Pradip Baijal
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Pradip Baijal is a retired officer of the much respected Indian Administrative Service. He is a 1966 batch officer from the Madhya Pradesh cadre. He is part of a long list of IAS officers who have spent time at Oxford University for specialised training. Business Standard, in an article in 2003 called him a storm-raiser.
He retired as the Chairman of the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI). During his tenure, TRAI articulated and adopted pro-development and consumer-friendly regulatory practices and made important recommendations on the growth of telecom services in rural India to the Government of India. TRAI has also urged the industry to think of next generation telecom networks. Baijal, directly dealt with a variety of key issues impacting the telecom industry in India, including changes to the Access Deficit Charge (ADC) that punctured mobile phone bills. In fact, it was he who is credited with suggesting a reduction in ADC, a fee that private operators pay BSNL for compensating its rural operations, and its eventual withdrawal by 2009. This was by no means a small decision given the clout and might of BSNL and the support of department of telecom to continue with the levy, which works out to not less than Rs 5,000 crore.
Another step of far-reaching implications was Baijal's continued thrust on unified licensing, under which an operator can offer telecom and broadcasting services on a single licence and next generation networks for Indian telecom sector that would bring down the network costs significantly.
Before taking over chairmanship of TRAI, he held senior administrative positions in the Ministry of Finance and industries at state level. Before his current assignment in TRAI, he was the first Secretary of Disinvestment, from 1999 to 2003, and laid down the entire gamut of rules and regulations for privatization.
He was trained as an engineer before he joined the Indian Administrative Service. Baijal earned his BE (Honours) in Mechanical Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology at Roorkee. He took part in a one year visiting fellowship at Oxford University on the Privatisation of Public Enterprise.
He has recently founded a consulting firm Noesis. Noesis was established to provide strategic advisory services based on a blend of experience, foresight, a deep understanding of the economic and business landscape, and the ability to take a holistic view
