Aniruddha Kumar is presently serving as senior vice-president (VP) of business development and tender (railways and metro) at Kalpataru Projects International Limited (KPIL). He has over 31 years of experience in the fields of contract management, arbitration and claims, tendering, business development and project management across sectors such as the railways, hydropower, thermal power, roads and highways, buildings and factories, institutional projects, and other infrastructure projects, with a special focus on contract management and tendering.
At KPIL, he heads the business and tendering department, and supply chain management of the railways and metro business unit, responsible for securing business in the railway and urban rail sectors across Indian and global markets. With India’s railway and metro network expanding rapidly, Kumar’s immediate target is to consolidate KPIL’s leadership in these sectors by diversifying into sustainable high-speed rail, signalling, ballast-less track and international rail projects. The company’s long-term prospect is to position it as a preferred engineering, procurement and construction partner globally through sustainable, technology-led solutions in the railways and metro sector.
Kumar has completed many challenging assignments, but one stands out vividly – working inside a tunnel where the temperature soared to 40 degrees centigrade, while outside it was below zero, at one of the largest hydropower projects in Himachal Pradesh.
He foresees the growing adoption of green construction practices using sustainable materials, new technologies, integrated transport systems and advanced project management tools like building information modelling and artificial intelligence-based monitoring.
Kumar is a civil engineer with professional qualifications in Construction Management from the National Institute of Construction Management and Research, as well as Consultancy Management from the Birla Institute of Technology and Science, Pilani.
He believes in collaborative and empowering leadership, where clarity and accountability drive results. In crises, he focuses on calm analysis, open communication and collective problem-solving, turning challenges into opportunities for improvement. Kumar’s strengths lie in strategic thinking, stakeholder engagement and ethical leadership. He is fond of reading fictional and non-fictional books, as well as articles related to future technology in the railways and metro sector. He is a fitness enthusiast and believes that a healthy mind resides in a healthy body.