Mr. G K Pillai

Biography

Mr. G K Pillai joined the HPCL board as an Independent Director effective April 9, 2012. Mr. G K Pillai is a retired IAS officer. He joined Indian Administrative Service in the year 1972 and belongs to Kerala Cadre. He has done his M.Sc. at IIT, Chennai. He started his career as Sub-Collector, Quilon and worked in diverse fields of Revenue Administration. He was District Collector, Quilon; Deputy Secretary, Labour; Special Officer for Cashew Industry; Special Secretary, Industries etc. He was Secretary, Health and Family Welfare during 1993-96 and Principal Secretary to the Chief Minister of Kerala during the period 2001-04. In the Government of India, he held positions of Under Secretary / Deputy Secretary in Ministry of Defence and Director / Joint Secretary in the Department of Surface Transport. Later he served in the Ministry of Home Affairs as Joint Secretary (North East) from 1996 to 2001. In 2004 he joined Ministry of Commerce and Industry as Additional Secretary, Department of Commerce and later served as Secretary, Department of Commerce during 2006- 2009. During this period he actively participated in negotiations for comprehensive economic cooperation agreements with Singapore, ASEAN, Japan, South Korea. He played a key role in the enactment of the SEZ Act 2005 and was Chairman of the Board of approvals for SEZ during 2005 to 2009. He represented State and Central Government delegations to USA, EU, Argentina, Japan, Canada etc. He was appointed as Union Home Secretary in June 2009 and retired from Government service in June 2011. In addition to being a Director on Board of HPCL, he is also the Chairman of the Board of IVY Cap Ventures Pvt Ltd, a venture capital company sponsored by the IIT Alumni Association.

Research Interest

  Revenue Administration.   M.Sc.