2010-batch Indian Administrative Services Officer of the Uttar Pradesh Cadre Ashutosh Niranjan has been appointed the Deputy Secretary in the Ministry of Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises. The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet (ACC), Department of Personnel and Training under the Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions on September 18, approved his appointment.
In his previous appointment, Niranjan was the Special Secretary in the Planning Department under the Uttar Pradesh government, appointed last year. Before that, he served as the District Magistrate and Collector of Deoria, UP in 2021-22. Ashutosh holds a Bachelor of Technology in Electronics and Communications Engineering.
The MSME ministry is headed by MSME minister Narayan Rane followed by Minister of State Bhanu Pratap Singh Verma; Secretary S.C.L Das; Additional Secretary Dr Rajneesh; and Additional Secretary-and-Financial Adviser Arti Bhatnagar. The ministry has three joint secretaries – Vipul Goel for the Agro and Rural Industry (ARI) division, Mercy Epao for the SME division and Ateesh Kumar Singh for the Administration and Financial Institutions (AFI) division.
On May 9, 2007, the erstwhile Ministry of Small Scale Industries and the Ministry of Agro and Rural Industries were merged to form the MSME ministry. While the primary responsibility of the promotion and development of MSMEs is of the state governments, the centre supplements the efforts of the state governments through various initiatives.
Importantly, the role of the MSME ministry and its organisations is to assist the states in their efforts to encourage entrepreneurship, employment and livelihood opportunities and enhance the competitiveness of MSMEs.
Also read: IAS Subhas Chandra Lal Das takes charge as MSME Secretary
Before Niranjan, the MSME ministry had appointed the 1992-batch Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer of the Arunachal Pradesh, Goa, Mizoram and Union Territory (AGMUT) cadre Subhas Chandra Lal Das as its new Secretary in June this year. In his previous role, Das served as the Director General of Hydrocarbons, Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas since December 2019 and was earlier the Joint Secretary at the Ministry of Home Affairs.