This article provides a comprehensive list of Indian ambassadors to foreign countries, as well as the latest updates on their appointments. The names of individuals who serve as representatives of Indian embassies overseas are crucial for general knowledge and various competitive and government examinations. It is important to have a good understanding of these details in standard English.
About High commissioners and Ambassadors
- High commissioners represent India’s diplomatic missions in member states of the Commonwealth of Nations.
- Ambassadors represent diplomatic missions in other states except for the Commonwealth countries.
- The head of a diplomatic mission to an international organization is called a permanent representative.
Commonwealth of Nations
▪ The Commonwealth of Nations is a political association of 54 member states, almost all of which are former territories of the British Empire.
✅ Why do we need ambassadors? ☛ An ambassador is an official envoy and a top diplomat who represents a country and is typically assigned to another sovereign nation or international group. ☛ Ambassadors hold the highest position in representing the President to a specific foreign country or international body. ☛ Their main responsibilities include advocating for their nation's interests, overseeing an embassy, aligning the efforts of other U.S. agencies in the foreign country, and informing their home government about political and economic changes in the host country. ☛ Ambassadors may travel to multiple nations to enhance relationships or handle diplomatic tasks. In certain cases, their government might assign them to conflict-affected countries for special and temporary diplomatic missions.
Recent news about Ambassadors and High Commissioners to India and other countries
- Senior diplomat Aishath Azeema is set to become the Maldives’ Ambassador to India, replacing Ibrahim Shaheeb, following Maldivian President Mohamed Muizzu’s first official visit to India.
- Recently, Egypt has restored full diplomatic ties with Turkiye by appointing its ambassador for the first time in 10 years.
- The USA has appointed Eric Garcetti as its new ambassador to India.
- Ambassador Rabab Fatima, the Permanent Representative of Bangladesh to the United Nations, has been appointed the Under Secretary General of the United Nations.
- The Secretary to the President of India, Shri Rajesh Verma, presented ‘Ballam’- the President’s Bodyguard Lance – to the Ambassador of Egypt.
✅ President Droupadi Murmu Latest Current Affairs: Month-wise List
Recent News about Ambassadors to Foreign Countries
- Sanjeev Kumar Singla has been appointed as India’s next Ambassador to France by the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA).
- Dr. Neena Malhotra, a 1992-batch IFS officer, has been named India’s Ambassador to Sweden.
- Jane Marriott has been appointed as the first female High Commissioner to Pakistan by the United Kingdom (Britain) in a recent development.
- Nilakshi Saha Sinha has been appointed as the Ambassador of India to the Republic of Armenia.
- M. Sridharan has been appointed as the next Ambassador of India to the Republic of Azerbaijan.
- Sibi George has been appointed as the Indian ambassador to the Republic of Marshall Islands.
- Vijay Shekhar Sharma has been made the ambassador of the Universal Acceptance Steering Group (UASG).
- Music Maestro AR Rahman has been appointed as the ambassador of the Indo-UK culture platform Season of Culture.
- Sachin Tendulkar will continue as United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) ‘Goodwill Ambassador’ for a record 20th year, working for the welfare of underprivileged children.
- Ruchira Kamboj is the current Permanent Representative of India to the United Nations. She previously served as the High Commissioner of India to South Africa and was the first female Indian Ambassador to Bhutan.
- Ambassador Ruchira Kamboj, Permanent Representative of India to the United Nations, chaired the 62nd session of the UN Commission for Social Development in 2024.
- Poland will chair the 63rd session of the Commission for Social Development in 2025.
- Theme: “Fostering Social Development and Social Justice through Social Policies to Accelerate Progress on the Implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and to Achieve the Overarching Goal of Poverty Eradication”
- India’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations, Ambassador Ruchira Kamboj, presented a voluntary financial contribution of USD 500,000 to the UN Trust Fund for Counter-Terrorism.
UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador
- UNICEF has appointed 25-year-old Ugandan climate activist Vanessa Nakate as a Goodwill Ambassador.
- UNICEF has recognized him for his outstanding global support for climate justice for current and future generations.
- Millie Bobby Brown was UNICEF’s youngest Goodwill Ambassador (appointed in 2018).
- Kareena Kapoor Khan has been appointed as the National Ambassador of UNICEF India.
UNHCR Goodwill Ambassador
- The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has named British actor Theo James as its new Global Goodwill Ambassador.
UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador
- South Korean (K-Pop) boy band SEVENTEEN has been appointed as UNESCO’s first-ever Goodwill Ambassador for Youth.
✅ Newly Appointed Presidents and Prime Ministers of Countries
Indian Ambassadors and High Commissioners to Foreign Countries 2024
| SL.No | Country / Organisation | Person |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Angola | Vidhu P Nair |
| 2 | Australia | Gopal Baglay |
| 3 | Russia | Vinay Kumar |
| 4 | Iraq | Soumendu Bagchi |
| 5 | Niger | Sita Ram Meena |
| 6 | Myanmar | Abhay Thakur |
| 7 | Austria | Shambu S Kumaran |
| 8 | Chile | Abhilasha Joshi |
| 9 | Cuba | T. Armstrong Changsan |
| 10 | Denmark | Manish Prabhat |
| 11 | Ethiopia | Anil Kumar Rai |
| 12 | Italy | Vani Rao |
| 13 | Mongolia | Atul Malhari Gotsurve |
| 14 | Myanmar | Abhay Thakur |
| 15 | Russia | Vinay Kumar |
| 16 | Tajikistan | Rajesh Uike |
| 17 | Turkmenistan | Madhumita Hazarika Bhagat |
| 18 | United States of America | Vinay Mohan Kwatra |
| 19 | Yemen | Suhel Ajaz Khan |
| 20 | Philippines | Harsh Kumar Jain |
| 21 | Morocco | Sanjay Rana |
| 22 | Bolivia | Rohitkumar R. Vadhwana |
| 23 | Algeria | Dr. Swati Vijay Kulkarni |
| 24 | Albania | Ravindra Prasad Jaiswal |
| 25 | DR Congo | V. Venkataraman |
| 26 | Croatia | Arun Goel |
| 27 | Cyprus | Manish |
| 28 | Suriname | Subhash Prasad Gupta |
| 29 | Ukraine | Ravi Shankar |
| 30 | France | Sanjeev Kumar Singla |
| 31 | Sweden | Dr. Neena Malhotra |
Permanent representatives to International organizations
Recent Updates
▪ The current Permanent Representative of India to the United Nations is Ruchira Kamboj, who took charge of the post on August 1, 2022.
▪ Recently, the Government of India extended Brajendra Navnit’s tenure as the Ambassador and Permanent Representative of India to the World Trade Organization (WTO).
| SL. No | Host organization | Location | Permanent Representatives |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | United Nations | New York City | Ruchira Kamboj (Permanent Representative of India to the United Nations) |
| 2. | UNESCO | Paris | Vishal V. Sharma |
| 3. | World Trade Organization | Geneva | Brajendra Navneet |
| 4. | Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) | Jakarta | Jayant N. Khobragade |
| 5. | African Union | Addis Ababa | Robert Shetkintong |
| 6. | International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) | Vienna | Malina Paul |
| 7. | Conference on Disarmament | Geneva | Shamim Akhtar |
Indian Ambassadors and High Commissioners to Foreign Countries 2023
| SL.No | Country / Organisation | Person |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Armenia | Nilakshi Saha Sinha |
| 2 | Azerbaijan | Sridharan Madhusudan |
| 3 | Republic of Marshall Islands | Sibi George |
| 4 | Lao People’s Democratic Republic | Prashant Agarwal |
| 5 | Uganda | Upender Singh Rawat |
| 6 | Australia | Philip Green |
| 7 | Panama | Sumit Seth |
| 8 | Lithuania | Devesh Uttam |
| 9 | Indonesia | Sandeep Chakravorty |
| 10 | Somalia | Namgya C Khampa |
| 11 | Syria | Dr Irshad Ahmad |
Indian ambassadors and high commissioners to foreign countries (Appointed in 2022)
| SL.No | Country / Organisation | Person |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | Nepal | Naveen Srivastava |
| 2. | Netherlands | Reenat Sandhu |
| 3. | Permanent Representative of India to the United Nations. | Ruchira Kamboj |
| 4. | Thailand | Nagesh Singh |
| 5. | Bangladesh | Pranay Kumar Verma |
| 6. | United Kingdom | Vikram Doraiswami |
| 7. | Bhutan | Sudhakar Dalela |
| 8. | Kenya | Namgya C. Khampa |
| 9. | Madagascar | Bandaru Wilsonbabu |
| 10. | Japan | Sibi George |
| 11. | Eritrea | Prakash Chand |
| 12. | Canada | Sanjay Verma |
| 13. | United Kingdom | Vikram Doraiswami |
| 14. | South Korea | Amit Kumar |
| 15. | Cote d’Ivoire | Rajesh Ranjan |
| 16. | Bosnia and Herzegovina | Partha Satpathy |
| 17. | Slovak Republic | Apoorva Srivastava |
| 18. | Guinea | Avtar Singh |
| 19. | Kuwait | Adarsh Swaika |
| 20. | Republic of Colombia | Shri Vanlalhuma |
| 21. | Seychelles | Shri Kartik Pande |
| 22. | Republic of Malta | Ms. Gloria Gangte |
| 23. | Republic of Senegal | Shri Dinkar Asthana |
| 24. | New Zealand | Neeta Bhushan |
Indian ambassadors and high commissioners to foreign countries (Appointed in 2021)
| SL.No | Country | Person |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | Australia | Manpreet Vohra |
| 2. | Belarus | Alok Ranjan Jha |
| 3. | Bulgaria | Sanjay Rana |
| 4. | Chile | Subrata Bhattacharjee |
| 5. | Denmark | Pooja Kapoor |
| 6. | Egypt | Ajit Vinayak Gupte |
| 7. | Fiji | P. S. Karthigeyan |
| 8. | Iceland | B. Shyam |
| 9. | Iraq | Prashant Pise |
| 10. | Ireland | Akhilesh Mishra |
| 11. | Kazakhstan | SUbhadarshini Tripthi |
| 12. | Liberia | Pradip Kumar Yadav |
| 13. | Malaysia | B. Nagabhushana Reddy |
| 14. | Malta | Sangeeta Bahadur |
| 15. | Mozambique | Ankan Banerjee |
| 16. | Poland | Nagma Mohammad Mallick |
| 17. | Serbia | Sanjiv Kohli |
| 18. | Tanzania | Binaya Shrikanta Praadhaan |
| 19. | Germany | Harish Parvathaneni |
| 20. | First Muslim to be nominated by Joe Biden as the Ambassador-at-Large for International Religious Freedom | Rashad Hussain |
Indian ambassadors to foreign countries (Appointed in 2020)
| SL.No | Country | Person |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | Afghanistan | Rudrendra Tandon |
| 2. | Algeria | Gaurav Ahluwalia |
| 3. | Angola | Pratibha Parkar |
| 4. | Bahrain | Piyush Srivastava |
| 5. | Bangladesh | Vikram Doraiswami |
| 6. | Belgium | Santosh Jha |
| 7. | Brazil | Suresh Reddy |
| 8. | Cambodia | Devyani Uttam Khobragade |
| 9. | Canada | Ajay Bisaria |
| 10. | DR Congo | Ram Karan Verma |
| 11. | Croatia | Rajkumar Shrivastava |
| 12. | Ethiopia | Robert Shetkintong |
| 13. | Finland | Raveesh Kumar |
| 14. | France | Jawed Ashraf |
| 15. | Kuwait | Sibi George |
| 16. | Singapore | P Kumaran |
| 17. | Nepal | Vinay Mohan Kwarta |
| 18. | Philippines | Shambhu S. Kumaran |
| 19. | Qatar | Deepak Mittal |
| 20 | Romania | Rahul Shrivastava |
