Shri. Madhavan Nambiar IAS (Rtd.)

Shri. Madhavan Nambiar specialises in the policy and practice of infrastructure development, innovative emerging industries, and the design and management of government-industry partnership.

His 36-year record of public service as an officer of the Indian Administrative Service has seen policy, programme, and regulatory work across key infrastructure and industrial sectors, culminating in in his appointment as Secretary to the Government of India at the Ministry of Civil Aviation.

Shri. Nambiar has led major national and State infrastructure programmes. As Secretary, Civil Aviation, Mr. Nambiar directed the design and development of some of India’s largest public- private partnership (PPP) projects, formulating core financial and coordination frameworks for Indian airport development. These now constitute the national policy standard, and have been used to develop India’s two largest airports. As chairman and managing director of Tamil Nadu’s apex industrial development agency, TIDCO, Mr. Nambiar conceptualised and commissioned the State’s first public-private toll road project; the State’s first information technology (IT) park, TIDEL; and its first biotechnology park, TICEL.

Shri. Nambiar has also developed policy ecosystems for innovative, emerging industries. At the Department of Information Technology, he led the formulation of India’s first Semiconductor Policy (and its accompanying incentive programmes), and policies for electronics hardware manufacturing; the reworking of national law and regulation to facilitate a growing IT industry; and the establishment of India’s first cybersecurity and emergency response agency, CERT-IN. A Fellow at Cambridge University’s Judge Business School, Mr. Nambiar has taught public policy at Oxford and Columbia Universities. He holds a master’s degree in business administration from the Faculty of Management Studies, Delhi University, and a bachelor’s degree in economics from Loyola College, Madras University.

Positions currently held

In the private sector:

• Advisor, Tata Consultancy Services
• Independent Director, Larsen & Toubro (L&T) Limited
• Independent Director, Rediff Communication Limited (Rediff.com)
• Independent Director, Hotel Leelaventure Limited
• Independent Director, Punj Lloyd Limited
• Independent Director, The Catholic Syrian Bank Limited
• Independent Director, Loyal Textile Mills Limited
• Independent Director, Air Works India Engineering (Private) Limited

In public service:

• Chairman, Kerala Investment Promotion Board
• Chairman, Indian Institute of Information Technology and Management, Kerala
• Director, Kerala State Industrial Development Corporation Limited

Qualifications