The Indian Foreign Service (IFS) is a

diplomatic service Diplomatic service is the body of diplomats and foreign policy officers maintained by the government of a country to communicate with the governments of other countries. Diplomatic personnel obtain diplomatic immunity when they are accredited to o ...

and a

central civil service Central is an adjective usually referring to being in the center of some place or (mathematical) object. Central may also refer to: Directions and generalised locations * Central Africa, a region in the centre of Africa continent, also known as ...

of the

Government of the Republic of India The Government of India (ISO 15919, ISO: Bhārata Sarakāra, legally the Union Government or Union of India or the Central Government) is the national authority of the Republic of India, located in South Asia, consisting of States and union t ...

under the Ministry of External Affairs. The Foreign Secretary is the head of the service.

Vikram Misri Vikram Misri (born 7 November 1964) is an Indian diplomat of the Indian Foreign Service, currently serving as the 35th Foreign Secretary (India), Foreign Secretary of India since July 2024. Previously, he served as the Deputy National Security ...

is the 35th and the current Foreign Secretary. The service, consisting of

civil servants The civil service is a collective term for a sector of government composed mainly of career civil service personnel hired rather than elected, whose institutional tenure typically survives transitions of political leadership. A civil service offic ...

is entrusted with handling the

foreign relations of India India, officially the Republic of India, has full diplomatic relations with 201 states, including Palestine, the Holy See, and Niue. The Ministry of External Affairs (India), Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) is the government agency resp ...

and providing

consular A consul is an official representative of a government who resides in a foreign country to assist and protect citizens of the consul's country, and to promote and facilitate commercial and diplomatic relations between the two countries. A consu ...

services, and to mark India's presence in international organizations. It is the body of career

diplomat A diplomat (from ; romanization, romanized ''diploma'') is a person appointed by a state (polity), state, International organization, intergovernmental, or Non-governmental organization, nongovernmental institution to conduct diplomacy with one ...

s serving in more than 160 Indian diplomatic missions and international organizations around the world. In addition, they serve at the President's Secretariat, the Prime Minister's Office and at the headquarters of MEA in New Delhi. They also head Regional Passport Offices throughout the country and hold positions in several ministries on deputation. Post-retirement, Indian Foreign Service officers have held high offices including that of

President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Film and television *'' Præsident ...

Vice President A vice president or vice-president, also director in British English, is an officer in government or business who is below the president (chief executive officer) in rank. It can also refer to executive vice presidents, signifying that the vi ...

, Governors of States,

Speaker of Lok Sabha The Speaker of the Lok Sabha (International Alphabet of Sanskrit Transliteration, IAST: ) is the Chairperson, presiding officer and the highest authority of the Lok Sabha, the lower house of the Parliament of India. The speaker is elected gener ...

, and

Cabinet ministers A cabinet in governing is a group of people with the constitutional or legal task to rule a country or state, or advise a head of state, usually from the executive branch. Their members are known as ministers and secretaries and they are ...

History

On 13 September 1783, the

board of directors A board of directors is a governing body that supervises the activities of a business, a nonprofit organization, or a government agency. The powers, duties, and responsibilities of a board of directors are determined by government regulatio ...

of the

East India Company The East India Company (EIC) was an English, and later British, joint-stock company that was founded in 1600 and dissolved in 1874. It was formed to Indian Ocean trade, trade in the Indian Ocean region, initially with the East Indies (South A ...

passed a resolution at Fort William,

Calcutta Kolkata, also known as Calcutta (List of renamed places in India#West Bengal, its official name until 2001), is the capital and largest city of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of West Bengal. It lies on the eastern ba ...

(now

Kolkata Kolkata, also known as Calcutta ( its official name until 2001), is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of West Bengal. It lies on the eastern bank of the Hooghly River, west of the border with Bangladesh. It is the primary ...

), to create a department, which could help "relieve the pressure" on the

Warren Hastings Warren Hastings (6 December 1732 – 22 August 1818) was a British colonial administrator, who served as the first governor of the Presidency of Fort William (Bengal), the head of the Supreme Council of Bengal, and so the first governor-gener ...

administration in conducting its "secret and political business." Although established by the Company, the Indian Foreign Department conducted business with foreign

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

an powers. From the very beginning, a distinction was maintained between the ''foreign'' and ''political'' functions of the Foreign Department; relations with all "Asiatic powers" (including native princely states) were treated as ''political'', while relations with European powers were treated as ''foreign''. In 1843, the

Governor-General of India The governor-general of India (1833 to 1950, from 1858 to 1947 the viceroy and governor-general of India, commonly shortened to viceroy of India) was the representative of the monarch of the United Kingdom in their capacity as the emperor o ...

Edward Law, 1st Earl of Ellenborough Edward Law, 1st Earl of Ellenborough (8 September 1790 – 22 December 1871), was a British Tory politician. He was four times President of the Board of Control and also served as Governor-General of India between 1842 and 1844. Background an ...

carried out administrative reforms, organizing the Secretariat of the Government into four departments: Foreign, Home, Finance, and Military. Each was headed by a secretary-level officer. The Foreign Department Secretary was entrusted with the "conduct of all correspondence belonging to the external and internal diplomatic relations of the government." The

Government of India Act 1935 The Government of India Act 1935 (25 & 26 Geo. 5. c. 42) was an Act of Parliament (UK), act passed by the British Parliament that originally received royal assent in August 1935. It was the longest act that the British Parliament ever enact ...

attempted to delineate more clearly functions of the foreign and political wings of the Foreign Department, it was soon realized that it was administratively imperative to completely bifurcate the department. Consequently, the External Affairs Department was set up separately under the direct charge of the Governor-General. The idea of establishing a separate diplomatic service to handle the external activities of the Government of India originated from a note dated 30 September 1944, recorded by

Lieutenant-General Lieutenant general (Lt Gen, LTG and similar) is a military rank used in many countries. The rank traces its origins to the Middle Ages, where the title of lieutenant general was held by the second-in-command on the battlefield, who was normall ...

T. J. Hutton, the Secretary of the Planning and Development Department. When this note was referred to the Department of External Affairs for comments,

Olaf Caroe Sir Olaf Kirkpatrick Kruuse Caroe, (15 November 1892 – 23 November 1981) was an administrator in British India, working for the Indian Civil Service and the Indian Political Service. He served as the Foreign Secretary to the Government of India ...

, the Foreign Secretary, recorded his comments in an exhaustive note detailing the scope, composition and functions of the proposed service. Caroe pointed out that as India emerged as autonomous, it was imperative to build up a system of representation abroad that would be in complete harmony with the objectives of the future government. On 9 October 1946, the Indian government established the Indian Foreign Service for India's diplomatic,

and commercial representation overseas. With independence, there was a near-complete transition of the Foreign and Political Department into what then became the new Ministry of External Affairs. Indian Foreign Service Day is celebrated on 9 October every year since 2011 to honor the establishment of the Indian Foreign Service, the idea of which was proposed by diplomat

Abhay K Abhay Kumar (known mononymously as Abhay K.) is an Indian career diplomat and the author of several books including ''Nalanda: How it Changed the World.'' He was appointed as India's first resident Ambassador to Georgia. He currently serves as ...

Selection

Officers of the Indian Foreign Service are recruited by the Government of India on the recommendation of the

Union Public Service Commission The Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) is a constitutional body tasked with recruiting officers for All India Services and the Central Civil Services (Group A and B) through various standardized examinations. In 2023, 1.3 million applica ...

. In 1948, the first group of Indian Foreign Service officers were recruited based on the

Civil Services Examination The Civil Services Examination (CSE) is a standardized test in India conducted by the Union Public Service Commission for recruitment to higher Civil Services of India, civil services in the Government of India, such as the All India Service ...

conducted by the Union Public Service Commissionhttp://upsc.gov.in/exams/notifications/2014/csp/CSP%202014%20English.pdf This exam is still used to select new foreign service officers. Previous to 1948, some were appointed directly by the Prime Minister and included former native rulers of India who had integrated their provinces into India. Fresh recruits to the Indian Foreign Service are trained at Sushma Swaraj Foreign Service Institute after a brief foundation course at the

Lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy of Administration Lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy of Administration (LBSNAA) is a civil service training institute on public policy and public administration in Mussoorie, Uttarakhand in India. The academy's main purpose is to train civil servants of the ...

Mussoorie Mussoorie () is a hill station and a municipal board, in Dehradun city in the Dehradun district of the Indian state of Uttarakhand. It is about from the state capital of Dehradun and north of the national capital of New Delhi. The hil ...

. In recent years, the number of candidates selected to the Indian Foreign Service has averaged between 25 and 30 annually.

Training

On acceptance to the Foreign Service, new entrants undergo significant training, which is considered to be one of the most challenging and longest service trainings in the Government of India and nearly takes more than 1 year to graduate from. The entrants undergo a probationary period (during which they are referred to as Officer Trainees). Training begins at the LBSNAA in

, where members of the other elite Indian civil services are trained. After completing a 15-week training at the LBSNAA, the probationers join the SSIFS in

New Delhi New Delhi (; ) is the Capital city, capital of India and a part of the Delhi, National Capital Territory of Delhi (NCT). New Delhi is the seat of all three branches of the Government of India, hosting the Rashtrapati Bhavan, New Parliament ...

for a more intensive training in a host of subjects important to diplomacy, including international relations theory, military diplomacy, trade, India's foreign policy,

history History is the systematic study of the past, focusing primarily on the Human history, human past. As an academic discipline, it analyses and interprets evidence to construct narratives about what happened and explain why it happened. Some t ...

international law International law, also known as public international law and the law of nations, is the set of Rule of law, rules, norms, Customary law, legal customs and standards that State (polity), states and other actors feel an obligation to, and generall ...

, diplomatic practice, hospitality, protocol and administration. They also go on attachments with different government bodies and defense (

Army An army, ground force or land force is an armed force that fights primarily on land. In the broadest sense, it is the land-based military branch, service branch or armed service of a nation or country. It may also include aviation assets by ...

Navy A navy, naval force, military maritime fleet, war navy, or maritime force is the military branch, branch of a nation's armed forces principally designated for naval warfare, naval and amphibious warfare; namely, lake-borne, riverine, littoral z ...

Air Force An air force in the broadest sense is the national military branch that primarily conducts aerial warfare. More specifically, it is the branch of a nation's armed services that is responsible for aerial warfare as distinct from an army aviati ...

, CAPF) establishments and undertake tours both in India and Indian missions abroad. The entire training program lasts for a period of 12 months. Upon the completion of the training program at the institute, an officer is assigned a compulsory foreign language (CFL) training. After a brief period of desk attachment in the Ministry of External Affairs, at the rank of Assistant Secretary, the officer is posted to an Indian diplomatic mission abroad where her/his CFL is the native language. There the officer undergoes language training and is expected to develop proficiency in the CFL and pass an examination before being allowed to continue in the service.

Functions

President Obama and Prime Minister Modi in an expanded bilateral meeting at Hyderabad House

As a career diplomat, the Foreign Service Officer is required to project India's interests, both at home and abroad on a wide variety of issues. These include bilateral political and economic cooperation, trade and investment promotion, cultural interaction, press and media liaison as well as a whole host of multilateral issues. * Serving as India's Representative: Foreign Service Officers work in Indian Embassies, High Commissions, Consulates, and Permanent Missions to multilateral organizations like the UN, where they act as the official representatives of India. * Protecting India's Interests: They are tasked with safeguarding and advancing India's national interests in the country where they are posted. * Fostering Friendly Relations: Diplomats promote and cultivate friendly relations between India and the host country, including its people, as well as with Non-Resident Indians (NRI) and People of Indian Origin (PIO) communities. * Accurate Reporting: Foreign Service Officers provide precise and timely reports on developments in the host country that may impact India's policies. * Negotiating Agreements: They engage in negotiations with the authorities of the host country to establish agreements on a range of issues. * Consular Services: Diplomats extend consular services to both foreign nationals in need and Indian citizens residing abroad, ensuring they receive necessary assistance and support.

Rank structure

Indian missions The Government of India has initiated several National Missions in order to achieve individual goals that together ensure the wellbeing of its citizens. Agriculture National Initiative on Climate Resilient Agriculture NICRA was launched duri ...

abroad, the highest-ranking officials are the Heads of Missions, who holds the rank of

ambassador An ambassador is an official envoy, especially a high-ranking diplomat who represents a state and is usually accredited to another sovereign state or to an international organization as the resident representative of their own government or so ...

s, high commissioners, and permanent representatives. They lead the various embassies, high commissions, and intergovernmental organisations worldwide. Heads of Posts are Consuls General who heads Consulate Generals in missions abroad. In MEA headquarters, the highest-ranking official among the secretaries is the Foreign Secretary. The below rank structure is for Indian Foreign Service officers who directly enter the service, in ascending order of ranks.

Major concerns and reforms

Understaffed

India has one of the most understaffed diplomatic forces of any major country in the world. Based on 2014 calculations there are about 2,700 "diplomatic rank" officers in overseas missions and at headquarters. A minority of the diplomatic officers are Foreign Service (A) officers, the senior cadre of Indian diplomacy, which is primarily drawn from direct recruitment through the

. Although sanctioned strength was 912, the actual strength of Group A was 770 officers in 2014. In addition there were in 2014, 252 Grade-I officers of Indian Foreign Service (B) General Cadre who after promotion are inducted into Indian Foreign Service (A). The lower grades of the Indian Foreign Service(B) General Cadre included 635 attaches. The breakdown of other cadres and personnel included 540 secretarial staff, 33 from the Interpreters Cadre, 24 from the Legal and Treaties Cadre, and 310 personnel from other Ministries.

Shashi Tharoor Shashi Tharoor (; born 9 March 1956) is an Indian politician, author, and former diplomat, who has been serving as Member of Parliament for Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, since 2009. He is currently the Chairman of Committee on External Affairs. ...

, then chairman of

Committee on External Affairs The Parliamentary Standing Committee on External Affairs is a department related standing committee (DRSC) of selected members of parliament, constituted by the Parliament of India, for the purpose of legislative oversight of the foreign pol ...

16th Lok Sabha Members of the 16th Lok Sabha were elected during the 2014 Indian general election. The elections were conducted in 9 phases from 7 April 2014 to 12 May 2014 by the Election Commission of India. The results of the election were declared on 16 May ...

had presented the 12th report for expanding and building the numbers, quality and capacity of India's diplomats. In March 2023,

Parliamentary Committee A committee or commission is a body of one or more persons subordinate to a deliberative assembly or other form of organization. A committee may not itself be considered to be a form of assembly or a decision-making body. Usually, an assembly o ...

on External Affairs criticized the service for being severely short-staffed and under-budgeted. In its Demand for Grants (2023–24) report, the committee highlighted that the cadre strength of Indian Foreign Service Officers is only 1,011 which is just 22.5 percent of the total strength. Out of IFS 'A' cadre, 667 are posted at diplomatic missions across the world and 334 are manning the headquarters in Delhi, which at present has 57 divisions.

Declining prestige and quality

Since its inception and especially in the early decades of the service, the Indian Foreign Service had a reputation for attracting the country's most talented civil service aspirants. The quality of candidates based on exam rank has significantly declined and the quality of candidates has created concerns about harm to prestige in expanding the size of the service. In the 1960s and 1970s, exam toppers generally in the top 20 opted for the Indian Foreign Service over the

Indian Administrative Service The Indian Administrative Service (IAS) is the Public administration, administrative arm of the All India Services of Government of India. The IAS is one of the three All India Services along with the Indian Police Service (IPS) and the Indian ...

and

Indian Police Service The Indian Police Service (IPS) is a civil service under the All India Services. It replaced the Indian Imperial Police in 1948, a year after India became Partition of India, independent from the British Empire. Along with the Indian Admini ...

, the other elite civil services. By late 1980s, the dip was appreciable and Indian Foreign Service spots did not fill until reaching much deeper down the list. The Indian Foreign Service continues in recent years to have difficulty in attracting the most promising candidates. For the 2017 Civil Services Exam, only 5 of the top 100 candidates chose the Indian Foreign Service with the last ranking person from the General Category in the 152nd position. For candidates with reservation status, a candidate from the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes in the 640th position closed the list for Indian Foreign Service. The Indian Foreign Service has become less attractive due to higher pay in corporate jobs, other elite civil services like the

All India Services The All India Services (AIS) comprises three Civil Services of India common to the centre and state governments, which includes the Indian Administrative Service (IAS), the Indian Police Service (IPS), and the Indian Forest Service (IFS). ...

promising more power, and fading glamour as foreign travel became common place. A parliamentary committee reviewing Indian Foreign Service reform in 2016 feared a negative feedback loop with the "deterioration" in candidate quality as both a "both a symptom and a reason for the erosion of prestige in the Indian Foreign Service". However, the committee was hard pressed to address the issue because it was also concerned about increasing the "quantity" of Indian diplomats.

T. P. Sreenivasan Thettalil Parameswaran Pillai Sreenivasan (born 17 June 1944 in Kayamkulam, Travancore) is an Indian former diplomat and is the head of the Council for Higher Education of the State of Kerala and also an adjunct professor of eminence at Somaiy ...

, a retired Foreign Service officer, argued in 2015 that "elitism should be preserved" for the Indian Foreign Service to perform effectively. He further lamented the Indian Foreign Service "is already a shadow of its former self" which dissuaded aspirants and the service needed to have its "attractiveness enhanced".

Indian Foreign Service, Branch B

The Indian Foreign Service (Branch B), or IFS (B), has one cadre: the General cadre. Recruitments are made through separate competitive exams, named Combined Graduate Level Examination (CGLE), conducted by the

Staff Selection Commission Staff Selection Commission (SSC) is an organisation under the Government of India to recruit staff for various posts in the various ministries and departments of the government of India and in subordinate offices and agencies. This commission ...

(SSC). For distinction, the IFS is mostly referred to as IFS (Group A) by the media and general public. Until 2009, the General cadre and Stenographers' cadre personnel were absorbed into IFS after serving a prescribed number of years. Officers from cadre who had joined IFS reached up to the post of ambassador. In 2009, the path to promotion to IFS was closed for the Stenographers cadre. In 2012, a counsellor at the high commission of India in

Fiji Fiji, officially the Republic of Fiji, is an island country in Melanesia, part of Oceania in the South Pacific Ocean. It lies about north-northeast of New Zealand. Fiji consists of an archipelago of more than 330 islands—of which about ...

, originally from the Stenographer's cadre, who had not joined the IFS was appointed as ambassador to

North Korea North Korea, officially the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the northern half of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and borders China and Russia to the north at the Yalu River, Yalu (Amnok) an ...

. A senior MEA official said, they had no choice since no one from the IFS had wanted the posting in

Pyongyang Pyongyang () is the Capital city, capital and largest city of North Korea, where it is sometimes labeled as the "Capital of the Revolution" (). Pyongyang is located on the Taedong River about upstream from its mouth on the Yellow Sea. Accordi ...

. Three IFS (B) general cadre associations protested by writing to the Prime Minister's Office and the MEA, requesting to review the appointment. According to a senior MEA official, this was not the first time such appointments had occurred, mentioning past instances from the Interpreters' cadre and Cypher sub-cadre, and also recalled a previous appointment from the Stenographers' cadre as an ambassador in North Korea.

Notable Indian Foreign Service Officers

* Ajay Bisaria *

Asaf Ali Asaf Ali (11 May 1888 – 2 April 1953) was an Indian independence activist and noted lawyer. He was the first Indian Ambassador to the United States. He also served as the Governor of Odisha. Asaf Ali was born on 11 May 1888 AD in Seohara ...

, former

Governor of Odisha The Governor of Odisha is the head of the Indian state of Odisha. The Governor (India), governors have similar powers and functions at the state level as those of the president of India at central level. They exist in the States of India, state ...

* Abid Hasan, a former officer of

Indian National Army The Indian National Army (INA, sometimes Second INA; ''Azad Hind Fauj'' ; 'Free Indian Army') was a Empire of Japan, Japanese-allied and -supported armed force constituted in Southeast Asia during World War II and led by Indian Nationalism#An ...

* Arundhati Ghose * Ausaf Sayeed * Benegal Rama Rau, 4th Governor of Reserve Bank of India *

Brajesh Mishra Brajesh Chandra Mishra (29 September 1928 – 28 September 2012) was an Indian politician and diplomat from the Indian Foreign Service who is best known for serving as the first National Security Advisor of India from 1998 to 2004. He also se ...

, 1st National Security Advisor *

Binay Ranjan Sen Binay Ranjan Sen, CIE, ICS (1 January 1898, Dibrugarh, India - 12 June 1993, Calcutta, India), was an Indian diplomat and Indian Civil Service officer. He served as Director General (1956–1967) of the UN's Food and Agriculture Organization ...

, Director General of

FAO The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations; . (FAO) is a List of specialized agencies of the United Nations, specialized agency of the United Nations that leads international efforts to defeat hunger and improve nutrition ...

(1956–67) * C. B. Muthamma * Chokila Iyer, 23rd Foreign Secretary of India *

Gautam Bambawale Gautam Bambawale (born 2 November 1958) is an Indian people, Indian diplomat of Indian Foreign Service who served as the List of ambassadors of India to China, Indian Ambassador to China from 2017 to 2018. He had previously served as the List of ...

, former ambassador to China and Pakistan *

Gopalaswami Parthasarathy Captain Gopalaswami Parthasarathy, popularly known as G. Parthasarathy (born 13 May 1940) is a former commissioned officer in the Indian Army (1963-1968) and a diplomat and author. He has served as the High Commissioner of India, Cyprus (199 ...

, former Vice-chancellor of

Jawaharlal Nehru University Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU; ISO: Javāharalāla Neharū Viśvavidyālaya) is a public research university located in Delhi, India. It was established in 1969 and named after Jawaharlal Nehru, India's first Prime Minister. The university ...

Hamid Ansari Hamid refers to two different but related Arabic given names, both of which come from the Arabic triconsonantal root of Ḥ-M-D (): # (Arabic: ''ḥāmed'') also spelled Haamed, Hamid or Hamed, and in Turkish Hamit; it means "lauder" or "one ...

, former

Vice President of India The vice president of India (ISO: ) is the deputy to the head of state of the Republic of India, i.e. the president of India. The office of vice president is the second-highest constitutional office after the president and ranks second in t ...

(2007–17) *

Hardeep Singh Puri Hardeep Singh Puri (born 15 February 1952) is an Indian politician and retired diplomat of Indian Foreign Service who is serving as 33rd Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas since 2021. He is a 1974 batch Indian Foreign Service officer who s ...

, current cabinet minister (2014–present) *

Harsh Vardhan Shringla Harsh Vardhan Shringla (born 1 May 1962) is retired Indian diplomat of Indian Foreign Service who served as Chief Coordinator for India’s G20 Presidency in 2023. He has previously served as Foreign Secretary of India and India's Ambassador ...

, former Foreign Secretary of India * J N Dixit, 2nd National Security Advisor & former Foreign Secretary * Kamlesh Sharma, former

Commonwealth Secretary-General The Commonwealth secretary-general, formally the secretary-general of the Commonwealth of Nations, is the head of the Commonwealth Secretariat, the central body which has served the Commonwealth of Nations since its establishment in 1965, and r ...

Kanwal Sibal Kanwal Sibal (born 18 November 1943) is a career diplomat who retired as Foreign Secretary to the Government of India. In 2017, The Government of India awarded him the Padma Shri award for his distinguished services in the field of Public Affair ...

, former Foreign Secretary * Kewal Singh, former Foreign Secretary * K. M. Panikkar * K.P.S. Menon *

K. R. Narayanan Kocheril Raman "K. R." Narayanan (27 October 1920 – 9 November 2005) was an Indian statesman, diplomat, academic, and politician who served as the vice president of India from 1992 to 1997 and president of India from 1997 to 2002. Naray ...

, 10th

President of India The president of India (ISO 15919, ISO: ) is the head of state of the Republic of India. The president is the nominal head of the executive, the first citizen of the country, and the commander-in-chief, supreme commander of the Indian Armed ...

and 9th

* K. Raghunath, former Foreign Secretary *

Lakshmi Kant Jha Lakshmi Kant Singh, MBE (22 November 1913 – 16 January 1988), born in Darbhanga district, Bihar was the eighth Governor of the Reserve Bank of India from 1 July 1967 to 3 May 1970. Education and career Lakshmi Kant Jha was born into a Mai ...

, 8th Governor of Reserve Bank of India * Lalit Mansingh *

Maharaja Krishna Rasgotra Maharaja Krishna Rasgotra (born 11 September 1924), often shortened to M. K. Rasgotra, is an Indian diplomat and academic who served as the 12th Foreign Secretary of India from 1 May 1982 to 31 January 1985. Early and personal life Rasgotra w ...

Mani Shankar Aiyar Mani Shankar Aiyar (born 10 April 1941) is an Indian politician and former career civil servant diplomat. He is a member of the Indian National Congress Party. He represented the Mayiladuthurai constituency of Tamil Nadu in the 10th Lok Sabha, ...

Meira Kumar Meira Kumar (born 31 March 1945) is an Indian politician and former diplomat. A member of the Indian National Congress, she was the Minister of Social Justice and Empowerment from 2004 to 2009, the Minister of Water Resources for a brief peri ...

, 15th

Speaker of the Lok Sabha The Speaker of the Lok Sabha ( IAST: ) is the presiding officer and the highest authority of the Lok Sabha, the lower house of the Parliament of India. The speaker is elected generally in the first meeting of the Lok Sabha following a general ...

(2009–14) *

Nalin Surie Nalin Surie was an Indian people, Indian Civil servant and was the Indian people, Indian ambassador to United Kingdom. Positions held *Ambassador to China. *Head of Indian Council of World Affairs. *MEA secretary (west). Indian Foreign Service H ...

Natarajan Krishnan Natarajan Krishnan (6 October 1928 15 September 2020) was an Indian diplomat and negotiator who served in many capacities including as Permanent Representative of India to the United Nations in New York from 1981 to 86 and the President of the U ...

, President of the UNSC *

Natwar Singh Natwar Singh (16 May 1931 – 10 August 2024) was an Indian politician and diplomat of the Indian Foreign Service who later served as India's Minister of External Affairs from May 2004 to December 2005. Having been suspended by the Indian Nati ...

, former

Minister of External Affairs In many countries, the ministry of foreign affairs (abbreviated as MFA or MOFA) is the highest government department exclusively or primarily responsible for the state's foreign policy and relations, diplomacy, bilateral, and multilateral rela ...

Nirupama Rao Nirupama Menon Rao (born 6 December 1950) is a retired civil servant of 1973 batch Indian Foreign Service cadre who served as India's Foreign Secretary from 2009 to 2011, as well as being India's Ambassador to the United States, China and Sri Lan ...

, former Foreign Secretary *

Pankaj Saran Pankaj Saran (born 22 November 1958) is a retired Indian diplomat of the Indian Foreign Service who served as the Deputy National Security Adviser of India. He previously served as an Indian Ambassador to Russian Federation and Indian High Co ...

, former Deputy National Security Advisor * Parvathaneni Harish,

Permanent Representative of India to the United Nations The permanent representative of India to the United Nations is India's foremost diplomat, diplomatic representative to the United Nations. The permanent representative (UN ambassador)"History of Ambassadors", United States Mission to the United ...

* Rahul Shrivastava, Indian High Commissioner to Namibia *

Ranjan Mathai Ranjan Mathai (born 1952) is an Indian civil servant of the IFS cadre who was a former Indian Foreign Secretary and Indian High Commissioner to the UK. Prior to this, he served as Foreign Secretary of India from 1 August 2011 to 31 July 2013 ...

, former Foreign Secretary *

Raveesh Kumar Raveesh Kumar ( born 26 January 1971) is an Indian diplomat in the Indian Foreign Service of 1995 batch. Currently, he is an Indian ambassador to the Czech Republic. Previously, he served as Indian ambassador to Finland also accredited to Eston ...

Romesh Bhandari Romesh Bhandari (29 March 1928 – 7 September 2013) was an Indian diplomat and administrator. Bhandari, during his career, served in various positions, including as the Foreign Secretary, Lieutenant Governor of Delhi and the Andaman and Nico ...

, former Foreign Secretary,

Lieutenant Governor of Delhi The Lieutenant Governor of Delhi is the constitutional head of the National Capital Territory of Delhi. The post was established in September 1966, following the enactment of The Delhi Administration Act, 1966. Thereafter, the former Delhi Le ...

and the

Andaman and Nicobar Islands The Andaman and Nicobar Islands is a union territory of India comprising 572 islands, of which only 38 are inhabited. The islands are grouped into two main clusters: the northern Andaman Islands and the southern Nicobar Islands, separated by a ...

, and

Governor A governor is an politician, administrative leader and head of a polity or Region#Political regions, political region, in some cases, such as governor-general, governors-general, as the head of a state's official representative. Depending on the ...

Tripura Tripura () is a States and union territories of India, state in northeastern India. The List of states and union territories of India by area, third-smallest state in the country, it covers ; and the seventh-least populous state with a populat ...

Goa Goa (; ; ) is a state on the southwestern coast of India within the Konkan region, geographically separated from the Deccan highlands by the Western Ghats. It is bound by the Indian states of Maharashtra to the north, and Karnataka to the ...

and

Uttar Pradesh Uttar Pradesh ( ; UP) is a States and union territories of India, state in North India, northern India. With over 241 million inhabitants, it is the List of states and union territories of India by population, most populated state in In ...

* Ronen Sen, former Ambassador to USA, UK, Russia, Germany and South Korea * Ruchira Kamboj, 1st women Permanent Representatives of India to the UN * Salman Haider, former Foreign Secretary * Shashank *

Shivshankar Menon Shivshankar Menon (born 5 July 1949) is a retired Indian diplomat of Indian Foreign Service who served as National Security Advisor of India to the Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. He had previously served as the Foreign Secretary in the Minist ...

, 4th National Security Advisor *

Shyam Saran Shyam Saran (born 4 September 1946) is an Indian career diplomat. He joined the Indian Foreign Service in 1970 and rose to become the Foreign Secretary to the Government of India. Prior to his appointment as the Foreign Secretary he served as ...

, 26th Foreign Secretary of India * Subimal Dutt, 3rd Foreign Secretary of India * S Jaishankar,

(2019–present) * Sujatha Singh *

Syed Akbaruddin Syed Akbaruddin is a retired Indian diplomat from 1985 batch of the Indian Foreign Service and served as India's permanent representative at the United Nations at New York from January 2016 to April 2020. He had previously served as official ...

, former India's Permanent Representative to the UN * T. N. Kaul * T. S. Tirumurti * Venu Rajamony * Vijay K. Nambiar,

Chef de Cabinet In some Francophone countries and international organisations, a ( French; literally 'head of office') is a senior official working for a high-ranking political or administrative figure such as a government minister. They are typically responsib ...

of the

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is the Earth, global intergovernmental organization established by the signing of the Charter of the United Nations, UN Charter on 26 June 1945 with the stated purpose of maintaining international peace and internationa ...

(2007–12) *

Vijay Keshav Gokhale Vijay Keshav Gokhale IFS, (born 24 January 1959), is a retired Indian diplomat and the 32nd Foreign Secretary of India. Gokhale previously served as the Ambassador of India to China. Personal life and education Gokhale hails from Pune. He di ...

, 32nd Foreign Secretary of India *

Vinay Mohan Kwatra Vinay Mohan Kwatra, (born 15 December 1962) is an Indian diplomat of Indian Foreign Service who served as the 34th Foreign Secretary of India, from May 2022 until July 2024 and is currently serving as Ambassador of India to the United States ...

* Vikas Swarup, eminent writer *

, Deputy National Security Advisor (1 January 2022 - 14 July 2024) & 35th Foreign Secretary of India *

Yashvardhan Kumar Sinha Yashvardhan Kumar Sinha (born 4 October 1958) is a retired Indian diplomat who belongs to the Indian Foreign Service. He is the former High Commissioner of India to the United Kingdom. He was sworn in as Central Information Commissioner on 1 ...

, former Chief Information Commissioner of India

Notes

References

External links

*
Official website of Foreign Service Institute India
{{DEFAULTSORT:Foreign Service Central Civil Services (India) Foreign relations of India

Indian Foreign Service The Indian Foreign Service (IFS) is a diplomatic service and a Central Civil Services, central civil service of the Government of India, Government of the Republic of India under the Ministry of External Affairs (India), Ministry of External A ...