R. K. Jha, Managing Director & CEO, GIFT

Born on 18th July 1945, Mr. R K Jha of Gujarat International Finance Tec-City Co. Ltd.- GIFT, (a joint venture of Government of Gujarat (GoG) and Infrastructure Leasing & Financial Services Ltd. (IL&FS), for developing a Global Financial Services hub in Gandhinagar, Gujarat) has over 49 years of professional experience in planning, design, project development, execution (including financing), research & development of large projects covering Town Planning, Transportation Planning, Detailed planning and design of Integrated Urban infrastructure as well as execution of the projects.

Being a Civil Engineer with Master's Degrees from India, Canada, U.K. and USA with specialization in Transportation Engineering and Project Financing, Mr. Jha's assignments include: Head of Transportation & Communication, Dept. of City and Industrial Development Corporation of Maharashtra (CIDCO); New Town Development Authority of Navi Mumbai for over 25 years; Executive Director of the Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation (MSRDC), a specialized agency of the Government of Maharashtra for Transport Infrastructure development in Maharashtra, a Professor of Civil Engineering at Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Mumbai; visiting Professor at number of prestigious national institutions like, Indian Institute of Management (IIM) Bangalore, Delhi School of Planning & Architecture, New Delhi, Railway Staff College, Baroda, etc. Besides, he was also a President/Executive President of Navi Mumbai Special Economic Zone (NMSEZ) and Project Director of Transportation Infrastructure Business Group (TIBG) of NMSEZ/MSEZ.

Some of the important projects to his credit are planning and development of Navi Mumbai, a city of 2 million, Mass Rapid transit of Navi Mumbai, planning of International Airports at Navi Mumbai, Multimodal International Hub Airport in Nagpur, Western Freeway Sea Link, Mumbai Trans-Harbour Link, Mass Rapid Transit Systems of Thane city, Nagpur city and Pune City, Planning of Goshree Island at Kochi and Planning of New Mahabaleshwar Hill Station, planning of SEZ at Navi Mumbai.

He has pioneered many large projects on BOT format, and has extensive experience in developing such projects from concept to implementation. He has been a member of many important expert committees of Govt. of India, Maharashtra Govt and professional bodies. He is widely travelled and well respected in professional and concerned Govt. circles.