Saurabh Garg
Secretary, Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment
Government of India
The focus of his work in the present assignment is the social, economic and educational empowerment of the vulnerable and marginalised
communities, including Senior Citizens, Transgenders and Victims of Substance Abuse.
He has been the CEO, Unique Identification Authority of India, where he was instrumental in expanding the usage of Aadhaar and strengthening the technology stack of the Aadhaar ecosystem.
He has worked on areas like digitalizing agriculture, direct income transfer scheme for farmers, formation of the National Investment and
Infrastructure Fund (NIIF); improving the Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) policies; preparing the framework for digital payments; revamping of the gold sector policies and has led negotiations for the Bilateral Investment Treaties (BITs).
Dr. Garg is an IAS officer of Odisha Cadre and has been Joint Secretary in the Ministry of Finance, Government of India; Secretary in the
Departments of Agriculture, Industries and Urban Development at the Government of Odisha. He was on a secondment as Adviser at the
World Bank, Washington DC. Prior to joining the IAS, he was with the Tata Administrative Service.
Dr. Garg holds a Ph.D in International Economics and Development from the Johns Hopkins University, USA; an MBA and a Gold Medal
from IIM, Ahmedabad and a B.Tech from IIT Delhi. He was a Chevening Gurukul scholar at the LSE, London.