Rajeev Chandrasekhar (born 31 May 1964) is an Indian politician of the
Bharatiya Janata Party
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP; ; ) is a political party in India, and one of the two major Indian political parties alongside the Indian National Congress. Since 2014, it has been the ruling political party in India under Narendra Modi ...
. 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
A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members of ...
in the
Rajya Sabha
The Rajya Sabha, constitutionally the Council of States, is the upper house of the bicameral Parliament of India. , it has a maximum membership of 245, of which 233 are elected by the legislatures of the states and union territories using si ...
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
National Democratic Alliance (NDA) () is a Centre-right politics, centre-right to Right-wing politics, right-wing and Conservatism, conservative Indian big tent political alliance led by the right-wing Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). It was foun ...
.
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 National Cadet Corps may refer to:
*Bangladesh National Cadet Corps
* National Cadet Corps (Ghana)
*National Cadet Corps (India)
* National Cadet Corps (Pakistan)
*National Cadet Corps (Singapore)
*National Cadet Corps (Sri Lanka)
The Nation ...
, Co-Chairman of District Development Coordination & Monitoring Committee, Bangalore Urban District. He served as member Rajya Sabha Select Committees for the
GST GST may refer to:
Taxes
* General sales tax
* Goods and Services Tax, the name for the value-added tax in several jurisdictions:
** Goods and services tax (Australia)
** Goods and Services Tax (Canada)
** Goods and Services Tax (Hong Kong)
**G ...
and Real Estate bills.
Chandrasekhar is the founder and Advisor to the Board of Jupiter Capital Pvt. Ltd.
Early life and education
Rajeev was born to
Malayali
The Malayali people () (also spelt Malayalee and also known by the demonym Keralite) are a Dravidian peoples, Dravidian ethnolinguistic group originating from the present-day state of Kerala in India, occupying its southwestern Malabar coast. ...
parents in
Ahmedabad, Gujarat
Ahmedabad ( ; Gujarati: Amdavad ) is the most populous city in the Indian state of Gujarat. It is the administrative headquarters of the Ahmedabad district and the seat of the Gujarat High Court. Ahmedabad's population of 5,570,585 (per th ...
. His father M. K. Chandrasekhar was an
Air Commodore of the
Indian Air Force
The Indian Air Force (IAF) is the air arm of the Indian Armed Forces. Its complement of personnel and aircraft assets ranks third amongst the air forces of the world. Its primary mission is to secure Indian airspace and to conduct aerial w ...
and was trainer of
Rajesh Pilot. His ancestral home is at Kondayur near
Desamangalam in
Thrissur district of
Kerala
Kerala ( ; ) is a state on the Malabar Coast of India. It was formed on 1 November 1956, following the passage of the States Reorganisation Act, by combining Malayalam-speaking regions of the erstwhile regions of Cochin, Malabar, South ...
.
Chandrasekhar studied in various schools across India, and studied electrical engineering at
Manipal Institute of Technology
Manipal Institute of Technology (shortened MIT Manipal) (formerly Manipal Engineering College) is a private constituent institution of Manipal Academy of Higher Education that specializes in engineering. MIT contains 17 academic departments an ...
. He obtained his master's degree in
computer science
Computer science is the study of computation, automation, and information. Computer science spans theoretical disciplines (such as algorithms, theory of computation, information theory, and automation) to Applied science, practical discipli ...
in 1988 from the
Illinois Institute of Technology
Illinois Institute of Technology (IIT) is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois. Tracing its history to 1890, the present name was adopted upon the merger of the Armour Institute and Lewis Institute in 1940. The university has prog ...
in Chicago. He was handpicked by
Vinod Dham
Vinod Dham is an Indian-American engineer, entrepreneur and venture capitalist. He is known as 'Father of the Pentium Chip' for his contribution to the development of Intel's Pentium micro-processor He is a mentor, advisor and sits on the boa ...
to join
Intel
Intel Corporation is an American multinational corporation and technology company headquartered in Santa Clara, California. It is the world's largest semiconductor chip manufacturer by revenue, and is one of the developers of the x86 seri ...
and worked there from 1988 to 1991. At Intel he was part of the architectural team that designed the
i486
The Intel 486, officially named i486 and also known as 80486, is a microprocessor. It is a higher-performance follow-up to the Intel 386. The i486 was introduced in 1989. It represents the fourth generation of binary compatible CPUs following the ...
processor. He completed an advance management program from
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...
.
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
Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' financial centre of India. According to the United Nations, as of 2018, Mumbai is the second- ...
. In July 2005, he sold his 64 percent stake in BPL Communications to
Essar Group
Essar Group is an Indian multinational conglomerate company, founded by Shashi Ruia and Ravi Ruia in 1969. As Essar Global Fund Limited (EGFL), the company controls a number of assets across the core sectors of energy (oil refining, oil a ...
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.
In April 2013, Chandrasekhar was awarded an
honorary doctorate
An honorary degree is an academic degree for which a university (or other degree-awarding institution) has waived all of the usual requirements. It is also known by the Latin phrases ''honoris causa'' ("for the sake of the honour") or ''ad hon ...
by
Visvesvaraya Technological University
Visvesvaraya Technological University (VTU), previously spelled Visveswaraiah Technological University, is a collegiate public state university in Belagavi, Karnataka established by the Government of Karnataka. All colleges in the State of ...
,
Belgaum
Belgaum (ISO 15919, ISO: ''Bēḷagāma''; also Belgaon and officially known as Belagavi) is a city in the Indian state of Karnataka located in its northern part along the Western Ghats. It is the administrative headquarters of the eponymous ...
, for his work as an entrepreneur.
As per the affidavit submitted by Chandrasekhar before
Election Commission of India
The Election Commission of India (ECI) is a constitutional body. It was established by the Constitution of India to conduct and regulate elections in the country. Article 324 of the Constitution provides that the power of superintendence, di ...
on 2018, he has an annual income of 28 crores and family assets valued 65 crores. 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
Assystem is an independent engineering group based in Paris. It provides services in the design, construction supervision, commissioning and operation of a client's industrial infrastructure. It had revenues of over €470M in 2020, down from €8 ...
Axiscades, Tayana Digital, Hindustan Infrastructure Projects & Engineering Pvt Ltd.
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. In late 2008, he entered into a
joint venture
A joint venture (JV) is a business entity created by two or more parties, generally characterized by shared ownership, shared returns and economic risk, risks, and shared governance. Companies typically pursue joint ventures for one of four rea ...
with
Rupert Murdoch's News Corp
News Corporation, stylized as News Corp, is an American mass media and publishing company headquartered in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. The second incarnation of the News Corporation (1980–2013), original News Corporation, it was formed ...
as
Asianet Star Communications
Asianet Star Communications, formerly Asianet Communications, is an Indian media company headquartered in Trivandrum owned by Disney Star, a wholly owned subsidiary of The Walt Disney Company. Asianet Star Communications operates Malayalam ch ...
. In 2008 May, he started Asianet News Online Private Ltd. (ANOPL) which holds media outlets
Asianet News
Asianet News (formerly Asianet Global) is an Indian free-to-air Malayalam-language news channel owned by Asianet News Network. Asianet News Network operates as a subsidiary of Jupiter Entertainment Ventures (Jupiter Capital Ventures). The chan ...
,
Suvarna News
Asianet Suvarna News is a Kannada news channel owned by Asianet News Network, a news media subsidiary of Jupiter Capital Private Limited. The majority shareholder of the company is Rajeev Chandrasekhar, who is a Rajya Sabha member from the Bha ...
, and online portal Newsable. In 2016, through ANOPL, he invested nearly 60 crores in ARG Outlier Media, the holding company of
Republic TV
Republic TV is a free-to-air Indian right-wing English-language news channel launched in May 2017. It was co-founded by Arnab Goswami and Rajeev Chandrasekhar, before the latter relinquished his stake in May 2019, leaving Goswami as the m ...
. In May 2019, ANOPL diluted the share holding in
Republic TV
Republic TV is a free-to-air Indian right-wing English-language news channel launched in May 2017. It was co-founded by Arnab Goswami and Rajeev Chandrasekhar, before the latter relinquished his stake in May 2019, leaving Goswami as the m ...
after Chandrasekhar became a
Member of Parliament, Rajya Sabha
A Member of Parliament in the Rajya Sabha ( abbreviated: MP) is the representative of the Indian states to the one of the two houses of the Parliament of India (Rajya Sabha). Rajya Sabha MPs are elected by the electoral college of the elect ...
as
Bharatiya Janata Party
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP; ; ) is a political party in India, and one of the two major Indian political parties alongside the Indian National Congress. Since 2014, it has been the ruling political party in India under Narendra Modi ...
member in 2018.
Politics
Chandrasekhar is the Minister of Information Technology in the Modi government. Earlier he was a national spokesperson of
BJP
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP; ; ) is a political party in India, and one of the two major Indian political parties alongside the Indian National Congress. Since 2014, it has been the ruling political party in India under Narendra Mo ...
.
In Parliament vocal advocate on Governance, Technology and Economics. As a first-term MP, he was the first one to raise corruption like
2G Scam in parliament and is outspoken MP on issues that concern Governance.
Member of Parliament
Chandrasekhar was an Independent member of Rajya Sabha representing Karnataka from April 2006 to April 2018. In April 2018, he was re-elected to the Rajya Sabha from Karnataka for a third six-year term as a BJP member. He has advocated for governance reforms, institution building,
Internet freedom, national security, welfare of the Armed Forces Personnel and sustainable city building of Bangalore and Karnataka.
Minister of State
In the
Second Modi ministry
The Second Ministry of Narendra Modi is the Council of Ministers headed by Prime Minister of India Narendra Modi that was formed after the 2019 general election which was held in seven phases in 2019. The results of the election were announ ...
Chandrasekhar became a
Minister of State
Minister of State is a title borne by politicians in certain countries governed under a parliamentary system. In some countries a Minister of State is a Junior Minister of government, who is assigned to assist a specific Cabinet Minister. In o ...
following the cabinet reshuffling in July 2021.
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
Koramangala () is situated in the south-eastern part of Bengaluru, it is one of the largest neighborhoods, and is a residential locality with wide, tree-lined boulevards and a mix of commercial structures, and bungalows. Planned as a suburb pos ...
,
Bengaluru. They have a son, Ved, and a daughter Devika. His mother Anandavalli Amma and father M.K. Chandrasekhar also reside in
Bangalore
Bangalore (), officially Bengaluru (), is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Karnataka. It has a population of more than and a metropolitan population of around , making it the third most populous city and fifth most ...
.
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
''India Today'' is a weekly Indian English-language news magazine published by Living Media India Limited. It is the most widely circulated magazine in India, with a readership of close to 8 million. In 2014, ''India Today'' launched a new onl ...
'' magazine ranked him #41st in India's 50 Most powerful people of 2017 list.
References
Further reading
*
*
External links
*
Profileon
Rajya Sabha
The Rajya Sabha, constitutionally the Council of States, is the upper house of the bicameral Parliament of India. , it has a maximum membership of 245, of which 233 are elected by the legislatures of the states and union territories using si ...
website
Twitter handle
{{DEFAULTSORT:Chandrasekhar, Rajeev
Living people
Indian billionaires
Indian computer scientists
Engineers from Karnataka
Malayali people
Politicians from Bangalore
Rajya Sabha members from Karnataka
Illinois Institute of Technology alumni
1964 births
Bharatiya Janata Party politicians from Karnataka
Rajya Sabha members from the Bharatiya Janata Party
Hudson Institute
Narendra Modi ministry