Principal Secretary (India)

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The Principal Secretary in India denotes a government official of high seniority and is commonly found in the state governments. There is only one Principal Secretary to the Government of India and that is the Chairman of the Railway Board who is the ex officio Principal Secretary of the Ministry of Railways. In the Indian state governments a Principal Secretary ranks above a secretary but below the rank of Chief Secretary. While each state has only a single Chief Secretary, some senior officials may hold the rank of Chief Secretary and are designated as Additional Chief Secretaries or Special Chief Secretaries. Principal Secretaries are commonly drawn from the Indian Administrative Service and hold the "above supertime scale" payscale. The equivalent position at the Government of India is Additional Secretary. Principal Secretaries administer high level departments such as Home, Finance, Revenue and Commerce. However, more typically, the post is simply a promotional avenue and a mark of greater seniority and as such does not confer additional responsibility.