Dr. Sujay Rakshit did his B.Sc. (Ag.) Hons. from Viswa-Bharati, Santiniketan in 1991, M.Sc. (Ag.) in Genetics & Plant Breeding (1991-93) from Banaras Hindu University and Ph.D. in Genetics (1993-98) from ICAR-Indian Agricultural Research Institute. He has been serving ICAR since 1996 in different capacities. He started his scientific career at ICAR-Indian Institute of Pulses Research, Kanpur in 1996. In September 2000 he joined the erstwhile Directorate of Maize Research, New Delhi as well as faculty in the Division of Genetics, ICAR-IARI. He did his post-doctoral research at Iwate Biotechnology Research Center, Japan under JSPS post-doctoral fellowship from 2003 – 2005. From November 2008 till March 2017, he worked as Principal Scientist (Plant Breeding) in the ICAR-Indian Institute of Millets Research, Hyderabad. He worked as the Director of ICAR-Indian Institute of Maize Research, Ludhiana from March 24, 2017 to Dec 08, 2022. Since Dec 09, 2022 he is holding the position as Director, ICAR-Indian Institute of Agricultural Biotechnology, Ranchi.

Dr. Rakshit has made significant contributions in combining conventional and molecular breeding for improvement of maize, sorghum, minor millets, rice and pulses. He has developed 13 maize hybrids, two maize OPvs and one forage sorghum variety, besides 28 registered genetic stocks. Under his leadership first low phytate maize hybrid was released in India. The efficient regeneration and transformation protocol developed by his team paved the way for genome editing in maize. Map-based cloning of PTOX gene in rice showed that mutation in it leads to excessive tillering, semidwarfism and leaf variegation. He has reported QTLs for various agronomic traits in number of crops. The National Guidelines for DUS Testing in Maize developed by him is being used for variety protection in the country. He has published 104 research papers, 29 reviews and popular articles and 32 technical articles in journals of national and international repute. He has edited three books besides writing two policy papers, 29 book chapters, 32 bulletins and three training manuals. He has citation of 2600 with h-index of 26 and i-10 index of 61.

Dr. Rakshit is a Fellow of National Academy of Agricultural Sciences and Indian Society of Genetics and Plant Breeding. He is recipient of the many prestigious recognitions like Dr BR Barwade Award (2021); NEEDEF Agriculture Leadership Award (2021); Dr. AB Joshi Award (2020); Kalaya Krishnamurty National Award (2021); NE Borlaug Fellowship (2011); JSPS Post-doctoral Fellowship for Foreign Researchers (2003-05); BOYSCAST Fellowship (2003); CSIR Scientist Travel Fellowship (2002); Indian Science Congress Association Young Scientist Award (1999); ICAR Jawaharlal Nehru Award (1999); UNESCO Fellowship in Biotechnology (1998), IARI Merit Medal (1998), Nihar Bala Ghosh Medal (1998), BHU Medal (1993), Binani Medal (1993) among others. Under his leadership, his team received Chaudhary Devilal Outstanding AICRP Award (2019) and Best Annual Report Award (2020). He has been President, Maize Technologists Association of India, New Delhi and President, Agriculture & Forestry Section, 106th Indian Science Congress. He has visited Australia, Germany, Netherlands, Singapore, Japan, Bangladesh, Malaysia, and the USA.