[6] The position holder is generally a career civil servant, usually from the Indian Administrative Service,[7][8][9] and a government official of high seniority.

It is essential that he should have time to grasp the overall picture, size up the problems facing the government in the field allotted to his charge, and think and plan ahead.

Secretaries are allotted either type-VII or type-VIII bungalows in areas like New Moti Bagh and Lutyens' across Delhi by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs' Directorate of Estates.

[15] Secretary (Economic Affairs) Media articles and others have argued in favour of lateral entrants being recruited to this rank/post to infuse fresh energy and thinking into an insular, complacent and archaic bureaucracy.

During the term of Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Manmohan Singh as Prime Minister of India, Ram Vinay Shahi served as Secretary (GOI) in the Ministry of Power from 2002 to 2007 as a lateral entry.

[40] The Indian government in 2024 asked the Union Public Service Commission to cancel the recruitment of 45 specialists for senior positions through a lateral entry route.