Rajeev Chandrasekhar (born 31 May 1964) is an Indian politician of the Bharatiya Janata Party. He is the incumbent Minister of State for Skill Development and Entrepreneurship and Electronics and Information Technology of India. He is also an entrepreneur, technocrat and a member of parliament in the Rajya Sabha from BJP representing Karnataka. He served as National Spokesperson of BJP and was vice-chairman of the Kerala faction of the BJP-led coalition National Democratic Alliance.
Chandrasekhar served as Member of Parliamentary Standing Committee on Finance, Member of Public Accounts Committee (PAC), Member of the Joint Committee on Data Protection Bill, 2019 and Member of the Consultative Committee on MoE & IT, Ministry of Communications, Member of the Indian Council for World Affairs.
Chandrasekhar served as a member of the Parliament, Standing Committee on Defence, Consultative Committee on Finance, the Central Advisory Committee for the National Cadet Corps, Co-Chairman of District Development Coordination & Monitoring Committee, Bangalore Urban District. He served as member Rajya Sabha Select Committees for the GST and Real Estate bills.
Chandrasekhar is the founder and Advisor to the Board of Jupiter Capital Pvt. Ltd.
Early life and education
Rajeev was born to Malayali parents in Ahmedabad, Gujarat. His father M. K. Chandrasekhar was an Air Commodore of the Indian Air Force and was trainer of Rajesh Pilot. His ancestral home is at Kondayur near Desamangalam in Thrissur district of Kerala.
Chandrasekhar studied in various schools across India, and studied electrical engineering at Manipal Institute of Technology. He obtained his master's degree in computer science in 1988 from the Illinois Institute of Technology in Chicago. He was handpicked by Vinod Dham to join Intel and worked there from 1988 to 1991. At Intel he was part of the architectural team that designed the i486 processor. He completed an advance management program from Harvard University.
Career
Entrepreneur
In 1991, after returning to India, Chadrasekhar married and joined his father-in-law's company, BPL Group. In 1994, he founded BPL Mobile. It was one of the major telecom companies in India then with license over places such as Mumbai. In July 2005, he sold his 64 percent stake in BPL Communications to Essar Group for US$1.1 billion.
Chandrasekhar founded Jupiter Capital in 2005, with an initial investment of US$100 million. The investment firm has investments and managed assets of over US$800 million in technology, media, hospitality, and entertainment.
In April 2013, Chandrasekhar was awarded an honorary doctorate by Visvesvaraya Technological University, Belgaum, for his work as an entrepreneur.
As per the affidavit submitted by Chandrasekhar before Election Commission of India on 2018, he has an annual income of 28 crores and family assets valued 65 crores. He also held equity shares in six unlisted companies: Vectra Consultancy Services, SPL Infotech PTE, Jupiter Global Infrastructure, Minsk Developers, RC Stocks & Securities and Sanguine New Media. In addition to this he indirectly has stakes in Axiscade Engineering Technologies, Jupiter Capital Private Limited, Mistral Technology Assystem Axiscades, Tayana Digital, Hindustan Infrastructure Projects & Engineering Pvt Ltd.
Case of Hate Speech In October 2023
On October 2023, The cyber cell of Kochi Police filed an FIR against union minister Rajeev Chandrasekhar for spreading hate speech on social media. Based on complaints received from the Congress and others against the minister over his social media posts related to the Kalamassery blasts, Kochi Central Police registered charges under IPC 153 (wantonly giving provocation with intent to cause riot) and 153 A (promoting enmity between different groups). The charges under IPC section 153 A are non-bailable, legal experts point out. It is learnt that Kochi police will proceed with the case as the government has decided to take stringent action against those who indulge in hate speech on social media.