Vikram Misri, who has served in US and China, takes charge as Foreign Secretary

Misri has also served in various capacities in the Ministry of External Affairs, joint secretary at the Prime Minister’s Office and in various Indian missions in Europe, Africa, Asia and North America. He has also worked on the MEA’s Pakistan desk and was on the staff of two External Affairs Ministers — IK Gujral and Pranab Mukherjee.

He was also Private Secretary to three PMs – IK Gujral, Manmohan Singh and Narendra Modi.

Congratulating Misri, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar said in a post on X, “Congratulate Foreign Secretary @VikramMisri as he assumes his new responsibility today. Wish him a productive and successful tenure.”

Nepal’s Foreign Secretary Sewa Lamsal, while congratulating Misri, said she looked forward to further deepening the multifaceted Nepal-India relationship. “Heartiest congratulations to H E Shri Vikram Misri @Vikrammisri, newly appointed Foreign Secretary of India,” Lamsal said on X.

Misri was appointed India’s Ambassador to Spain in 2014, Ambassador to Myanmar in 2016 and Ambassador to the People’s Republic of China from January 2019 to December 2021.

During the border border standoff in eastern Ladakh and the Galwan clashes, he was instrumental in the bilateral conversations at the military and diplomatic levels, despite the strained ties between Delhi and Beijing.

Misri has also served abroad in Brussels, Tunis, Islamabad and Washington DC. He was Deputy High Commissioner of India in Sri Lanka and Consul General of India in Munich.

As the Deputy NSA (strategic affairs) from January 1, 2022 to June 30, 2024, he worked closely with NSA Ajit Doval and was looking after the foreign policy side of the National Security Council Secretariat.

Among the three crucial aspects of his work experience over the last three decades are his experience in the neighbourhood as he has served in Sri Lanka, Myanmar and Pakistan. Second, his knowledge from serving in Washington DC and Beijing would help him navigate the turbulent times in geopolitics. Third, his understanding of the workings of PMO and External Affairs Ministers will be significant as he has to now implement the foreign policy as determined and shaped by the trio in the political-strategic-security establishment — Modi, EAM S Jaishankar and Doval.

Born in Srinagar, Misri had his early education there as well as Udhampur and finished his schooling from the Scindia School in Gwalior. He has a Bachelor’s degree with Honours in History from the Hindu College, University of Delhi and an MBA from XLRI, Jamshedpur.

Before joining the government, he worked for three years in the fields of advertising (Lintas India – Bombay and Contract Advertising – Delhi) and advertising filmmaking. Misri is a Fellow of the Aspen Institute USA’s India Leadership Initiative (now the Kamalnayan Bajaj Fellowship).

The new Deputy NSA Kapoor started his diplomatic career in Moscow and was most recently Ambassador to the Russian Federation (November 2021 to February 2024). Pavan Kapoor is an MBA from IIM-Ahmedabad and holds a Masters in International Political Economy from London School of Economics.

He was also the Ambassador to UAE (October 2019 to November 2021) and Ambassador to Israel (March 2016 to September 2019). He also served as India’s High Commissioner to Mozambique and the Kingdom of Swaziland (January 2014 to January 2016).

Apart from his postings in missions abroad (Geneva, London, Kyiv) and at the MEA, he has also worked in the PMO. He also served as an international civil servant with the Commonwealth Secretariat in London.