Newsmaker: J S Deepak, tuning out of telecom

In the summer of 2010, he soon came to be known as the spectrum auction man

In the summer of 2010, when auction was yet to become a catchword in Indian telecom, a bureaucrat was starting to become a prominent face in every gathering that discussed sale of airwaves through bidding. J S Deepak, at that point just about 50 and quite unlike a typical bureaucrat, soon came to be known as the spectrum auction man. The 50-day auction of 3G spectrum in 2010 fetched the government more than Rs 1 lakh crore in revenue, and there was no looking back for Deepak after that.

The 1982 batch Uttar Pradesh cadre IAS officer, who was a joint secretary in the department of telecommunications (DoT) when auctions were held, was the man of the moment and much in demand, whether it was in government circles, among foreign and Indian telecom companies, bankers advising on M&A deals or the media. He moved to commerce ministry for a while before returning to telecom as secretary in 2015. In between those stints, his expertise in conducting auctions was utilised for the controversy-ridden coal sector too, trying the 3G airwave bidding as a template for success. Clearly, he was a bureaucrat on the rise, with many in the corridors of power projecting him as a possible contender for the post of cabinet secretary, the top job that a civil servant can aspire for.

Things changed dramatically though. A late evening announcement on March 1 posted Deepak as ambassador to the World Trade Organisation (WTO). As he has to take charge  in Geneva in June, he was transferred to the commerce ministry as an officer on special duty (OSD) with immediate effect, according to an order issued by the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet (ACC) headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Deepak has handled WTO and other international affairs earlier when he was in the commerce ministry.  

Even as bureaucratic reshuffle is always a given in the government, Deepak’s sudden shift made civil servants as well as industry honchos sit up and take notice. There have been many questions, but no answers as to why the government was in a hurry to move the telecom secretary out, pointed out an official. In fact, the director-level position of OSD was upgraded to a secretary’s post to place Deepak there. He was still in Barcelona, as part of the government delegation attending the Mobile World Congress, when his transfer order came.

In his last interview from Barcelona, at the same time when the files for his transfer were probably being processed in New Delhi, Deepak said that spectrum auction would be an annual feature from now on so that telecom companies can plan their business better.  Another development that was playing out sharply was DoT hitting out at the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India, asking for a better tariff regulatory environment. A letter written by Deepak to Trai Chairman R S Sharma was out in the media, stating that promotional tariff by telcos was hurting government revenues and that the regulator must restrict the period of such tariffs. DoT secretary was referring to the revenue-sharing formula between telecom companies and the government, and naturally if companies are not making money, they would not share anything with the government. It was clear that Deepak was talking about Reliance Jio’s free offers that prompted other companies to cut their tariffs.

There’s no evidence to link Deepak’s somewhat unusual communication with Trai over industry issues to his transfer to WTO. But as a source pointed out, the government’s overnight action has disillusioned the bureaucracy, especially as the prime minister has from time to time told civil servants that they should work fearlessly and that they should be able to directly reach out to him.

The buzz now is that there’s no taker for the DoT secretary’s job in the current environment. For now, additional charge for telecom secretary has been given to power secretary P K Pujari. As for Deepak, he spoke to Business Standard to confirm that he joined work in the commerce ministry on Thursday and that he would fly to Geneva next week for preparatory meetings ahead of his WTO stint. And his voice didn’t give away that he was disappointed, if at all he was. There’s no word yet on the tenure of his WTO posting, though he’s scheduled to retire in July 2018. He could possibly get a three-year term at WTO, sources indicated.