The position of defence secretary was taken up on Tuesday by Giridhar Aramane, an Andhra Pradesh-trained Indian Administrative Service (IAS) official from the 1988 batch.
Before taking on his current role, Aramane, a seasoned bureaucrat, was secretary of the ministry of roads and highways.
Aramane has 32 years of expertise and has held a number of significant positions in both the Andhra Pradesh and the federal governments.
He formerly held positions as additional secretary in the cabinet secretariat, executive director in charge of inspections at the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority, and executive director overseeing the exploration division in the ministry of petroleum and natural gas.
Aramane had previously held the positions of managing director of the AP State Finance Corporation, principal secretary in the Urban Development Department, and secretary in the Andhra Pradesh government (finance department).
He was also the district manager (DM) and collector for the Chittoor and Khammam districts.
Aramane earned his M Tech from IIT, Madras and his B Tech in Civil Engineering from Jawaharlal Nehru Technological University, Hyderabad.
From Kakatiya University in Warangal, he also holds a master’s degree in economics.
At a time when the government is considering modernising the three services, Aramane assumes the position of defence secretary. He will replace Ajay Kumar, who stepped down from the top position at the conclusion of the previous month.