electronics Development Corporation, Secretary (Industries), managing director of the Kerala State Co-operative Agricultural and Rural Development Bank, general manager in the Kerala State Industrial Development Corporation and as the district magistrate and collector of the Palghat (now Palakkad) district in the Kerala government; and as the Defence Production Secretary, additional secretary in the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, joint secretary in the Department of Information Technology of the now-erstwhile Ministry of Communications and Information Technology, director in the Department of Biotechnology of the Ministry of Science and Technology and as a deputy secretary in the Department of Home of the Ministry of Home Affairs in the Indian government.

Ajay kumar spent three decade of his service with the Kerala state government where he headed three different departments.

Kumar also served as a private secretary to a minister in the Ministry of Non-Conventional Energy Sources (now Ministry of New and Renewable Energy).

Principal Secretary
He was Principal Secretary to Government of Kerala, Information Technology Department from October 2007 to December 2010.

Joint Secretary
Kumar held the post of Joint Secretary, Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology and additional charge of Director General at National Informatics Centre from 2010 to 2014.

Additional Secretary
He was Additional Secretary, Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology during 2015 - 2019

Defence Production Secretary
Kumar was appointed as the Defence Production Secretary by the prime minister-headed Appointments Committee of the Cabinet in November 2017,  he assumed office on 1 December 2017. He served as Defence Production Secretary till 23 August 2019 and was succeeded by Subhash Chandra, an IAS officer of Karnataka cadre (1986 batch).

Defence Secretary
Kumar was appointed as Union Defence Secretary on 21 August 2019, and he assumed office on 23 August 2019 when Sanjay Mitra retired and served the office till 31 October 2022. Kumar travelled to Paris along with Raksha Mantri Rajnath Singh to take delivery of first Rafale fighter jet. On 4 June 2020, Kumar tested positive for COVID-19.

Secretary, Department of Defence Production
Defence Secretary Ajay Kumar was assigned additional charge of Secretary, Department of Defence Production on 30th Nov 2021 and served the office till 31 October 2022.

Professional work
Dr Ajay Kumar, the Defence Secretary, commissioned the Indian Coast Guard Ship (ICGS) Saksham, the fifth of the 105-metre Offshore Patrol Vessels (OPVs) class. ICGS Saksham's commissioning has enhanced the ability of the ICG to fulfill the diverse maritime tasks.

In March 2022, he asserted that defence imports have been decreasing continuously, with the focus been given on emerging defence technologies like cyberspace and underwater warfare and enhancing R&D investments aimed at optimizing defence operations and augmenting military efficiency.

On 20 April 2022, Kumar launched INS Vagsheer, the sixth Scorpene-class submarine under Project-75, at Mazagon Dock in Mumbai.

Honours and awards
He received distinguished Alumni award from Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur in 2019 for the entrepreneurship excellence work. Kumar is credited for the creation of an Electronics Development Fund, which focuses on developing technology start-ups in defence sector.

Ajay Kumar was named one of the top-50 effective bureaucrats in the year 2019 in a survey conducted by Asia Post for adhering to the cardinal principles of civil service that is professionalism, anonymity, integrity and neutrality.


 * 2013 - EFY - Electronics Leader of Year
 * 2019 - Awarded Honorary Doctorate by Amity University, Noida
 * 2019 - Top 50 effective bureaucrats by Asia Post
 * 2019 - Distinguished Alumni, IIT Kanpur
 * 2021 - Fellow of Indian National Academy of Engineering in 2021