Piyush Goyal

Goyal became the Minister of State for Power, Coal, New and Renewable Energy in the Modi government in 2014 and undertook multiple initiatives in his term. He accelerated the mission to provide 24X7 reliable electricity to all households and pushed towards the adoption of clean energy. He introduced the Ujwal DISCOM Assurance Yojana (UDAY) to revive debt-ridden power distribution companies and Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Gram Jyoti Yojana (DDUGJY) to improve India's energy access. He successfully auctioned the coal blocks after the much talked about Coal scam of the previous Manmohan government. He initiated and completed the government program to electrify all the 18,000 remaining unelectrified villages of the country. He was awarded the 2018 Carnot Prize for distinguished contributions to energy policy and work in village electrification by the University of Pennsylvania’s Kleinman Center for Energy Policy. He also worked for energy efficiency in the country through the Unnat Jyoti by Affordable Lighting for All (UJALA) scheme and reduced the prices of LED bulbs to ₹38 (53¢ US) per piece from ₹310 (US$4.30) in 2014.[3] He revised the Government's target of 20 GW of solar power by 2022 to five times (i.e. 100 GW).[6]

On 5 July 2016, during the second cabinet reshuffle of the Modi ministry, he was included in the cabinet and took over as the Minister of State for Mines (Independent charge) from Narendra Singh Tomar.[7]

He became the Minister of Railways on 3 September 2017 taking charge from Suresh Prabhu.[8] On 27 February 2019, Piyush Goyal announced a Railway Zone for Andhra Pradesh named South Coast Railway with Waltair Division in Andhra Pradesh along with Guntur, Guntakal and Vijayawada Divisions with the headquarters of the zone being in Visakhapatnam, according to the AP Reorganisation Act 2014.

From May through August 2018, he was temporarily given additional charge of Ministry of Finance during Arun Jaitley's absence for medical treatment. Goyal presented the 2019 Interim-Union budget of India in the Lok Sabha on 1 February 2019.[5]

In May 2019, he continued at the Ministry of Railways and got the Ministry of Commerce and Industry.[9]

In June 2019, he was appointed as the Deputy Leader of the House in Rajya Sabha.[10]

After the demise of Shri Ram Vilas Paswan , he took over the additional charge of Ministry of Consumer Affairs Food & Public Distribution on 9 October 2020.