Jyotiraditya M. Scindia, the Union Minister of Civil Aviation, Government of India has been a four-term Member of Parliament (Lok Sabha) and presently Member of Parliament (Rajya Sabha).
Scindia began his political journey in 2002. In 2008, he served as the Minister of State for Communications and IT; in 2009 as the Minister of State for Commerce and Industry, and then, in 2012 as Minister of State with Independent Charge for Power.
Scindia who completed one year in July 2023 as Aviation Minister acknowledges the aggressive push given to aviation by the Prime Minister who first initiated ‘UDAN’ to facilitate air connectivity to underserved and unserved regions and to make air travel accessible to the common man. As part of that vision, the government has doubled the number of airports in the last nine years, increasing from 74 in 2014 to 148 now.
The government under Scindia’s tenure is working to expand international seat capacity, facilitating airlines to connect destinations across the world. While India is the third largest domestic market in the world regarding seat capacity, it is ranked 18th on international seat capacity. Domestic passengers per day has crossed 456,000 and in FY 2024 India is forecast to carry 140 million passengers.
Scindia’s tenure as Minister of State for Communications and IT ushered in the transformational Project Arrow that modernized the Indian post offices through new branding and IT- enabled procedures. In his tenure as Minister of State for Commerce and Industry, he successfully brought down transaction costs in Indian exports at various levels—right from the stage of production to the end customer.
As Minister of State for Power (Independent charge), he led the establishment of a unified transmission grid network i.e. One Nation One Grid with a 6-sigma reliability system with linkages for power plants and resolved last-mile distribution issues in collaboration with State Governments.
Scindia completed his schooling at the Doon School, Dehradun. He holds a bachelor’s degree in economics from Harvard University, USA, and an MBA degree from the Graduate School of Business, Stanford University, USA.
He has worked at the United Nations and as an investment banker at Morgan Stanley and Merrill Lynch. Apart from his political roles, Scindia is passionate about education. He currently serves as the President of the Board of Governors at the Scindia School, Madhav Institute of Technology & Sciences, Samrat Ashok Technological Institute, and Patron of Daly College. With an avid interest in cricket, he has also served as the Chairman of the Finance Committee of the BCCI, and the Former President and Chairman of the Madhya Pradesh Cricket Association.