T Suvarna Raju takes charge as chairman of Hindustan Aeronautics Limited

T Suvarna Raju has taken charge as chairman of state-run Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL).

He will be 17th chairman of HAL and will replace RK Tyagi’s following his retirement.

Earlier, in September 2014, Public Enterprises Selection Board had selected him from among five contenders to succeed Tyagi.

T Suvarna Raju

• He hails from a village in West Godavari district in coastal Andhra Pradesh.
• He had joined HAL in June 1980 as management trainee after graduating from IIT in Chennai.
• Before this appointment he was Director for design and development in HAL. He also holds distinction of being awarded first patent in the HAL in 2002 and has applied for a around 1,000 patents since 2013.
• He also had drafted HAL’s first research and development (R&D) policy and played important role in spearheading India to be self-reliant in producing 25 kN (kilo Newton) turbofan engines.
• HAL had initiated several R&D programmes under his leadership which includes Light Combat Aircraft (LCA), Intermediate Jet Trainer (IJT), Light Utility Helicopter (LUH), Light Combat Helicopter (LCH), HTT-40 trainer, Jaguar Darin-III and Mirage aircraft upgrade.
• He is also the first member-secretary of the design development management board in Ministry of Defence and member-secretary of the national aeronautics coordination group.