Welcome to my Homepage

Currently, I am serving as Member, NITI Aayog, Government of India, where I contribute to India’s development journey through science, technology, innovation, emerging technologies, inclusive growth, and evidence-based policymaking.

Prior to this, I served as Secretary, Department of Science and Technology (DST), Government of India, from October 3, 2023 to May 17, 2026. During my tenure, I was closely involved in operationalizing several transformative national initiatives, including the National Quantum Mission, the Anusandhan National Research Foundation (ANRF) & the ₹1 Lakh Crore Research, Development and Innovation Fund to support cutting-edge R&D in the private sector and deep-tech startups. Several major initiatives were also advanced in clean energy, green hydrogen, advanced materials, geospatial technologies, manufacturing, R&D infrastructure, technology incubation, and international R&D collaborations.

I am on lien from IIT Bombay, where I have been a faculty member since 1997. Prior to taking charge as Secretary of the Department of Science and Technology, I served as Director of IIT Kanpur (2018–2023). At IIT Bombay, my leadership roles included Dean of Faculty Affairs (2017–2018), Head of the Electrical Engineering Department (2012–2015), the Institute’s first Professor-in-Charge of the Research Park (2014–2017), and Head of the Computer Centre (2008–2011). Over the years, I built and led a vibrant research group in the area of telecommunications networks and systems.

Our work has spanned software-defined networking, 5G/6G architectures, frugal broadband solutions, and next-generation wireless standards. The group not only produced cutting-edge academic research but also shaped multiple international standards, filed patents, and nurtured PhD graduates who are now advancing these ideas globally.

Key highlights include:

IEEE 1930.1: SDN-based Middleware for Wireless Networks (2022) – First IEEE standard originating from India, led by Mr. Pranav Jha from our group. Introduced innovations for integrating Wi-Fi with 4G, 5G, and emerging 6G under a unified, cost-effective framework.
IEEE 2061: Low Mobility Energy-Efficient Networks (2024) – Based on our concept of Frugal 5G Networks for rural broadband. Adds architectural advances such as RAN–core decoupling, core bypass, and unified heterogeneous access networks, shaping the foundation for 6G.
ITU-T Y.2325: SDN-based Evolution of Next-Gen Network Control Plane (2023) – Our first ITU-T standard on 6G architecture, approved in Dec 2023. Aims to make future mobile systems more scalable, modular, secure, and easier to deploy.
3GPP 5G Advanced Contributions – Work in satellite communications, broadcast–broadband convergence, energy-efficient networks, and wireless relays.
Talks & Tutorials – I have delivered numerous invited talks and tutorials at leading national and international forums. A selection of these talks can be found here.
PhD Graduates' Research & Patents – Recent work from my PhD students spans novel frameworks in SDN, RAN virtualization, frugal broadband, and scalable core design for beyond-5G (details here), with several patents filed (details here).