The government Monday appointed S.R. Rao as the new commerce secretary.
A 1978 batch Gujarat cadre officer of the Indian Administrative Service, Rao replaced Rahul Khullar, who has joined as chairman of the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI).
A Padma Shri awardee, Rao is known for his work as Surat municipal commissioner in mid-1990s, when he took a number of initiatives to clean up and modernise the diamond city that was hit by a plague epidemic in 1994.
Rao was special secretary in the department of telecommunications.
Published 28 May 2012, 14:33 IST