Som Parkash is a politician belonging to the Bharatiya Janata Party. He is the Union Minister of State for Commerce and Industry, Government of India. He is a Member of Parliament from Hoshiarpur Lok Sabha Constituency and an Ex-MLA from Phagwara. He is also a former Deputy Commissioner of Jalandhar and former IAS officer of 1988 batch in Punjab cadre. Som Parkash, who was born in 3 April 1949, is an MA (Economics) from the Punjab University, Chandigarh. He had started his career as a research officer in the Punjab State Planning Board in 1972. Thereafter, he became an excise and taxation officer in the Punjab Excise Department. Som Parkash has served as the deputy commissioner of Faridkot, Hoshiarpur and Jalandhar and has also held posts like the Labour Commissioner, Punjab Urban Planning