Vikram Misri

After completing his education, Misri worked for three years in advertising.^[5] He did stints with Lintas India in Mumbai and Contract Advertising in Delhi, and advertising film making.^[1][12]

He joined the Indian Foreign Service in 1989. From January 1991 to September 1993, he was posted in Brussels as Third Secretary and Second Secretary; from September 1993 to October 1996 in Tunis as Second Secretary and First Secretary.^[13]

After returning to New Delhi, he served as an Under Secretary and Private Secretary in the Office of the External Affairs Minister of India Inder Kumar Gujral since November 1996 to April 1997 and then during his Prime Ministership during April 1997 to March 1998. From April 1998 to August 2000, he served as the Deputy Secretary for the Pakistan Desk in the MEA.^[5]

From August 2000 to September 2003, he served in Islamabad as First Secretary, then Counsellor, and also as Chargé d'affaires; from September 2003 to October 2006 in Washington D.C. as Political Counsellor in the Embassy of India, Washington, D.C..^[1][5]

From November 2006 to September 2008, he served as Director of the Office of the External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee.^[14]

From September 2008 to September 2011, he served as Deputy High Commissioner of India in Sri Lanka. From September 2011 to February 2012, he was Consul General of India in Munich.^[15]

From March 2012 to October 2012, he served as the Joint Secretary in the Prime Minister’s Office, New Delhi and was appointed as the private secretary to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.^[16] He continued to serve in that capacity when Singh was succeeded by Narendra Modi.^[17]

He was appointed Ambassador of India to Spain in 2014 and Ambassador of India to Myanmar in 2016.^[1]

In 2019, he was appointed the ambassador to China. He was the ambassador during the 2020–2021 China–India skirmishes and held a series of meetings with senior Chinese officials, including Liu Jianchao to discuss the tensions.^[18][19][20]

He was appointed as the Deputy National Security Advisor of India (Dy. NSA) from 1 January 2022 in the National Security Council Secretariat.^[21]

On 28 June 2024, it was announced that Mr. Misri would succeed Vinay Mohan Kwatra to assume the post of Foreign Secretary of India. On 15 July 2024, he became the 35th Foreign Secretary of India.^[22]

Misri is married to Dolly and has two children.^[5] He is fluent in English, Hindi, and Kashmiri and has a working knowledge of French.^[5] He is a fellow of ASPEN Institute USA's India leadership initiative, now known as the Kamalnayan Bajaj Fellowship.^[23]