Kerala to G20, face of key govt schemes Amitabh Kant calls it a day

Kant was handpicked by Prime Minister Narendra Modi as G20 Sherpa to represent India in the lead-up to its G20 presidency in 2023.

“I am deeply grateful to Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi for accepting my resignation as India’s G20 Sherpa and for the trust he placed in me to drive developmental initiatives that shaped India’s growth trajectory,” Kant said in a LinkedIn post Monday.

Known for his time-bound delivery and communication skill, Kant led the process to hammer out the New Delhi Leaders’ Declaration that was adopted by the G20 with consensus in September 2023 despite deepening geopolitical divides amid the Russia-Ukraine war.

A retired 1980-batch IAS officer of Kerala cadre, Kant, 69, said he would now deepen his engagement with “free enterprise, startups, think tanks and academic institutions”. He is known for his interest in deep tech startups and electric mobility, and is considered among those bureaucrats who could connect with leaders in business and government alike.

Ahead of his resignation, Kant took to social media to advocate for a large Fund of Funds (FoF), announced in the Union Budget 2025, to strengthen deep tech innovation. He also made a strong pitch for the cause of pure electric vehicles (EVs), likening investment in hybrids or internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles to “investing in typewriters during the era of AI & smart phones”.

In his stint with the central government, Kant had been Secretary of the Department for Industrial Policy and Promotion (2014–16), CEO of the Delhi Mumbai Industrial Corridor Development Corporation (2009-14), and Joint Secretary in the Ministry of Tourism (2001–07). He played a notable role in some major government initiatives such as Startup India, Make in India, and Incredible India.

Earlier, during his tenure in the Kerala government, Kant was credited with steering the campaign, “Kerala: God’s Own Country”, to promote tourism in the state.

Kant had been close to the Narenda Modi dispensation. In 2016, a year after PM Modi scrapped the Planning Commission and established NITI Aayog, Kant was named as its second CEO, where he served till June 30, 2022 to become its longest-serving CEO so far.

During his tenure at the NITI Aayog, Kant drove some politically sensitive initiatives like the Aspirational Districts Programme and helped push the policy agenda across sectors—from manufacturing through the PLI (production linked incentive) scheme to innovation via the Atal Innovation Mission. He also led one of the empowered groups of officers tasked with formulating the government’s response to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Kant was known for his rapport with External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, which helped the former navigate his diplomatic assignment as the G20 Sherpa. A bureaucrat-turned-politician, Jaishankar is a retired officer of 1977 Indian Foreign Service (IFS) batch. Jaishankar and Kant went to the same college and university – St Stephens, Delhi, and JNU.

Both Jaishankar and Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, who also studied in JNU, were mentioned by Kant in his resignation post for their “guidance and support”.

In the course of his long stints in Delhi, Kant’s office addresses changed from Samrat Hotel to Udyog Bhawan to NITI Aayog to Sushma Swaraj Bhawan, but there were a few things that remained constant. First, there would be a glass door in his office, where anyone could see him before walking in. Second, his favourite playlist of ghazals including those sung by Chitra Singh, such as “Ham ko dushman kee nigaahon se na dekha keejiye pyaar hee pyaar hain ham, ham pe bharosa keejiye”. Third, his team of private staff, who always worked with him.

Kant has also been no stranger to controversy. In December 2020, he triggered a row by saying that “tough” reforms are “very difficult in the Indian context” as “we are too much of a democracy” but the government has shown “courage” and “determination” in pushing such reforms across sectors, including mining, coal, labour and agriculture.

His remarks came when farmers had taken to streets to hold protests against the three contentious central farm laws, which the Modi government was eventually forced to repeal.

In March this year, Kant waded into the work-life balance row when, addressing an event, he batted for a 80-90 hour work week for India to

move from a $4 trillion to $30 trillion economy by 2047. He said India needs to inculcate a good work ethic like Japan, South Korea, and China, which have attained high economic success through hard work.

Kant’s comments came after L&T chairman SN Subrahmanyan and Infosys co-founder NR Narayana Murthy had expressed similar views.

As regards his future innings, Kant had earlier ruled out taking a plunge into public life. “I’ve had a very long innings in government. I’ve been working for almost 44 years now. So, I have no ambition to get into politics or any such thing,” he told The Indian Express in October 2023. Earlier that year, Kant, a fitness enthusiast, had also said, “I’m not ambitious. I just want to quit after December and play some good golf.”

Kant has written several books, including “How India Scaled Mt G20: The Inside Story of the G20 Presidency”.