IFS Dinesh K Patnaik appointed as the High Commissioner of India to Canada

Dinesh K Patnaik

IFS Dinesh K. Patnaik, presently Ambassador to the Kingdom of Spain, has been appointed as the next High Commissioner of India to Canada.

The senior diplomat is currently India’s envoy to Spain. Patnaik is expected to be replaced in Spain by Jayant Khobragade, who is currently India’s ambassador to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, a report by Hindustan Times said in June.

Quoting anonymous sources, the HT report had earlier said that the process for securing an agrément, or the formal agreement whereby a state receives a foreign country’s envoy, for Patnaik was underway.

In a report dated March 2025, another report by Hindustan Times had said that Patnaik is from the 1990 batch of the Indian Foreign Service and was the front-runner for the post of high commissioner in Ottawa.

He is one of India’s senior-most diplomats and served as deputy high commissioner to the UK during 2016-2018, the report said.

Patnaik brings over three decades of diplomatic experience, with postings both in India and abroad. He has served in Indian missions in Geneva, Dhaka, Beijing, and Vienna, as well as in key divisions of the external affairs ministry dealing with Africa, West Europe, the UN, and external publicity.

Between 2009 and 2012, he was the deputy chief of mission at the Indian embassy in Austria, followed by stints as ambassador to Cambodia (2012–2015) and envoy to Morocco (2015–2016).