2 NE-Cadre IAS Officers Appointed as Secretaries of Commerce and Civil Aviation Ministries
First Published: 6th June, 2025 17:16 IST
Samir Sinha has been appointed as Secretary, Civil Aviation and Rajesh Agarwal as Secretary Commerce
In a bureaucratic reshuffle that holds a lot of significance for northeast, 2 Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officers from northeast cadres have been appointed as Secretaries in the Union Commerce and Civil Aviation Ministries.
Samir Kumar Sinha, a 1994-batch IAS officer of Assam-Meghalaya cadre, has been appointed as the Secretary, Ministry of Civil Aviation and Rajesh Agarwal, also a 1994-batch IAS officer of the Manipur cadre, has been appointed as the Commerce Secretary.
Samir Kumar Sinha replaces Vumlunmang Vualnam, who has been transferred as Secretary in the Department of Expenditure under the Ministry of Finance.
Before this elevation, Sinha served as Additional Secretary and Director General (Acquisition) in the Ministry of Defence. He also held important positions in the Assam state government, including Additional Chief Secretary to the Chief Minister and Additional Chief Secretary in the Finance Department. Sinha holds a postgraduate degree in History from Hindu College, Delhi University.
Rajesh Agarwal will take charge as the Commerce Secretary after the retirement of Sunil Barthwal on September 30. Until then, Agarwal will serve as Special Secretary in the Department of Commerce.
Agarwal currently leads India’s trade negotiations with the United States and oversees the review of the free trade agreement in goods with the 10-nation ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) bloc. He also heads talks for the proposed comprehensive trade agreements with Australia and Peru. In addition, he is in charge of the Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA).
Between July 2021 and December 2022, Rajesh Agarwal served as the Chief Electoral Officer of Manipur and as the Principal Secretary for Power and Home in the Manipur government. He has also held key positions such as Executive Director at the India Trade Promotion Organisation and Joint Secretary in the Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship.
The appointments were cleared by the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet on April 18.
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