1989 batch IFS officer Vikram Misri to be new foreign secretary

Deputy National Security Advisor Vikram Misri will be India's new foreign secretary, succeeding incumbent Vinay Kwatra. 

Misri, a 1989 batch Indian Foreign Service (IFS) officer, has been appointed to the post with effect from July 15, a government order stated. 

“The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet has approved the appointment of Misri, Deputy NSA in the National Security Council Secretariat, to the post of Foreign Secretary with effect from July 15,” said the order issued by the Ministry of Personnel. 

Incumbent foreign secretary Vinay Mohan Kwatra was in March this year given a six months' extension. HT has learnt that he is widely expected to become the next envoy to the US within the next few months. The post of Indian envoy in Washington DC has been lying vacant since Taranjit Sandhu retired in January.

The government is also looking to fill the post of India’s permanent representative to the United Nations (UN) in New York following the retirement of Ruchira Kamboj. 

Misri, who has served as private secretary to prime ministers Inder Kumar Gujral, Manmohan Singh and Narendra Modi, is one of the leading hands on China in the ministry of external affairs. His last ambassadorial posting was in Beijing. Misri was appointed to his position in the National Security Council Secretariat in January 2022. 

He is said to have played a key role in contacts with the Xi Jinping government in China after the standoff in eastern Ladakh and Galwan Valley clash between Indian and Chinese soldiers in 2020.

Misri served as India's ambassador to Spain and Myanmar. He also had stints in the Indian missions in Belgium, Pakistan, the US, Sri Lanka and Germany.

Jawed Ashraf, who served as joint secretary in the Prime Minister’s Office under both Manmohan Singh and Narendra Modi, is tipped to succeed Misri as deputy NSA, HT has learnt.