Dr RS Sharma, IAS – Retired (1978 Batch)
Dr RS Sharma, an IAS officer (Retired) of the 1978 Jharkhand cadre, is currently serving as the Chairman of the Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC) and a distinguished visiting professor at IIT Kanpur. With over four decades of experience, he has been a key architect of digital transformation in India, leveraging Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) to simplify administrative processes and shape public policies.
For 40+ years, Dr RS Sharma has led reforms and leveraged IT to simplify administrative processes, thus, contributing to shaping India’s policies in Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs).
As the founding Director General and Mission Director of UIDAI, he helped formulate and launch Aadhaar, India’s first and the world’s largest biometric identity system. He also authored a book – ‘Making of Aadhaar: World’s largest Identity Platform’, capturing his experiences.
Dr Sharma was also positioned as CEO, National Health Authority during Feb 21 – Jan 23. As CEO of NHA, he was responsible for managing Ayushman Bharat, Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (AB PM-JAY) and Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission (AB -DM). Also, he served as the Chairperson of the Empowered Group on Vaccine Administration for COVID-19 (Co-WIN).
Previously, he also served as the Chairman of the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI), the Secretary of the Department of Electronics and Information Technology (Ministry of Communications and Information Technology) and the Chief Secretary of Jharkhand, among other portfolios.
Achievements
• As Director General & Mission Director of the Unique Identification Authority of India, he was responsible to bring to fruition Government of India’s ambitious project to provide a unique identity to all its residents.
• Deeply involved in the areas of e-Governance, he worked to introduce IT systems in the area of public service delivery such as Government Treasuries, Public Grievances, office automation, Land Reforms, Urban Governance, Tax reforms, Transport Systems, etc.
• Crafted policies for digital payments that led to the creation of the phenomenally successful UPI payment system in India.
• During his stint with TRAI, he led major reforms in the sector including the work in the area of Net Neutrality, data ownership, privacy and security.
• Brought in policies related to open source, open standards, and open APIs in all government projects and shaped eGovernance space by converting silo applications in various sectors to modern, multi-tenanted enterprise systems.
Education
Academically, Dr. Sharma holds a Ph.D. in Management and Public Policy from IIT Delhi, an LLB from Chaudhary Charan Singh University, and an MS in Computer Science from the University of California, Riverside. He also has an MSc in Mathematics from IIT Kanpur and a Bachelor’s degree in Physics, Mathematics, and Statistics from the University of Allahabad.
Explore Dr RS Sharma’s Insights at the 2nd PSU Transformation Conclave:
