Rajiv Bansal has taken over as the Chairman and Managing Director of Air India.
He succeeds Ashwani Lohani, who has now become the Chairman, Railway Board. Bansal had earlier served as Director in the Ministry of Civil Aviation and was a Board member of the National Aviation Company of India Ltd (NACIL) during the formative years of the merged national carrier.
He has also earlier served as a board member of the Alliance Air, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Air India.
In a career spanning 30 years, this 1988 batch IAS officer has earlier been Joint Secretary in the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (Meity) where he was looking after Digital Payments, IT Act, Aadhaar, and internet governance.
He has also held the post of Secretary, Central Electricity Regulatory Commission (CERC) and Joint Secretary, Department of Heavy Industries, Government of India.
He has also served on the boards of BHEL, AYCL, HMT and the GITA.
Bansal is a Civil Engineer by profession having graduated from IIT, Delhi, and has a Diploma in Finance from ICFAI, Hyderabad, and an Executive Masters in International Business from IIFT, New Delhi.