P. Achutha Menon

Educated at the University of Madras and New College, Oxford, Menon subsequently sat the Indian Civil Service exams and passed into the batch of 1929 with effect from 9 October.^[3] Among his fellow batchmates were Bhagwan Sahay, later Governor of Jammu and Kashmir, and Humphrey Trevelyan, who also became a diplomat.^[4] Arriving in India in November 1929,^[3] Menon initially served in the Madras Presidency, and was appointed a sub-collector in May 1931 and an under-secretary in the provincial Public Works Department in January 1934.^[3] In April 1937, he was appointed under-secretary in the Home Department of the central government.^[3] In July 1943, he was posted to the United States as a deputy secretary and later secretary with the Indian Supply Mission.^[3]

On 19 November 1949, Menon was appointed India's first minister to Portugal.^[5] On 1 August 1951, he was appointed chargé d'affaires at the embassy in Italy.^[6] On 11 October 1951, he was appointed ambassador to Belgium, and Luxembourg.^[7] He later served as ambassador to West Germany before his retirement in 1964.