From Our Special Correspondent
Daijiworld Media Network

Bangalore, April 24: Karnataka’s senior IAS officer Lakshmi Venkatachalam has been appointed as the Vice-President (Private Sector and Co-financing Operations) of Manila-headquartered Asian Development Bank (ADB) for a term of three years.

Venkatachalam, who has held several key positions in the Union Government and the State Government inlcuding Principal Secretary overseeing the departments of Commerce and Industry; Urban Development; Planning, Program Implementation; and Economics and Statistics, has over 30 years of varied administrative experience holding senior management positions.

She will be ADB’s fifth Vice-President and would be responsible for ADB’s private sector and co-financing operations, according to an official press release from the ADB.

In addition to her current position as Director General of Shipping and Ex-Officio Additional Secretary to Government of India, her recent posts also include Commissioner, Bangalore Development Authority, and Managing Director of the State Cooperative Marketing Federation, in
Karnataka, as also Director in the Ministry of Steel, Government of India.

Venkatachalam, who had worked under different chief ministers, had also served as the Chairperson of the Coffee Board in 2000-2005, during which period she represented India at the International Coffee Organization London, and whose Council she chaired in 2001-2002.

Born on September 25, 1953, she joined IAS in July 1978. She holds an MA in Economics and Master in Business Administration from Boston University.

Under ADB’s long-term Strategy 2020 framework, ADB plans to scale up private sector operations and co-financing partnerships.