Arun Arya

Arun Arya (born September 29, 1961) is an international Senior Public Finance Adviser and a former Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer.

He worked as the Senior Public Sector Management Specialist for the World Bank for 16 years; Senior Sector Adviser for the Danish International Development Agency (DANIDA) for 2 years; and, Senior Public Finance Adviser for the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (German International Cooperation) (GIZ) for 1.5 years.

Arun served the Government of India as an Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer for 20 years where he held several high-ranking positions.

Arun was born on September 29, 1961, in New Delhi, India.

He completed his schooling at Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan School in New Delhi, in 1980.

He then studied Bachelor of Arts degree course in Economics from the St. Stephen's College, Delhi, during 1980-1983 and graduated in 1983.

Subsequently, during 1983–85, he studied management at the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad, and earned his Post Graduate Diploma in Management in 1985.

He was selected for the Indian Administrative Service (IAS), in 1985, following which, he attended the Foundational Course and the IAS Professional Courses at the Lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy of Administration (LBSNAA) in Mussoorie from August 1985 until June 1987, where he studied Law, Public Administration, Economic Policy, and Political Science.

Thereafter, he started discharging his duties as an IAS officer in Uttar Pradesh cadre.

Indian Administrative Service

Arun's tenure in the IAS spanned two decades, where he served in various capacities including the Chief Development Officer, District Magistrate, Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director of a Public Sector Undertaking, Divisional Commissioner, and Secretary to the State Government of Uttar Pradesh.

As the Chief Development Officer, he facilitated the development of two districts of Uttar Pradesh, Sitapur and Azamgarh.

Subsequently, he served as the District Magistrate of four districts of Uttar Pradesh, Hamirpur, Maharajganj, Barabanki, and Unnao, covering a population of 2.5 million and a geographical area of about 4,500 km2.

His responsibilities as a District Magistrate included being the head of criminal administration and governance, maintenance of law and order, revenue collection, holistic development, and disposal of land disputes in revenue courts.

He served as the Divisional Commissioner of Basti Division where his responsibilities included maintenance of law and order and comprehensive development of districts comprising the division Basti, Siddhartnagar and Sant Kabirnagar with a geographic area of 13,450 km2, and a population of 6.5 million people.

As Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director of UP Electronics Corporation Limited, Arun's responsibility was to revitalize the state-owned enterprise by streamlining operations and diversifying into information technology.

His directorship at the World Bank-assisted Uttar Pradesh Rural Water Supply and Environmental Sanitation project led to the successful implementation of SWAJALDHARA, a national water and sanitation program.

He served as the Secretary to the State Government of Uttar Pradesh for two departments Rural Water Supply, and Minor Irrigation & Ground Water.

From 2004 to 2006, he served as DANIDA's Senior Sector Advisor for Water and Sanitation in Bangladesh, where his responsibility was to development program for Bangladesh.

He joined the World Bank in December 2006 as a Senior Public Sector Management Specialist, in Republic of Yemen where he served as the Task Team Leader of public finance management, governance, and anti-corruption initiatives for 4 years.

In January 2010, Arun was posted as the Senior Public Sector Management Specialist in the World Bank headquarters in Washington DC where he worked across the Middle East and North Africa, Eastern Europe, Africa, Central America regions as the Task Team Leader of public finance management, governance, and anti-corruption initiatives for 7 years.

In January 2018, he was posted in Jakarta, Indonesia in the East Asia and the Pacific Region as the Task Team Leader of World Bank's public finance management operations for 5 years.

In September 2022, Arun was appointed as the Senior International Public Finance Management Advisor for the Ministry of Finance of the Republic of Iraq by the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ).

His work under the Strengthening Public Finances and Financial Markets project significantly impacted fiscal policy and governance until his tenure ended in February 2024.