Narendra Modi Appoints Ashwini Vaishnaw as India’s Minister for Information and Broadcasting

Naman Ramachandran

10 June 2024 at 11:28 am·2-min read

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has appointed Ashwini Vaishnaw as the country’s new Minister of Information and Broadcasting.

Last week, a coalition led by Modi’s Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) returned to power in India for a third consecutive term, albeit with a vastly reduced majority. Modi and his cabinet were sworn in on Sunday and ministerial portfolios were revealed on Monday.

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Vaishnaw replaces Anurag Thakur, who does not find a cabinet berth this time around. Under Thakur’s watch, the previous BJP government’s biggest achievement from an entertainment industry perspective was its 2022 implementation of a 30% reimbursement scheme for international productions shooting in India. This went up to 40% in 2023 and the cap limit for the reimbursement was also significantly raised from a maximum of $300,000 to $3.5 million, with an additional 5% rebate bonus for significant Indian content.

In the previous BJP government, Vaishnaw, who is a member of the upper house of parliament, the Rajya Sabha, was Minister of Railways and Minister of Communications. In the new cabinet, he retains the railways portfolio and will also serve as Minister of Information and Broadcasting and Minister of Electronics and Information Technology.

Working alongside Vaishnaw will be Loganathan Murugan, who serves as Minister of State in the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting. Murugan had fulfilled the same function when Thakur was the minister.

A graduate of the Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur, Vaishnaw began his professional career as a civil servant with the Indian Administrative Service, during which he had a stint in the office of former BJP Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee. In 2006, he moved on to manage Mormugao Port Trust, Goa, one of the major ports in India. In 2008, he decided to re-skill and did an MBA at the Wharton School.

Upon completion of his MBA, Vaishnaw decided to become an entrepreneur and had stints at GE Transportation and Siemens before embarking upon a political career.

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