Rajeev Chandrasekhar

Rajeev Chandrasekhar (born 31 May 1964) is an Indian politician of the Bharatiya Janata Party. He is the incumbent Minister of State for Skill Development and Entrepreneurship and Electronics and Information Technology of India. He is also an entrepreneur, technocrat and a member of parliament in the Rajya Sabha from BJP representing Karnataka. He served as National Spokesperson of BJP and was vice-chairman of the Kerala faction of the BJP-led coalition National Democratic Alliance.

Not to be confused with Rajiv Chandrasekaran, an Indian-American journalist.
In this Indian name, the name Chandrasekhar is a patronymic, and the person should be referred to by the given name, Rajeev.

Rajeev Chandrasekhar
Chandrasekhar in 2021
Minister of State for Electronics and Information Technology
Assumed office
7 July 2021
Prime MinisterNarendra Modi
MinisterAshwini Vaishnaw
Preceded bySanjay Dhotre
Minister of State for Skill Development and Entrepreneurship
Assumed office
7 July 2021
Prime MinisterNarendra Modi
MinisterDharmendra Pradhan
Preceded byR. K. Singh
Member of Parliament, Rajya Sabha
Assumed office
26 September 2016
ConstituencyKarnataka
National Spokesperson of BJP,
Vice Chairman, VIF Centre for Economic Studies
Assumed office
23 April 2006
Personal details
Born (1964-05-31) 31 May 1964
Ahmedabad, Gujarat, India
Political partyBharatiya Janata Party
SpouseAnju Chandrasekhar
Children2
Alma mater

Chandrasekhar served as Member of Parliamentary Standing Committee on Finance, Member of Public Accounts Committee (PAC), Member of the Joint Committee on Data Protection Bill, 2019 and Member of the Consultative Committee on MoE & IT, Ministry of Communications, Member of the Indian Council for World Affairs.

Chandrasekhar served as a member of the Parliament, Standing Committee on Defence, Consultative Committee on Finance, the Central Advisory Committee for the National Cadet Corps, Co-Chairman of District Development Coordination & Monitoring Committee, Bangalore Urban District. He served as member Rajya Sabha Select Committees for the GST[1] and Real Estate bills.[2]

Chandrasekhar is the founder and Advisor to the Board of Jupiter Capital Pvt. Ltd.

Early life and education

Rajeev was born to Malayali parents in Ahmedabad, Gujarat. His father M. K. Chandrasekhar was an Air Commodore of the Indian Air Force and was trainer of Rajesh Pilot.[3] His ancestral home is at Kondayur near Desamangalam in Thrissur district of Kerala.

Chandrasekhar studied in various schools across India, and studied electrical engineering at Manipal Institute of Technology.[4] He obtained his master's degree in computer science in 1988 from the Illinois Institute of Technology in Chicago.[5] He was handpicked by Vinod Dham to join Intel and worked there from 1988 to 1991. At Intel he was part of the architectural team that designed the i486 processor.[6] He completed an advance management program from Harvard University.

Career

Entrepreneur

In 1991, after returning to India, Chadrasekhar married and joined his father-in-law's company, BPL Group. In 1994, he founded BPL Mobile. It was one of the major telecom companies in India then with license over places such as Mumbai. In July 2005, he sold his 64 percent stake in BPL Communications to Essar Group for US$1.1 billion.

Chandrasekhar founded Jupiter Capital in 2005, with an initial investment of US$100 million. The investment firm has investments and managed assets of over US$800 million in technology, media, hospitality, and entertainment.[7]

In April 2013, Chandrasekhar was awarded an honorary doctorate by Visvesvaraya Technological University, Belgaum, for his work as an entrepreneur.[8]

As per the affidavit submitted by Chandrasekhar before Election Commission of India on 2018, he has an annual income of 28 crores and family assets valued 65 crores.[9] He also held equity shares in six unlisted companies: Vectra Consultancy Services, SPL Infotech PTE, Jupiter Global Infrastructure, Minsk Developers, RC Stocks & Securities and Sanguine New Media. In addition to this he indirectly has stakes in Axiscade Engineering Technologies, Jupiter Capital Private Limited, Mistral Technology Assystem Axiscades, Tayana Digital, Hindustan Infrastructure Projects & Engineering Pvt Ltd.[10][11]

Media

In late 2006, Chandrasekhar entered into a media foray due to investments made in Asianet Communications Ltd. through his firm Jupiter Capital Private Limited.[12] In late 2008, he entered into a joint venture with Rupert Murdoch's News Corp as Asianet Star Communications.[13] In 2008 May, he started Asianet News Online Private Ltd. (ANOPL) which holds media outlets Asianet News, Suvarna News, and online portal Newsable. In 2016, through ANOPL, he invested nearly 60 crores in ARG Outlier Media, the holding company of Republic TV.[14][15] In May 2019, ANOPL diluted the share holding in Republic TV after Chandrasekhar became a Member of Parliament, Rajya Sabha as Bharatiya Janata Party member in 2018.[16][17]

Chandrasekhar at the 10th Foundation Day of the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights in 2017.

Politics

Chandrasekhar is the Minister of Information Technology in the Modi government. Earlier he was a national spokesperson of BJP.[18]

Member of Parliament

Chandrasekhar was an Independent member of Rajya Sabha representing Karnataka from April 2006 to April 2018.[19][20] In April 2018, he was re-elected to the Rajya Sabha from Karnataka for a third six-year term as a BJP member.

Minister of State

In the Second Modi ministry Chandrasekhar became a Minister of State following the cabinet reshuffling in July 2021.[21]

Positions held
  • 1999–2002 Member, Advisory Committee, Ministry of Information Technology, Government of India Chairman, Infrastructure Task Force, Government of Karnataka
  • 1999–2003 Member, Prime Minister's Council on Trade and Development
  • Member of Parliament, Rajya Sabha
  • Member of Standing Committee on Defence
  • Member of Consultative Committee on Finance
  • Member of the Central Advisory Committee for the National Cadet Corps
  • Co-chairman of District Development Coordination & Monitoring Committee, Bangalore Urban District.
  • Founder and Advisor to the Board, Jupiter Capital Pvt. Ltd.
  • Founder and Principal Donor – Flags of Honour Foundation
  • Founder and Trustee, Namma Bengaluru Foundation
  • Founder and Managing Trustee – RC Foundation (RCF)

Personal life

Rajeev is married to Anju Chandrasekhar (m. 1991), the daughter of T. P. G. Nambiar, the founder of BPL Group and resides in Koramangala, Bengaluru.[22] They have a son, Ved, and a daughter Devika.[23] His mother Anandavalli Amma and father M. K. Chandrasekhar also reside in Bangalore.

Honours, awards and international recognition
  • Honoured by Army's Western Command GOC-in Commendation for his work for the Armed Forces and Veterans.
  • India Today magazine ranked him #41st in India's 50 Most powerful people of 2017 list.[24]
YearNameAwarding organizationRef.
2007 IIT Global Service Award. Illinois Institute of Technology, Chicago. [25]

References
  1. "Rajya Sabha Select Committee on GST Bill".
  2. "Rajya Sabha Select Committee on Real Estate Bill".
  3. Vivek, T. R. "Rajeev Chandrasekhar: The entrepreneur with fingers in many sectors". The Economic Times. Retrieved 8 July 2021.
  4. "Distinguished Manipal Alumni".
  5. "From Intel To Minister Of State, The Journey Of Rajeev Chandrasekhar". Moneycontrol. 7 July 2021. Retrieved 7 July 2021.
  6. "Ahead of the Curve". Illinois Tech Magazine. 20 August 2012. Retrieved 7 July 2021.
  7. Rajshekhar, M. (18 March 2019). "How a legal loophole allows BJP MP Rajeev Chandrasekhar to hide his full wealth from election panel". Scroll.in. Retrieved 8 July 2021.
  8. "Election Commission allows MP to receive honorary degree". The Hindu. 6 April 2013. ISSN 0971-751X. Retrieved 8 July 2021.
  9. "Worth Rs 65 cr, Rajeev Chandrasekhar is second richest candidate in fray". Times of India. TNN. 13 March 2018. Retrieved 8 July 2021.
  10. Rajshekhar, M. (18 March 2019). "How a legal loophole allows BJP MP Rajeev Chandrasekhar to hide his full wealth from election panel". Scroll.in. Retrieved 8 July 2021.
  11. "Rajeev Chandrasekhar merges 3 group companies into Axis Aerospace". @businessline. 14 September 2011. Retrieved 8 July 2021.
  12. "Asianet News proved its credibility despite Rajeev Chandrashekar's attempts at interference". caravanmagazine.in. Retrieved 8 July 2021.
  13. VCC, Team (17 November 2008). "Star buys majority in Asianet; forms JV with Rajeev Chandrasekhar". Reuters. Retrieved 8 July 2021.
  14. "Arnab's Republic of Investors: Who is funding Goswami and what that means". The News Minute. 13 January 2017. Retrieved 8 July 2021.
  15. "Kerala NDA vice-chairman Rajeev Chandrasekhar investor, director in Arnab Goswami's Republic". The Indian Express. 13 January 2017. Retrieved 8 July 2021.
  16. Narasimhan, T. E. (6 May 2019). "Rajeev Chandrasekhar's Asianet pares stake in Arnab Goswami's Republic TV". Business Standard India. Retrieved 8 July 2021.
  17. Goyal, Ayush Tiwari,Prateek (30 January 2021). "From Asianet to Manyavar: How Republic became an 'editor-controlled' company". Newslaundry. Retrieved 8 July 2021.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  18. "BJP announces new national office bearers, Rajeev Chandrasekhar appointed as national spokesperson". Asianet News Network Pvt Ltd. 26 September 2020.
  19. "List of Council of Ministers Members of the Cabinet" (PDF). Rajya Sabha Secretariat. Retrieved 7 September 2022.
  20. "RAJYA SABHA MEMBERS BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES 1952-2019" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 15 September 2021.
  21. "Who is Rajya Sabha MP Rajeev Chandrasekhar, inducted into the Modi Cabinet?". The Indian Express. 8 July 2021. Retrieved 8 July 2021.
  22. Rai, Asha. "BPL family's walk down Street Legal". The Economic Times. Retrieved 7 July 2021.
  23. "Stocks". www.bloomberg.com. 13 June 2023.
  24. "India's 50 powerful people". India Today. 14 April 2017.
  25. "2007 Alumni Award winners". Illinois Institute of Technology. Retrieved 16 June 2016.

Further reading
  • Sanghvi, Vir (2012). Men of Steel. Roli Books Private Limited. ISBN 9788174368256.
  • Denyer, Simon (2012). Rogue Elephant: Harnessing the Power of India's Unruly Democracy. A&C Black. ISBN 9781408849767.
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