After the US–India Strategic Partnership Forum (USISPF) announced the appointment of Rohit Kumar Singh as Chair of the Global Value Chains Committee and Advisor to the USISPF Board of Directors on Monday, people have been asking, “Who is he?” Singh virtually is a 1989-batch IAS officer of the Rajasthan cadre, who served as a Union Secretary before retirement.
The purpose of his selection to the post is to strengthen U.S.–India trade linkages and enhance the resilience and efficiency of global supply chains. He is known for modernizing India’s consumer protection landscape and integrating digital governance into public administration.
Singh’s key responsibilities include streamlining supply chains by collaborating with USISPF’s global members and government stakeholders. He will be responsible for leading initiatives to diversify trade and investment flows, integrating India more deeply into global value networks with focus on regulatory alignment, infrastructure readiness, and public-private cooperation. Besides, he will be promoting innovation, resilience, and competitiveness, with an aim to boost manufacturing, exports, and GDP growth.
The USISPF emphasized that strengthening global value chains is crucial for improving efficiency, reducing costs, and reinforcing India’s position in international trade.
The reason behind his selection for this crucial role is based on his decades of experience across economic governance, consumer markets, infrastructure, digital governance, public health, and public-private partnerships.
He is credited with having pioneered India’s first AI-enabled grievance redressal system while serving as Secretary of the Department of Consumer Affairs under the Union Government.
He played a crucial role in digitizing consumer courts nationwide, enabling e-filing, case tracking, and multilingual video hearings, leading to a historic milestone in 2023, when more cases were disposed of than filed.
His achievement includes expanding the National Consumer Helpline into a 17-language, omni-channel platform, enhancing accessibility and responsiveness. After retirement, he also served briefly as a member at the National Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission (NCRDC).
An Electrical Engineering graduate from the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), BHU, Singh did his Master’s in Computer Engineering from Clarkson University, New York and a master’s in Public Administration (MPA) at the Harvard University
What makes Singh highly suitable for this new role at USISPF is his expertise in digital transformation, infrastructure, and public policy.
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