Former Secretary
Department of Telecommunication
Government of India

Aruna Sundararajan

Ms. Aruna Sundararajan is a retired officer of the Indian Administrative Service, Kerala cadre. She served as Kerala’s first IT secretary, playing a key role in establishing the Technopark at Trivandrum and the info park, Kochi, as well as the IIITMK and the State IT mission. Subsequently, she served as the Secretary to the Government of India in the Ministries of Steel and IT. She retired as Secretary Telecom and Chairperson of the Digital Communications Commission in 2019.

During her tenure, Ms Sundararajan played a pioneering role in steering various important tech policies and initiatives aimed at establishing India as a major IT hub for manufacturing, software and tech start-ups.

Post her retirement, Ms Sundararajan serves as the chairperson of the Broadband India forum, and as Director on the Boards of leading companies such as Delhivery, India’s National Bank of Infra Financing and Development ( NabFID), Cochin International Airport and L&T Technology Services Ltd. She is also an active member of various tech mentoring and angel financing initiatives.

Some of the honours bestowed in the past include the Top Professional Women Achievers by India Today in 2009, Top Professional Women Achievers by Forbes Business Magazine in Aug 2012, The USIBC Transformative Leadership Award 2017 and Business Todays 10 Most Powerful Women for 2018. In January 2019, she was bestowed the Digital Woman of the Year by IAMAI.

Aruna is a gold medalist from Madras University in philosophy and economics; and has a master's diploma in public administration from Paris.