Foreign Secretary (India)

Not to be confused with the Foreign Minister of India.

The foreign secretary (ISO: Vidēś Saciv) is the topmost non-elected official and the administrative head of the Ministry of External Affairs. This post is held by an Indian Foreign Service (IFS) officer of the rank of secretary to the government of India. Vikram Misri is the foreign secretary since July 2024, succeeding Vinay Mohan Kwatra.

Foreign Secretary of India
विदेश सचिव
Emblem of India
Flag of India
Incumbent Vikram Misri, IFS since 15 July 2024
Ministry of External Affairs
Reports to	President of India Parliament of India Council of Ministers of India Prime Minister of India External Affairs Minister of India
Residence	3, Circular Road, Chanakyapuri New Delhi, India
Appointer	Appointments Committee of the Cabinet
Term length	Two years, term can be extended.
Inaugural holder	K. P. S. Menon, ICS
Formation	16 April 1948
Website	Ministry of External Affairs

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.

Before the post of Foreign Secretary was created, Secretary General of Ministry of External Affairs was the head of Ministry of External Affairs, which was held by Girija Bajpai and N. R. Pillai.

Powers, responsibilities and postings

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 ministry.^[2]

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

• To act as the administrative head of the Ministry of External Affairs. The responsibility in this regard is complete and undivided.
• To act as the chief adviser to the minister of external affairs on all aspects of policy and administrative affairs.
• To represent the Ministry of External Affairs before the Public Accounts Committee of the Parliament of India.
• Recommends postings of officers under the Ministry of External Affairs of the rank of secretary, additional secretary and joint secretary to the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet (ACC).
• To act as the first among equals among the secretaries in the Ministry of External Affairs.

Emolument, accommodation and perquisites

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

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
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	S. Jaishankar		28 January 2015	28 January 2018
32	Vijay Keshav Gokhale		29 January 2018	28 January 2020
					S. Jaishankar
33	Harsh Vardhan Shringla		29 January 2020	30 April 2022
34	Vinay Mohan Kwatra		1 May 2022	14 July 2024
35	Vikram Misri		15 July 2024	Incumbent

See also

• Cabinet Secretary of India
• Defence Secretary of India
• Home Secretary of India
• Finance Secretary of India
• Minister of External Affairs