NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led government appointed a senior bureaucrat and former secretary in the Ministry of Defence Ajay Kumar as a new chairperson of the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC).

The move comes on the close heels of 17th Civil Services Day celebrations where PM Modi lauded the contribution of bureaucrats, and said that civil servants are the real architects of Vikshit Bharat or developed India.

On May 13, 2025, President Droupadi Murmu appointed Kumar to the UPSC top role.  

Kumar, a 1985-batch Kerala cadre Indian Administrative Services (IAS) officer, has a distinguished career as a civil servant who served defence, defence production and the electronics and IT sectors, and adopted transformative strategies enabling a technologically advanced and self-reliant roadmap for the country.

From electronics to innovation

The bureaucrat was instrumental in implementing the government's ambitious Digital India program that includes Unified Payments Interface (UPI), Aadhaar (national ID), e-Marketplace, MyGov.in, and Jeevan Pramaan.

In the helm of country's electronics revolution which was started to unfold in 2024, Kumar during his stint at the Ministry of Electronics & IT (MeitY), erstwhile Department of Electronics and Information Technology (DeitY), led the country's manufacturing activities to life, taking electronics production to the mainstream.  

Being the longest-serving secretary in the Ministry of Defence, he founded Innovation for Defence Excellence or iDex, to nurture homegrown startups to create world-leading products and solutions in the country's defence and space sectors.

In the backdrop of Make in India and Atmanirbhar (self-reliant India) ambition, Kumar worked closely with the country's startup ecosystem, and was actively involved with the iDex initiative from 2017 to 2022.

With technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI) and emergence of the drone ecosystem, Kumar handholded the startups and offered policy insights with a visionary roadmap in a bid to excel them in a globally competitive  landscape.

"Excited to be a part of the INDUS-X event between iDEX Defence Innovation Organization India and the Defense Innovation Unit (DIU), DoD USA," he said in his Linkedin post on the backdrop of the Stanford University conference last year.  

Kumar is one of the few bureaucrats who passionately contributed editorial columns in multiple business dailies, advocating intellectual property rights (IPR) and development of innovative products.  

"India’s defence and space start-ups have made remarkable strides in recent years. Their next major challenge lies in expanding globally. With the right support and strategic international partnerships, India can foster start-ups to break into the global market, positioning the country as a key player in the global innovation race," he wrote in a business magazine early this year.

Kumar, a seasoned mentor to the core, founded MGF-Kavachh and raised ₹250 crores venture capital fund, dedicated to supporting Indian startups in areas of critical technologies and deep tech sectors.

He was also appointed as an advisor to the board of the US-India Strategic and Partnership Forum (USISPF), a  bilateral symposium, headed by Cisco Chairman Emeritus John Chambers. Kumar is also a distinguished visiting professor at IIT Kanpur's Department of Management Sciences, and Economic Sciences.

India's defence strategist

Kumar served as the Defence Secretary from August 23, 2019, to October 31, 2022. During his stint, he also held the additional charge of Secretary, Department of Defence Production from November 30, 2021, to October 31, 2022.

The top bureaucrat commissioned the Indian Coast Guard Ship (ICGS) Saksham, the fifth of the 105-metre Offshore Patrol Vessels (OPVs) class. The commissioning of ICGS Saksham has enhanced the ability of the ICG to fulfill the diverse maritime tasks.

On the back of emerging indigenous technologies and the country's growing prowess in underwater warfare and cyberwar defence, India's defence imports continued to slide, under his leadership.

On 20 April 2022, Kumar launched INS Vagsheer, the sixth Scorpene-class submarine under Project-75, at Mazagon Dock in Mumbai.

During the tenure, he led the corporatisation of the Ordnance Factories Board, a 200-year-old organisation that employs more than 70,000 individuals.

He also created the much-needed Electronics Development Fund that focuses on developing start-ups in various defence technological domains.

Kumar holds a Bachelor of Technology degree in electrical engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur, and a master's degree in development economics from the University of Minnesota, and has a PhD degree in business administration from the Carlson School of Management at the University of Minnesota.