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 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 member 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 before joining as the Director of ICAR-Indian Institute of Maize Research, Ludhiana. He has made significant contributions in combining conventional and molecular breeding in maize, sorghum, minor millets, rice and pulses.

Dr. Sujay Rakshit has been involved in development, evaluation and release of four QPM hybrids, three baby corn hybrids, two popcorn hybrids, one normal maize hybrid and one forage sorghum variety. Besides these he has 22 genetic stocks and over 700 DNA sequences registered to his credit. He has published 74 research papers, 22 review articles and 19 technical articles in journals of national and international repute. He has edited three books besides writing two policy papers and 28 book chapters.

Dr. Rakshit is recipient of the many prestigious recognitions like ICAR Chaudhary Devi Lal Outstanding AICRP Award, Indian Society of Genetics & Plant Breeding (ISGPB) Fellow, NE Borlaug Fellowship (USDA), JSPS Post-doctoral Fellowship for Foreign Researchers, BOYSCAST Fellowship, CSIR Scientist Travel Fellowship, Indian Science Congress Association Young Scientist Award, ICAR Jawaharlal Nehru Award, UNESCO Fellowship in Biotechnology, Best Ph.D. Student of IARI Medal, IARI Merit Medal, Jawaharlal Nehru Memorial Award, Binani Gold Medal, BHU Gold Medal among others. He has visited Australia, Germany, Netherlands, Singapore, Japan, Bangladesh, Malaysia and the USA. He has been President, Maize Technologists Association of India, New Delhi (2018-20) and President, Agriculture & Forestry Section, 106th Indian Science
Congress.