[Exclusive] UIDAI CEO to Also Lead IndiaAI Mission

The Chief Executive Officer of the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI), Saurabh Vijay, will also take charge as the CEO of the IndiaAI Mission, according to confirmations from the UIDAI office and a source within IndiaAI under the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY).

The development comes weeks after Abhishek Singh, the former CEO of the IndiaAI Mission, was reassigned as Director General of the National Testing Agency (NTA), leaving the position vacant amid a broader bureaucratic reshuffle.

Saurabh Vijay, an IAS officer, assumed charge as CEO of UIDAI in mid-May 2026. His additional role at IndiaAI signals a consolidation of leadership across two of the government’s most critical digital infrastructure and artificial intelligence initiatives.

The move also reflects the government’s increasing alignment between foundational digital identity systems and emerging AI infrastructure. UIDAI, which manages Aadhaar, has been central to India’s digital public infrastructure, while the IndiaAI Mission is tasked with scaling artificial intelligence capabilities across sectors.

During his tenure, Singh had focused on deploying AI at scale across public systems. Under his leadership, India activated 38,000 GPUs and pushed for shared compute infrastructure to support startups and researchers. His approach emphasised building an indigenous AI ecosystem while maintaining openness to global collaboration.

Singh’s reassignment followed the India AI Impact Summit 2026, where he reiterated the need for a sovereign AI approach centred on control over data and systems without isolating India from global innovation.

With Vijay now taking additional charge, attention is expected to shift toward how India integrates its existing digital public infrastructure, including Aadhaar, with AI-driven governance and service delivery systems.

Supporting the operational side of the IndiaAI Mission is Kavita Bhatia, who continues as Chief Operating Officer. Bhatia brings over 24 years of experience in e-governance and technology within MeitY. She has played a key role in several large-scale digital initiatives including Mobile Seva, Aadhaar authentication, Aadhaar Data Vault, e-Sign, and Single Sign-On.

Between 2002 and 2022, she led MeitY’s e-Governance Division, overseeing initiatives that enabled more than 1 billion digital transactions. Her work on Aadhaar authentication has supported secure service delivery for over 1.3 billion users.

Under the IndiaAI Mission, the government had selected 12 Indian AI startups to build sovereign AI models for the country. Sarvam, BharatGen, Tech Mahindra, and few others have already announced their models at the India AI Impact summit in February.