Shri Ashwini Kumar Vaishnaw serves as the Union Cabinet Minister for Communications, Electronics & Information Technology and Railways, Government of India. He is also a Member of the Indian Parliament, representing Odisha state in the Rajya Sabha since June 2019. He was appointed as a member of the Committee on Subordinate Legislation and Petitions and Committee on Science and Technology, Environment and Forests.
Shri Vaishnaw did his M.Tech in Industrial Management and Engineering from IIT Kanpur in 1994. After graduating from IIT Kanpur, Shri Vaishnaw joined the Indian Administrative Service in the Odisha Cadre and worked extensively in different parts of Odisha including serving as the District Collector of Balasore and Cuttack districts. He worked in Odisha till 2003 when he was appointed as deputy secretary in the office of former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee. After his brief stint in the PMO where he contributed to creating the public-private- partnership framework in infrastructure projects, Shri Vaishnaw was appointed as Vajpayee ji's private secretary in 2004. In 2006, he became Deputy Chairman of Mormugao Port Trust, where he worked till 2008. In the same year, he left for the US to earn an MBA degree from Wharton Business School. On completing his MBA, Shri Vaishnaw ji returned to India and joined GE transportation as Managing Director. He later joined Siemens as the Vice President - Locomotives and Head Urban Infrastructure Strategy. In 2012, he set up Three tee Auto Logistics Pvt. Ltd. and Vee Gee Auto Components Pvt. Ltd., both automotive components manufacturing units in Gujarat. He is the recipient of the prestigious IITK Distinguished Alumnus Award, 2021.
