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New Delhi : Apurva Chandra who belongs to the 1988 batch of the Indian Administrative Service (IAS), Maharashtra Cadre, on October 1, 2020, assumed charge as new Secretary, Ministry of Labour & Employmen, here. Prior to this, he was serving as Special Director General, Defence Acquisition, Ministry of Defence, a position where he played a key role in contributing towards Atma Nirbhar Bharat in terms of greater defence acquisition from domestic industry and at the same time keeping Defence Forces equipped with all its challenging requirements.
A Civil Engineer, Chandra obtained his bachelor’s Degree in Civil Engineering and Masters’s in Structural Engineering from IIT Delhi. He has long experience of dealing with issues relating to industries while working in Government of Maharashtra and Government of India. Chandra has spent more than seven years in the Ministry of Petroleum & Natural Gas in the Government of India. He has been involved in framing policies with regard to fuel supplies to industries, supply logistics, transportation, storage and distribution of fuel products etc. He was directly associated with Natural Gas transportation infrastructure, setting up of city gas distribution companies, LNG import terminals and allocation of gas to industries. Chandra has served on the Board of Directors of Maharatna PSU, GAIL (India) and petronet LNG.
Chandra has worked for over four years between 2013 and 2017 as Principal Secretary (Industries) in Maharashtra. Maharashtra led the country in attracting FDI and other investments over the period. Chandra was instrumental for a slew of new policies like Electronic Policy, Retail policy, Single Window Policy to attract new investments. The first smart industrial township under Delhi-Mumbai Industrial corridor (DMIC) has operationalised at Aurangabad in Maharashtra under the leadership of Chandra. Leading industrial players like General Electric, General Motors, Volkwagen, Mercedes, Fiat Chrysler, Mahindra, Posco, Emerson, LG, Haier etc. have invested in Maharashtra during Chandra’s tenure, according to a PIB release.