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Foreign Secretary (India)

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Not to be confused with the Foreign Minister of India.

Foreign Secretary of India
Vidēśa Saciva
Emblem of India
Flag of India
Incumbent
Vikram Misri, IFS
since 15 July 2024
Ministry of External Affairs
Reports to
Residence3, Circular Road, Chanakyapuri
New Delhi, India
AppointerAppointments Committee of the Cabinet
Term lengthTwo years, term can be extended.
Inaugural holderK. P. S. Menon, ICS
Formation16 April 1948
WebsiteMinistry of External Affairs
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The Foreign Secretary of India (ISO: Vidēśa Saciva) is the top diplomat of India and administrative head of the Ministry of External Affairs. This post is held by an Indian foreign service officer of the rank of secretary to the government of India. Vikram Misri is currently serving as the Foreign Secretary of India from July 2024, succeeding Vinay Mohan Kwatra.

As an officer of the rank of secretary to the government of India, the foreign secretary ranks 23rd on the Indian Order of Precedence.[1] However, unlike other secretaries to the government of India, the foreign secretary is also the top diplomat of the country and heads the 'Foreign Service Board'.

Powers, responsibilities and postings

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The foreign secretary is the administrative head of the Ministry of External Affairs, and is the principal adviser to the minister of external affairs on all matters of policy and administration within the External Affairs Ministry.[2]

The role of the foreign secretary is as follows:[3]

Emolument, accommodation and perquisites

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The foreign secretary is eligible for a Diplomatic passport. The official earmarked residence of the union foreign secretary is 3, Circular Road, Chanakyapuri, New Delhi.

Foreign Secretary monthly pay and allowances
Base Salary as per 7th Pay Commission (Per month) Pay Matrix Level
₹225,000 (US$2,700)[4] Pay Level 17

List of foreign secretaries

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No. Name Photo Took office Left office Minister of External Affairs
1 K. P. S. Menon Sr. 16 April 1948 21 September 1952 Jawaharlal Nehru (de jure)

V. K. Krishna Menon (de facto)

2 R. K. Nehru 22 September 1952 10 October 1955
3 Subimal Dutt 11 October 1955 17 January 1961
4 M. J. Desai 11 April 1961 4 December 1963
5 Y. D. Gundevia 5 December 1963 18 February 1965 Jawaharlal Nehru
Gulzarilal Nanda
Lal Bahadur Shastri
Swaran Singh
6 C. S. Jha 19 February 1965 13 August 1967
M. C. Chagla
7 Rajeshwar Dayal 19 August 1967 6 November 1968 Indira Gandhi
8 T. N. Kaul 7 November 1968 3 December 1972 Indira Gandhi
Dinesh Singh
Swaran Singh
9 Kewal Singh 4 December 1972 31 March 1976
Yashwantrao Chavan
10 J. S. Mehta 1 April 1976 18 November 1979
Atal Bihari Vajpayee
11 Ram Sathe 19 November 1979 30 April 1982 Shyam Nandan Prasad Mishra
P. V. Narasimha Rao
12 M. K. Rasgotra 1 May 1982 31 January 1985
Indira Gandhi
Rajiv Gandhi
13 Romesh Bhandari 1 February 1985 31 March 1986 Rajiv Gandhi
Bali Ram Bhagat
14 A. P. Venkateswaran 1 April 1986 20 January 1987
P. Shiv Shankar
N. D. Tiwari
15 K. P. S. Menon Jr. January 1987 February 1989 N. D. Tiwari
16 Shilendra Kumar Singh 16 February 1989 19 April 1990 P. V. Narasimha Rao
Vishwanath Pratap Singh
I. K. Gujral
17 Muchukund Dubey 20 April 1990 30 November 1991 I. K. Gujral
18 J. N. Dixit 1 December 1991 31 January 1994 Madhavsinh Solanki
P. V. Narasimha Rao
Dinesh Singh
19 Krishnan Srinivasan 1 February 1994 28 February 1995
Pranab Mukherjee
20 Salman Haidar 1 March 1995 30 June 1997 Pranab Mukherjee
Sikander Bakht
I. K. Gujral
21 K. Raghunath 1 July 1997 1 December 1999
Atal Bihari Vajpayee
Jaswant Singh
22 Lalit Mansingh 1 December 1999 11 March 2001 Jaswant Singh
23 Chokila Iyer[5] 12 March 2001 29 June 2002
24 Kanwal Sibal 1 July 2002 30 November 2003 Yashwant Sinha
25 Shashank 19 November 2003 31 July 2004 Yashwant Sinha
Natwar Singh
26 Shyam Saran 31 July 2004 1 September 2006
Manmohan Singh
27 Shivshankar Menon 1 September 2006 31 July 2009
Pranab Mukherjee
S. M. Krishna
28 Nirupama Rao 31 July 2009 31 July 2011
29 Ranjan Mathai 1 August 2011 1 August 2013
Salman Khurshid
30 Sujatha Singh 1 August 2013 28 January 2015
Sushma Swaraj
31 Subrahmanyam Jaishankar 28 January 2015 28 January 2018
32 Vijay Keshav Gokhale 29 January 2018 28 January 2020
Subrahmanyam Jaishankar
33 Harsh Vardhan Shringla 29 January 2020 April 30, 2022
34 Vinay Mohan Kwatra 1 May 2022 14 July 2024
35 Vikram Misri 15 July 2024 Incumbent

See also

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References

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  1. ^ "Table of Precedence" (PDF). Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India. President's Secretariat. 26 July 1979. Archived from the original (PDF) on 27 May 2014. Retrieved 24 September 2017.
  2. ^ "Central Secretariat Manual of Office Procedure - 14th Edition (2015)" (PDF). Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pension. p. 6. Retrieved 15 November 2016.
  3. ^ Laxmikanth, M. (2014). Governance in India (2nd ed.). Noida: McGraw Hill Education. pp. 3.1–3.10. ISBN 978-9339204785.
  4. ^ "Report of the 7th Central Pay Commission of India" (PDF). Seventh Central Pay Commission, Government of India. Archived from the original (PDF) on 20 November 2015. Retrieved 13 August 2017.
  5. ^ Nirupama Rao is India's new foreign secretary The Times of India, 1 August 2009."Chokila Iyer was first woman, Indian Foreign Secretary in 2001."
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