IAS officer Rajiv Bansal appointed as Air India chief

Senior IAS officer Rajiv Bansal on Thursday was appointed Chairman & Managing Director of national carrier Air India, which has been put up for sale by the government.

Bansal, an IAS officer of the 1988 batch, would succeed Ashwani Lohani, who was appointed to the post on February 13 last year for a period of one year.

This would be Bansal's second stint as Air India CMD. In 2017, he was appointed to the post, succeeding Lohani, who was named Chairman of the Railway Board.

“The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet has approved the appointment of Shri Rajiv Bansal, IAS (NL:88), Additional Secretary, Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas as
Chairman & Managing Director, Air India in the rank and pay of Additional Secretary,” the Ministry of Personnel said.

Bansal has done an earlier stint in the aviation ministry as a director and also served in the ministry of electronics and information technology, where he looked after digital payments, IT Act, Aadhaar, and internet governance.

In his career spanning 33 years, Bansal has also served as secretary, Central Electricity Regulatory Commission (CERC) and joint secretary, department of heavy industries.

A civil engineering graduate from the Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi in 1986, Bansal has a diploma in finance from ICFAI, Hyderabad and an executive masters in international business from Indian Institute of Foreign Trade, New Delhi.