Ajay Kumar (UPSC Chairperson) Height, Age, Biography

Some Lesser Known Facts About Ajay Kumar

• Ajay Kumar was born and raised in a middle-class family in Uttar Pradesh.

• He is a retired IAS officer of the 1985 batch.

• Ajay Kumar is the longest-serving secretary in the Ministry of Defence.

• After completing his Bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering from IIT Kanpur, he went to the USA for his PHD degree in Business Administration.

• Before joining the civil services, he started working in various private sectors in the USA, which gave him a global outlook on administration and technology.

• After cracking the civil services exam in India, his administrative career began in 1985 in the Kerala cadre, where he was appointed as the District Magistrate in Palakkad district, Kerala.

• After that, he became the managing director of the Kerala State Co-operative Agricultural and Rural Development Bank, general manager in the Kerala State Industrial Development Corporation.

• Kumar became the managing director of Kerala State Electronics Development Corporation Limited (KELTRON), a state-owned electronics enterprise, where he played a pivotal role in revitalising and modernising his operations.

• In the early 2000s, he joined the central government and worked in the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology.

• He held several significant positions in the central government, including director of the Department of Biotechnology within the Ministry of Science and Technology and deputy secretary of the Department of Home Affairs of the Ministry of Home Affairs

• From 2007 to 2010, Ajay Kumar served as the Principal Secretary in the Information Technology Department of the Government of Kerala.

• From 2010 to 2014, he held the post of Joint Secretary, Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology and additional charge of Director General at National Informatics Centre, where he promoted IT systems for better governance.

• Ajay Kumar made landmark contributions in India’s electronics and mobile manufacturing industry as he framed the National Electronics Policy in 2012.

• From 2015 to 2019, Ajay Kumar served as the Additional Secretary in the Ministry of Electronics and IT. He played an important role in Digital India initiatives and in developing policies around cybersecurity and emerging technologies.

• As an additional Secretary in the Ministry of Electronics and It, He played an important role in Digital India initiatives and in developing policies around cybersecurity and emerging technologies.

• Ajay Kumar played a significant role in several Digital India projects under Prime Minister Narendra Modi, as he was involved in the implementation of initiatives such as UPI, Aadhaar, myGov, and the Government e-Marketplace.

• In 2017, he became Defence Production Secretary in the Ministry of Defence, where he helped and promoted self-reliance in defence manufacturing. He has served as the Defence Production Secretary till 23 August 2019.

• On August 23, 2019, he was appointed as the Defence Secretary of India, the top administrative position in the Ministry of Defence.

• As Defence Secretary in India, he worked on the corporatisation of the Ordnance Factories Board, which is a 200-year-old institution employing 80,000 people.

• He also commissioned the Indian Coast Guard Ship (ICGS) Saksham, which is the fifth vessel of the 105-meter Offshore Patrol Vessel (OPV) class. The commissioning of ICGS Saksham has strengthened the Indian Coast Guard’s ability to perform a variety of maritime tasks.

• From 2017 to 2022, Kumar was involved in setting up the defence startup ecosystem through the Innovations for Defence Excellence (iDEX).

• As Union Defence Secretary from 2029 to 2022, Ajay Kumar led major reforms like the Agniveer recruitment scheme for the armed forces. He had also travelled to Paris with Union Minister Rajnath Singh to take delivery of the first Rafale fighter jet.

• Between 2020 and 2021, he worked on policy matters to support startups in the AI, drone, and space industries in India.

• In 2021, he was handed the additional charge of Secretary, Department of Defence Production.

• On 20 April 2022, Ajay Kumar launched Indian Naval Ship (INS) Vagsheer, the sixth Scorpene-class submarine under Project-75, at Mazagon Dock in Mumbai.

• In October 2022, Ajay Kumar retired from his defence services.

• After his retirement, Dr Ajay Kumar gave mentorship to startups across various domains.

• In 2023, Kumar was appointed as an advisor to the board of the US-India Strategic and Partnership Forum (USISPF).

• He also served as a Board of Director at Sify Technologies Limited, India.

• In 2024, Ajy Kumar founded MGF-Kavachh, a venture that focused on supporting and nurturing deep tech startups in India, particularly those related to defence, space, and national security.

• Ajay Kumar is a distinguished visiting Professor (Guest Professor) at IIT Kanpur with the Department of Management Sciences and with the Department of Economic Sciences.

• He is also a non-resident Senior Fellow at Carnegie India, New Delhi.

• In May 2025, he assumed the role of Chairperson at the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC), appointed by the President of India, Droupadi Murmu.
  

  Ajay Kumar appointment letter of UPSC Chairperson

• Ajay Kumar is an active writer for Indian national dailies and maintains a monthly column in Business Standard titled “Off the Grid.

• He is also among the very few IAS officers in India with a PHD Degree from a foreign University.