New Delhi: Senior IAS Santosh Kumar Sarangi has been appointed as the Chairman and Managing Director (CMD) of the Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI), in addition to his current role as Secretary, Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE). The appointment comes in the wake of the premature termination of Rameshwar Prasad Gupta’s tenure, which was set to conclude shortly.
An IAS officer of the 1994 batch from the Odisha cadre, Sarangi is a seasoned bureaucrat known for his administrative acumen and policy expertise. He holds a Master of Arts and an M.Phil in Political Science from the University of Delhi, and a Master in Public Policy from Duke University, USA.
In a career spanning over two decades, Sarangi has held several key leadership roles. These include Principal Secretary of the Science and Technology Department in Odisha, CMD of the Odisha Mining Corporation, and Director General of Foreign Trade in the Department of Commerce. He has also served as Chairman of the Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA) and the Tea Board of India. In the education sector, he held the post of Additional Secretary in the Ministry of Education, where he also chaired the National Council for Teacher Education (NCTE).
His appointment to SECI is seen as a strategic move to provide continuity and experienced leadership to the organisation, which plays a crucial role in driving India’s renewable energy ambitions.
SECI, a public sector enterprise under MNRE, was established to implement the National Solar Mission (NSM). It was granted Navratna status in 2024, empowering it to undertake investments of up to Rs. 1,000 crore without central approval—an important milestone in bolstering India’s clean energy transition.
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