Shri Amitabh Kant official website

Biography Amitabh Kant

India's G20 Sherpa,
and former CEO, NITI Aayog

Amitabh Kant is presently India’s G20 Sherpa. The G20 or the Group of Twenty is a forum where policymakers of industrialized and developing economies meet to discuss key issues in the global economy. The G20 countries account for 85% of global GDP, 75% of world trade and about two-thirds of the world’s population.

Amitabh Kant is a governance reformer and a public policy change agent for India, having driven key reforms and initiatives during his tenure as the Chief Executive Officer of the National Institution for Transforming India (NITI Aayog) (2016-2022) and the Secretary of the Department for Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP) (2014-2016), Government of India. He has been a key driver of flagship national initiatives such as Startup India, Make in India, Incredible India, Kerala: God’s Own Country and the Aspirational Districts Program. These initiatives have repositioned India and Kerala and have widely been recognized as transformational.

  • The National Institution for Transforming India (NITI Aayog) is India’s apex policy-making institution, with the Prime Minister as its Chairman. As CEO of NITI Aayog, Kant has driven a vast range of national-level developmental and policy initiatives which catalyzed India’s social and economic development and have brought about a paradigm shift in policy-making.

    As Secretary, DIPP Kant has driven the Start-up India movement which has led to India emerging as the third-best ecosystem for startups globally, with over 70,000+ start ups and over 101+ Unicorns. His focus has been to facilitate Ease of Doing Business (EoDB) through predictability, consistency of policies and elimination of rules, regulations and procedures. This led to India jumping 79 positions in Ease of Doing Business Indicators. He also initiated competition and ranking amongst Indian states based on their EoDB indicators. The competition and ranking has led to a transformational impact on States.

  • Tenure as CEO, NITI Aayog

    Kant has driven theAspirational Districts Program (ADP), the largest outcome-based governance project in the world which improved the socio-economic indicators of the 112 most backward districts of India. Today, as per a number of independent assessments, including those by UNDP and the Institute of Competitiveness, several Aspirational Districts of India have emerged as the best performing districts in their respective states.

    A strong proponent of positioning India as a global hub for manufacturing and exports, he has been the key driver of Make in India and the Production Linked Incentive (PLI) schemes which have given an impetus to manufacturing, innovation and exports.

    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)

    Prior to his appointment as the CEO of NITI Aayog, he served as the Secretary of the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion at the Government of India (2014-16). As Secretary, he vigorously drove the Ease of Doing Business initiative and ranking of States on outcome parameters.

    These initiatives have led to India making a quantum jump in the World Bank’s Ease of Doing Index and enabled Indian States to compete in the spirit of competitive federalism.

  • Key Government of India Assignments

    Amitabh Kant also served as the Chairman and CEO of the Delhi Mumbai Industrial Corridor Development Corporation (DMICDC) (2009-14) which is now known as NICDIC. The project was aimed at the development of futuristic, smart industrial cities in India which will converge and integrate next generation technologies across sectors. During his tenure with the central government, he has also worked as CMD of the India Tourism Development Corporation (ITDC) and as Joint Secretary of the Ministry of Tourism. (2001-2007)

  • Tenure with Government of Kerala

    As part of his tenure with the State Government of Kerala, he served as the Secretary of Tourism, Managing Director of the Kerala State Industrial Development Corporation, District Collector of Kozikhode and the Managing Director, Matsyafed(Apex Fisheries Federation for transforming lives of traditional fishermen through technology) among numerous other assignments.

    In Kerala, he structured the Calicut Airport as a private sector project based on User’s Fee basis and developed the ManachiraMaidan as a rejuvenative urban project in the heart of Calicut city.

  • 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

    He is a Member of the Steering Board of “Shaping the Future of Production Systems” of World Economic Forum (WEF) and also a Champion of the EDISON Alliance of the WEF, the aim of which is to deepen digital inclusion across health, education and finance for developing nations across the world.

    He is Member of the Regional Action Group on South Asia. He served as Chair of the Regional Strategy Group India from 2017 to 2020. He also served on the Management Board of the OECD- International Transport Forum (ITF), the world’s only inter-governmental agency for Transport.

  • 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.

What I've achieved

Recognitions

Economic Times Policy Change Agent of the Year Award

Economic Times Policy Change Agent of the Year Award

Bloomberg TV Personality of the year Award

Bloomberg TV Personality of the year Award

NDTV Administrator of the year Award

NDTV Administrator of the year Award

Distinguished Fellowship of the Institute of Directors.

Distinguished Fellowship of the Institute of Directors.

One Globe Award-2016

He is the recipient of One Globe Award-2016 for leadership in Transforming Governance for the 21st Century.

Sir Edmund Hillary Fellowship

He is also the recipient of Sir Edmund Hillary Fellowship awarded by the Prime Minister of New Zealand.

The Supercrats - India's Top Bureaucrats

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".

About myself

Curriculum Vitae

Amitabh Kant is India’s G20 Sherpa, and the former Chief Executive Officer of the National Institution for Transforming India (NITI Aayog) (2016-2022), as well as the former Secretary of the Department for Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP) (2014-2016), Government of India (GoI). He is a member of the Indian Administrative Service, IAS (Kerala Cadre: 1980 Batch).

Mr Kant is the author of “Branding India – An Incredible Story,” and has been a key driver of the “Make in India,” Startup India, “Incredible India,” and “God’s Own Country” initiatives which positioned and branded India and Kerala State as leading manufacturing and tourism destinations. These campaigns have won several international awards and embraced a host of activities – infrastructure development, product enhancement, private-public partnership, and brand building. Mr Kant also conceptualised and executed the “Atithi Devo Bhavah” – “Guest is God” campaign to train taxi drivers, guides, immigration officials and make them stakeholders in the tourism development process. As National Project Director of the Rural Tourism Project of UNDP, he oversaw a paradigm shift in spreading tourism to Indian villages that have core-competencies in handicrafts, handloom, and culture.

He was also the Chairman and CEO of the Delhi Mumbai Industrial Corridor Development Corporation (DMICDC) and Chairman of the National Productivity Council.

The Delhi Mumbai Industrial Corridor (DMIC) is being developed by the GoI as a global manufacturing and investment destination supported by world-class infrastructure and an enabling policy framework. The DMIC project is aimed at the development of futuristic, smart industrial cities in India which will converge and integrate next generation technologies across sectors. The DMIC cities will address not merely the urbanisation requirements of India, but with manufacturing as the main economic base, will also contribute significantly to the economic growth of the country.

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What I've done

My Achievements

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Branding India – An Incredible Story

How Do You Bring A Magnificently Diverse Country-With Twenty-Eight States, Seven Union Territories, Eighteen Official Languages And 1.12 Billion People-Under One Brand? In What Was A Complex And Massive Exercise, This Is Exactly What The Author, Amitabh Kant, Former Joint Secretary In The Ministry F Tourism, And His Colleagues Cutting Across Various Government Departments Achieved As They Put India On The World Tourism Map With Their 'Incredible India' Campaign.

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Incredible India

Incredible India (styled as Incredıble!ndıa) is the name of an international tourism campaign by the Government of India to promote tourism in India since 2002 to an audience of global appeal. Incredible India official logo. Incredible India title was officially branded and promoted by Amitabh Kant, the then Joint Secretary under the Union Ministry of Tourism, in 2002.

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Atithi Devo Bhavah

Amitabh Kant conceptualized and executed the "AtithiDevoBhavah" – "Guest is God" campaign to train taxi drivers, guides, immigration officials and make them stakeholders in the tourism development process.

He was the National Project Director of the Rural Tourism Project of UNDP which created a paradigm shift in spreading tourism to Indian villages that had skills in handicrafts, handlooms and culture.

Praises:

  • 'I consistently cite the "Incredible India" campaign as a masterstroke of international branding. And who better to tell the story than the man who created it. Amitabh Kant's book is insightful, thought-provoking, superbly researched, and deftly crafted.

    Keith Bellows
    Editor in Chief, National Geographic Traveler

  • Incredible inspiration. Amitabh Kant's account of branding India is a must-read not just for those in the tourism and advertising industries but also to all of us who want to experience the authentic richness of a continent that could well be the key to all our futures.

    Sarah Miller
    Editor, Conde Nast Traveller, UK

  • Nothing builds brands better than passion. Amitabh Kant's passion for both Brand India and Kerala is bubbling in every line and between the lines.

    Piyush Pandey
    Executive Chairman & National Creative Director, Ogilvy & Mather

  • A remarkable saga of how to attract the attention of overseas and domestic customers.

    Jean Claude Baumgarten
    President, World Travel & Tourism Council

  • Few campaigns have impressed me as much as "Incredible India" in its uniqueness, creativity, impact and effectiveness. The lucid, open-hearted, first-person account makes interesting and informative reading for academics and practitioners alike

    Francesco Frangialli
    Secretary-General, UN World Tourism Organization (UNWTO)
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