Mr. Mithileshwar Thakur, the Secretary General of Apparel Export Promotion Council (AEPC), Ministry of Textiles.  He is a member of the ’89 batch of Civil Service with rich experience in the Government of India and in the best of public & private sector companies. 

Mr. Thakur is the Gold Medalist /Topper in B. Tech., recipient of merit scholarships and also among Top All India rank holders in the Combined Engineering Services Examination conducted by UPSC. Prior to joining civil services, he was selected/ appointed as a member of IRS (ME) in the Indian Railways and as Engineer with Tata Steel/ Tata Motors/ NTPC. 

Earlier. he served as Additional Director General in the Ministry of Commerce and Industry, Government of India and was extensively involved in the formulation and implementation of India’s Foreign Trade policy; administration of Trade Remedy Measures; amendment of Anti-dumping, Anti-subsidy and Safeguard Rules and negotiation of Free Trade Agreements/ CECA/CEPA.

He had also headed Trade Defense in the Department of Commerce. He has in-depth knowledge of Customs, Excise and GST laws and procedures. His areas of interest include Intellectual Property Right issues and Cyber Laws.   

He has chaired several important committees of Government of India and has also been member of Task Force in the Department of Commerce on Reduction of Compliance Burden for Citizens and Business, Task Force on amendment of FTDR Act and was also associated with the Task Force on Reduction of Transaction Cost in Exports. 

He has been a visiting faculty to various reputed institutions viz. IIT, Kharagpur; National Academy of Customs, Excise & Narcotics (NACEN), IIFT, Foreign Service Institute, Centre for WTO Studies, Law Centre (Delhi University) and Keynote Speaker/ Panelist at international forums like WTO, Seoul International Forum on Trade Remedies, Asia Pacific Trade Facilitation Forum, etc.

He has also been panelist/speaker at various other prestigious events including the ones organized by The Economic Times, Thomson and Reuters, Dun and Bradstreet, FICCI, CII, FIEO and various important Chamber of Commerce & Industry Associations. He contributes his articles to various national newspapers on issues related to economy, public policy and international trade.