Mr. JP Rai Director General National Skill Development Agency Government of India

Mr JP Rai worked as Executive Director, Prime Minister’s National Council on Skill Development in the Office of the Advisor to the Prime Minister on Skill development since January 2012. He is the Director General of National Skill Development Agency. He has had a long career spanning over 35 years, including in banking, the civil services and the private sector. After six years in the State Bank of India, he joined the Indian Administrative Service, Madhya Pradesh cadre, in 1983. This stint saw him serve at various locations in the then undivided Madhya Pradesh, including as District Magistrate of Seoni district, and Raigarh districts, Deputy Secretary Finance in the Government of MP, Additional Secretary Environment etc. He also served with the United Nations Transitional authority for Cambodia as an electoral expert during the UN supervised elections in 1993. In 1997, he resigned from the IAS to join the private sector. His work in the private sector was in leadership positions in major infrastructure projects, including India’s first private sector port, LNG project, and modern shipyards. He also spent a stint with one of the Big 4 firms in a consultancy assignment. Mr Rai has a Bachelors degree in Science from Banaras Hindu University, followed by an MBA. He later completed his LLB from Government Law College, Mumbai.