Appointment of Chief of Media & Communications

Shri Manish Shiva Zole, Deputy Director (PIB), has been appointed as Chief of Media & Communications (CMC) for the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY), effective from 17.12.2025. This appointment follows the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting D.O. No. M-20011/10/2025- Press dated 12.11.2025. The CMC will serve as the Single Point of Contact for all media engagements and information dissemination across various platforms. The CMC will report to the Secretary (MeitY) and coordinate with AS/JS/GC on Information, Education and Communication (IEC) matters. All Divisions of Meity are required to route their media plans for the Ministry's activities and initiatives, including responses to media, through the CMC. Expenditure on TA/DA during official tours and other working arrangements will be covered by Meity as per entitlement. Sanjay Jaju, IAS, Secretary of the Ministry of Information & Broadcasting mentions in his letter that each Ministry/Department will have at least one designated PIB officer who will act as single point-of-contact for all the information dissemination and publicity related issues. The seniormost PIB officer assigned to the respective Ministry/ Department will henceforth be called as Chief of Media & Communications (CMC). The CMC will be responsible for all matters relating to media engagements and information dissemination through print, TV, radio, digital media, and other platforms. The Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) outlines that the Chief of Media & Communications (CMC) would lead all paid Campaign of the Ministry in terms of planning, conceptualising, and budgeting. The CMC will coordinate with CBC for the preparation of the Media Plan and shall give its requirements to the CBC alongwith budget outlay in a specific format to be provided by CBC. CMC will also coordinate with the Client Ministry for approval of the media plan and ensure allocation of funds to CBC before execution. Once the media plan is approved, CBC will roll out the campaign, on receipt of funds. The CMC will coordinate with the client Ministry for planning annual budget for IEC activities under 'Advertisement & Publicity', and to place 40% of Advertisement & Publicity funds with the Ministry of I&B as per the DoE OM No. 7/53/2019-BA dated 30.04.2025. The CMC shall be assisted by a team of officials from the client Ministry.

Key Entities Referenced