The central government has appointed Senior IAS Officer Alkesh Kumar Sharma as secretary of the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY). Kerala cadre IAS officer was earlier serving as the secretary (Coordination), Cabinet Secretariat.
Alkesh Kumar Sharma succeeded Ajay Prakash Sawhney upon his retirement on March 31. He has earlier served as the extra chief secretary-industries of the Kerala government from May 2020 to April 2021. Sharma has been serving as a Managing Director of Kochi Metro Rail as well as CEO of Cochin Smart City Mission from September 2019 to April 2021.
The central government has set a deadline for commercially launching the first Indigenous chipsets by 2023-24 under the Digital India TISC-V programme. This programme is a part of the government’s Rs. 76,000 plan to build a semiconductor ecosystem by incentivizing companies to establish chip manufacturing and design facilities in the country. This announcement which was made recently has created a new enthusiasm and excitement among the top technology players.
Alkesh Kumar Sharma has been tasked to implement MEITY’s 1,000-day agenda which emphasizes making India a $1 trillion digital economic system in the coming years.
