Mr. Ajay Deshpande holds a B.Tech degree in Chemical Engineering and M.Tech in Management & Systems, both degrees secured with top honours, from LIT – Nagpur and IIT – Delhi respectively. He is an elected Fellow of INAE (Indian National Academy of Engineering) as also of IIChE (Indian Institute of Chemical Engineers). He is a former Director (Technical) of M/s Engineers India Limited where he also held additional charge as C&MD before his superannuation in 2018. His stint in EIL began as a Management Trainee and covered various roles as Process Engineer, Project Manager and Head of R&D Centre with area of core competency being Refining and Petrochemicals. As Director (Technical), he was responsible for Engineering of the projects of the National Oil companies for meeting BS-IV, and later BS-VI, fuel quality standards as also projects for integration of Petrochemical Units in to a Refinery for value enhancement.

Post his superannuation from EIL, he is engaged in providing Technical Advisory / Consultancy to the corporate sector, the management consultancy sector and the education sector. He has been selected by INAE as a Distinguished Visiting Professor and an Industry Expert in Chemical Engineering. His current areas of interest also include renewable fuels.

He was a member of the MakeinIndia committee of the administrative ministry and also contributed in the drafting of the local content policy for encouraging initiatives being taken by various vendors to launch new equipment models / prototypes. He was a member of the ministry delegation to ADIPEC, UAE for showcasing the MakeinIndia concept.