Awanish Kumar Awasthi

Awanish Kumar Awasthi is Advisor to the Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh and a senior former civil servant with more than 35 years of experience in governance, public administration and infrastructure development.

A 1987-batch Indian Administrative Service officer, Awasthi has served in several key departments of the Government of Uttar Pradesh, including Home, Confidential, Jail Administration and Reform, Vigilance, Energy, Tourism, Higher Education, Irrigation, Institutional Finance, Industrial Development and Information. He has also held important positions in the Government of India, including Joint Secretary in the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment, Department of Disability Affairs.

Awasthi is an alumnus of the Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur, where he completed his B.Tech in Electrical Engineering in 1985. He hails from Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh.

During his administrative career, he served as District Magistrate and Collector of Lalitpur, Azamgarh, Badaun, Ayodhya, Varanasi, Meerut and Gorakhpur. He has also held leadership roles as Chairman and Managing Director of U.P. Power Corporation Ltd, Chief Executive Officer of Noida, Principal Secretary Tourism, Additional Chief Secretary Information and Chief Executive Officer of Uttar Pradesh Expressways Industrial Development Authority and Uttar Pradesh State Highways Authority.

Awasthi is widely recognised for his work in infrastructure development, police modernisation, law and order administration and public welfare. As CEO of Uttar Pradesh Expressways Industrial Development Authority, he played a key role in the completion of the Purvanchal Expressway and Bundelkhand Expressway and initiated work on the 594-km Ganga Expressway, one of the state’s largest infrastructure projects.

As Home Secretary of Uttar Pradesh, he contributed to the modernisation of the state police and strengthening of law and order systems. During his tenure in the Department of Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities, he worked on initiatives aimed at improving the welfare and inclusion of persons with disabilities.

As Advisor to the Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh, he is currently focusing on the state’s broader agenda of economic growth, infrastructure development and governance reform.