Who is Vikram Misri? All you to know about India's new foreign secretary

Over the years, Misri went on to earn a reputation as the China expert.

India’s current Deputy National Security Adviser (NSA) Vikram Misri has been named as the next Foreign Secretary of the country. He will succeed Vinay Mohan Kwatra.

The 1989 batch Indian Foreign Service (IFS) officer has been appointed to the post with effect from July 15.

Here’s all you need to know about Vikram Misri:

A Kashmir-born career diplomat, Misri has held multiple important positions over the years, both at the Ministry of External Affairs and the prime minister's office (PMO). He graduated in History and completed his MBA from XLRI, Jamshedpur.

Early in his career, Misri was the under secretary at the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) under the IK Gujral government from November 1996 to April 1997. He later also served as Gujral’s private secretary from April 1997 to March 1998.

Between April 1998 and August 2000, the IFS officer again served in the capacity of under secretary, but this time for the Pakistan desk at the MEA.

From November 2006 to September 2008, when Pranab Mukherjee was the foreign minister of India, Misri had served as the Director of the Office at the MEA. He then became the joint secretary at the PMO in 2012 for a brief period from March to October. Later that year, he was appointed as the private secretary to then Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh till May 2014.

In between these, Misri held the post of Consul General of India in Germany from 2011 to 2012. Prior to that, he had served as the deputy high commissioner of India in Sri Lanka between 2008 and 2011. He also served as India’s ambassador to Spain from 2014 to 2016 and Myanmar from 2016 to 2018.

Over the years, Misri went on to earn a reputation as the China expert. His last ambassadorial posting was in Beijing from January 2019 to December 2021 (during the Galwan Valley clashes).

On January 1, 2022, Misri was appointed to the office of Deputy National Security Adviser (NSA).