Tenure as CEO, NITI Aayog

At NITI Aayog, he established India’s National Mission on Transformative Mobility and Battery Storage, which is responsible for driving the uptake of clean mobility in the country. The mission evolved policies and interventions which supported millions of citizens and hundreds of government agencies across the country to make the switch to electric mobility. Under his leadership, the mission supported the 26 states of India in evolving their EV policies and also successfully facilitated the launch of a tender for the procurement and operation of 5,500 E-buses, one of the largest tenders in the world.

Under his leadership, NITI undertook extensive work on Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) across the country. He supervised the development of the country’s first regional district SDG monitoring system in the form of the “North Eastern Region District SDG Index and Dashboard” which covers all North Eastern States and their 120 districts. He took the SDG localization model further to the level of urban areas and led the developed of the SDG Urban Index & Dashboard in November 2022.

He has been the driver of the world’s first government-led subnational SDG Index -the SDG India Index was launched in 2018. Since its inception, and now in its fourth year, it has become the country’s principal tool for monitoring progress on the SDGs for States and Union Territories. During his tenure, India’s first-ever National Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI) was launched which provides poverty estimates for states and districts of the country.

He was instrumental in the conceptualisation of the USD 81 Bn National Asset Monetization Pipeline which aims to unlock value from brownfield infrastructure assets through structured contractual partnerships with the private sector. This massive scheme has been widely successful and has already exceeded its intended target for the first year.

Under his supervision, NITI Aayog produced a number of indices and ranked various Indian states on their performances. These indices include the School Education and Quality Index (SEQI), the Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI), the Health Index, Composite Water Management Index besides others.

He set up the Behavioral Insights Unit (BIU) of India and was instrumental in the launch of the Lifestyle For Environment (LiFE) movement, conceptualized by the Prime Minister, which places individual behavior at the heart of climate action.

He has also taken numerous other initiatives during his tenure at NITI including Online Dispute Resolution, Easing Compliance Burden and Decriminalisation of existing laws.

He is especially passionate about the sunrise sectors of growth, particularly Mobile Manufacturing, Green Hydrogen, Advanced Chemistry Cell Batteries, electric mobility and battery swapping and has steered several initiatives in these sectors for the purposes of climate adaptation and mitigation.

As the CEO of NITI Aayog, he served as Director in the Board of the National Highways Authority of India, Member of India’s National Statistical Commission, Member of the Digital Communications Commission of India, Director of the Board of the India International Convention Centre, Member of the National Industrial Corridor Development and Implementation Trust (NICDIT) and the Chairman of the Executive Council of the National Institute of Labour Economics, Research and Development.

Tenure as Secretary, Department of Industrial Policy & Promotion (DIPP)

Key Government of India Assignments

Tenure with Government of Kerala

Books

Amitabh Kant is the author of the following books:

1. Branding India-An Incredible Story

2. Incredible India 2.0

3. Editor of “The Path Ahead- Transformative Ideas for India”.

4. He is the author of over 500 published articles in leading Indian newspapers.

International Engagements

Education

Amitabh Kant did his schooling from Modern School, Delhi, graduation in Economics (Hons) from St. Stephens, Delhi University and M.A from Jawaharlal Nehru University. He is a Chevening Scholar. He has also undertaken a mid-term course with John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University and Indian Institute of Management (IIM), Ahmedabad.