New Delhi: Senior IAS officer Piyush Goyal of the 1994 batch, Nagaland cadre, assumed the position of Secretary of the Ministry of Mines on 4 September 2025. Before this appointment, Goyal served as Chief Executive Officer of NATGRID under the Ministry of Home Affairs.

He succeeds V. L. Kantha Rao, a 1992-batch IAS officer, who is now serving as Secretary of the Department of Water Resources, River Development, and Ganga Rejuvenation.

Goyal’s appointment comes at a critical juncture for India’s mining sector, which is facing heightened demand for critical minerals such as lithium, cobalt, nickel, and rare earth elements key inputs for electric vehicles, clean energy technologies, and advanced manufacturing. These minerals are central to India’s ambitions for energy transition and self-reliance. 

BI Bureau