The government has appointed Amitabh Kant, Secretary in the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP), as full-time Chief Executive Officer of NITI Aayog. Kant, who has been helming some of the marquee initiatives of the Narendra Modi Government, will take over the job after his retirement as secretary in February end. According to an order issued by the Department of Personnel and Training, ´the competent authority has approved the appointment of Kant, a 1980 batch IAS officer of Kerala cadre, as CEO of Niti Aayog, after his superannuation in Feb-end.´
Kant was instrumental in rolling out the government´s Make in India programme and has been working on the soon-to-be launched Start-Up India initiative. Besides, Kant has played a big role in improving ease of doing business. Prior to his current assignment, he was heading the Delhi-Mumbai Industrial Corridor.
´The terms and conditions of his appointment as CEO, Niti Aayog will be conveyed in due course,´ the order said. Kant will succeed former IAS officer Sindhushree Khullar, who was appointed as first CEO of the National Institution for Transforming India (Niti) Aayog for one year, starting January 1, 2015. The government had given Kant additional charge of the agency on December 28 to clear the air over whether Khullar´s term would be extended.