{"id":"sam-pitroda","type":"person","url":"https://diginpl.com/people/sam-pitroda","language":"en","name":"Sam Pitroda","name_en":"Sam Pitroda","name_ne":null,"description":"Indian businessman and former adviser to the Prime Minister of India","headline":"Indian businessman and former adviser to the Prime Minister of India","also_known_as":[],"summary":"Satyanarayan Gangaram Pitroda, popularly known as Sam Pitroda, is an Indian official, telecommunications engineer, innovator, and entrepreneur. He was born in Titlagarh, in the eastern Indian state of Odisha, into a Gujarati family. He served as an advisor to Rajiv Gandhi and Manmohan Singh during their respective tenures as the Prime Minister of India, as well as to the United Nations. He is the chair of the Indian Overseas Congress. He is often credited as the “Father of India’s Telecom Revolution” for his role in modernizing the country’s communications infrastructure and shaping India’s technology landscape during the 1980s.","summary_more":[],"facts":[{"key":"born","label":"Born","values":[{"text":"4 May 1942","date":"1942-05-04"}],"source":{"label":"Wikidata","url":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q3519761#P569"}},{"key":"birthplace","label":"Place of birth","values":[{"text":"Titlagarh","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q1411490"}],"source":{"label":"Wikidata","url":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q3519761#P19"}},{"key":"citizenship","label":"Citizenship","values":[{"text":"India","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q668"},{"text":"British Raj","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q129286"}],"source":{"label":"Wikidata","url":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q3519761#P27"}},{"key":"occupation","label":"Occupation","values":[{"text":"computer scientist","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q82594"},{"text":"businessperson","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q43845"},{"text":"entrepreneur","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q131524"}],"source":{"label":"Wikidata","url":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q3519761#P106"}},{"key":"education","label":"Education","values":[{"text":"Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q1747272"},{"text":"Illinois Institute of Technology","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q659706"}],"source":{"label":"Wikidata","url":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q3519761#P69"}},{"key":"website","label":"Official website","values":[{"text":"sampitroda.com","url":"https://www.sampitroda.com/"}],"source":{"label":"Wikidata","url":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q3519761#P856"}},{"key":"positions","label":"Positions held","values":[{"text":"president (since 9 October 2024 · BS 22 Asoj 2081 onwards)","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q1255921","start":"2024-10-09"},{"text":"chancellor (since 2013)","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q61061","start":"2013"},{"text":"chancellor (9 August 2012 – 8 August 2017)","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q61061","start":"2012-08-09","end":"2017-08-08"},{"text":"chairperson (2005–2014)","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q140686","start":"2005-06-13","end":"2014"},{"text":"advisor to the Prime Minister (23 June 2004 – 4 June 2014)","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q124977243","start":"2004-06-23","end":"2014-06-04"},{"text":"advisor to the Prime Minister (1987–1991)","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q124977243","start":"1987","end":"1991"}],"source":{"label":"Wikidata","url":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q3519761#P39"}},{"key":"awards","label":"Awards","values":[{"text":"Lal Bahadur Shastri National Award","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q15144980","date":"2000"},{"text":"Canada India Foundation (\"CIF\") Chanchlani Global Indian Award","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q5029390","date":"2008"},{"text":"Padma Bhushan in Science & Engineering","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q30197118","date":"2009"},{"text":"Om Prakash Bhasin Award","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q19894899","date":"1993"}],"source":{"label":"Wikidata","url":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q3519761#P166"}},{"key":"x","label":"X (Twitter)","values":[{"text":"sampitroda","url":"https://x.com/sampitroda"}],"source":{"label":"Wikidata","url":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q3519761#P2002"}},{"key":"facebook","label":"Facebook","values":[{"text":"sampitroda","url":"https://www.facebook.com/sampitroda"}],"source":{"label":"Wikidata","url":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q3519761#P2013"}},{"key":"instagram","label":"Instagram","values":[{"text":"samgpitroda","url":"https://www.instagram.com/samgpitroda/"}],"source":{"label":"Wikidata","url":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q3519761#P2003"}}],"office":null,"sections":[],"cited":[],"cited_from":null,"videos":[],"last_reviewed":null,"organizations":[],"same_as":["https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sam_Pitroda","https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q3519761","https://www.sampitroda.com/","https://x.com/sampitroda","https://www.facebook.com/sampitroda","https://www.instagram.com/samgpitroda/"],"faq":[{"q":"When was Sam Pitroda born?","a":"Sam Pitroda was born on 4 May 1942 in Titlagarh."},{"q":"What positions has Sam Pitroda held?","a":"Positions held by Sam Pitroda include: president (since 9 October 2024); chancellor (since 2013); chancellor (2012–2017); chairperson (2005–2014); advisor to the Prime Minister (2004–2014)."},{"q":"Where did Sam Pitroda study?","a":"Sam Pitroda was educated at Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda, Illinois Institute of Technology."}],"related":[{"name":"Donald Trump","url":"https://diginpl.com/people/donald-trump"},{"name":"Ronald Reagan","url":"https://diginpl.com/people/ronald-reagan"},{"name":"Abraham Lincoln","url":"https://diginpl.com/people/abraham-lincoln"},{"name":"George W. Bush","url":"https://diginpl.com/people/george-w-bush"},{"name":"Mustafa Kemal Atatürk","url":"https://diginpl.com/people/mustafa-kemal-ataturk"},{"name":"Franklin D. Roosevelt","url":"https://diginpl.com/people/franklin-d-roosevelt"},{"name":"James Black","url":"https://diginpl.com/people/james-black"},{"name":"Mary McAleese","url":"https://diginpl.com/people/mary-mcaleese"}],"places_in":[],"nearby":[],"image":{"url":"https://diginpl.com/kb-img/sam-pitroda-32ecadaa59.jpg","width":500,"height":760,"license":"CC BY-SA 2.0","credit":"World Economic Forum on Flickr / Eric Miller","page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Sam_Pitroda_at_the_India_Economic_Summit_2009.jpg"},"sources":[{"label":"Wikipedia (English): Sam Pitroda","url":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sam_Pitroda","license":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/"},{"label":"Wikidata item Q3519761","url":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q3519761","license":"https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/"},{"label":"Image: Sam Pitroda at the India Economic Summit 2009.jpg by World Economic Forum on Flickr / Eric Miller (CC BY-SA 2.0)","url":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Sam_Pitroda_at_the_India_Economic_Summit_2009.jpg","license":null}],"license":{"text":"CC BY-SA 4.0","url":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/","facts":"https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/"},"attribution":"Text from the Wikipedia article Sam Pitroda, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. This page's text is shared under the same licence. Facts from Wikidata (CC0). Image: Sam Pitroda at the India Economic Summit 2009.jpg — World Economic Forum on Flickr / Eric Miller, CC BY-SA 2.0.","cite":"\"Sam Pitroda\". DigiNepal. Last updated 2 November 2026. https://diginpl.com/people/sam-pitroda. Retrieved 6 November 2026.","date_modified":"2026-11-02T06:46:37Z","facts_checked":"2026-11-06","alternates":{"html":"https://diginpl.com/people/sam-pitroda","en":"https://diginpl.com/people/sam-pitroda","ne":"https://diginpl.com/people/sam-pitroda?lang=ne"}}