MAM
Priyank Bharti appointed MeitY Additional Secretary, NIC DG
Punjab IAS officer takes additional charge after Abhishek Singh’s move to NTA.
MUMBAI: India’s digital corridors just got a new gatekeeper. Priyank Bharti, IAS (Punjab cadre, 2001 batch), has been appointed Additional Secretary in the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY), while also taking on the additional charge of Director General of the National Informatics Centre (NIC), according to an official government order. Bharti currently serves as Administrative Secretary, Science, Technology and Environment, Government of Punjab, and now steps into a role central to India’s rapidly expanding digital governance architecture.
The appointment follows the transition of Abhishek Singh, who has been named Director General of the National Testing Agency (NTA) under the Ministry of Education. Singh had earlier held dual responsibilities as DG of NIC and Additional Secretary in MeitY.
The leadership change comes at a crucial moment for India’s digital ecosystem, with MeitY increasingly at the centre of conversations around artificial intelligence, public digital infrastructure, cybersecurity and e-governance.
Singh, widely recognised within policy and technology circles, played a significant role in driving India’s digital public infrastructure initiatives. During his tenure, he oversaw areas including Artificial Intelligence, emerging technologies and the Digital India Bhashini division, while also serving as CEO of the India AI Mission.
His portfolio extended across several flagship digital institutions and initiatives, including the National e-Governance Division (NeGD), Digital India Corporation, Karmayogi Bharat and MyGov.
Beyond technology policy, Singh’s administrative career has stretched from grassroots governance to global policy engagement. Having served across Uttar Pradesh and Nagaland, he handled everything from flood and drought management to communal tensions and development execution. His work included building roads, schools, hospitals and irrigation systems, while also implementing welfare programmes focused on healthcare, education and poverty alleviation.
He also collaborated with organisations such as UNICEF, WHO and DFID on projects including the Pulse Polio Eradication Programme and the Child’s Environment Project in Uttar Pradesh.
Academically, Singh brings a strong policy-tech blend, holding a Master’s degree in Public Administration from the Harvard Kennedy School as a Mason Fellow, alongside B.Tech and M.Tech degrees from IIT Kanpur.
With Bharti now stepping into NIC and MeitY leadership, the baton passes at a time when India’s digital ambitions are scaling rapidly from AI missions and language tech to citizen services and digital infrastructure.
In the business of governance, the backend may be invisible but the people running it increasingly shape the front page.
