List of ambassadors of India to the United States

The ambassador of India to the United States is the chief diplomatic representative of India to the United States, housed in the Indian Embassy in Washington, D.C.^[1] The current ambassador is Vinay Mohan Kwatra.

Ambassador of India to the United States
Emblem of India
Flag of India
Incumbent Vinay Mohan Kwatra since 13 August 2024
Appointer	President of India
Inaugural holder	Asaf Ali
Formation	1947
Website	Embassy of India, Washington D.C., U.S.

Embassy of India in Washington, D.C.

List of Indian ambassadors to the United States

Sr. No.	Name	Photo	Entered office	Left office	Notes
1st	Asaf Ali		1947	1948	Lawyer and former Governor of Odisha.
2nd	Benegal Rama Rau		1948	1949	4th Governor of Reserve Bank of India.
3rd	Vijaya Lakshmi Pandit		1949	1951	First women President of the United Nations General Assembly (1953)
4th	Binay Ranjan Sen		1951	1952	Director General of the Food and Agriculture Organization (1956–67)
5th	Gaganvihari Lallubhai Mehta		1952	1958
6th	M. C. Chagla		1958	1961	Indian Cabinet minister
7th	Braj Kumar Nehru		1961	1968	ICS officer, Governor of seven different states. Also served as Economic Affairs Secretary.
8th	Ali Yavar Jung		1968	1970	Governor of Maharashtra, VC of AMU, VC of Osmania University
9th	Lakshmi Kant Jha		1970	1973	ICS, Secy Industries, Commerce, Finance, Secy to the PM,8th Governor of Reserve Bank of India, Governor of J&K
10th	T. N. Kaul		1973	1976	ICS, former Foreign Secretary.
11th	Kewal Singh		1976	1977	ICS, former Foreign Secretary.
12th	Nanabhoy Palkhivala		1977	1979	Eminent lawyer
13th	K. R. Narayanan		1980	1984	10th President of India
14th	Katyayani Shankar Bajpai		1984	1986
15th	P. K. Kaul		1986	1989	IAS officer, former Cabinet Secretary of India. Also served as Finance Secretary, Defence Secretary and Commerce Secretary.
16th	Karan Singh		1989	1990	Titular Maharaja of Jammu and Kashmir
17th	Abid Hussain		1990	1992	IAS officer, former Commerce Secretary.
18th	Siddhartha Shankar Ray		1992	1996	Minister of Education, Chief Minister of West Bengal
19th	Naresh Chandra		1996	2001	IAS officer, former Cabinet Secretary of India. Also served as Home Secretary, Defence Secretary.
20th	Lalit Mansingh		2001	2004	IFS officer, former Foreign Secretary and Indian High Commissioner to the United Kingdom.
21st	Ronen Sen		August 2004	March 2009	IFS officer.
22nd	Meera Shankar		2009	2011	IFS officer.
23rd	Nirupama Rao		1 August 2011	5 November 2013	IFS officer, former Foreign Secretary.
24th	Subrahmanyam Jaishankar		1 December 2013	28 January 2015	IFS officer, former Foreign Secretary and current Union Minister for External Affairs.
25th	Arun Kumar Singh		6 May 2015	August 2016	IFS officer.
26th	Navtej Sarna		November 2016	20 December 2018	IFS officer
27th	Harsh Vardhan Shringla		11 January 2019[2]	11 January 2020[3][4]	IFS officer, 33rd Foreign Secretary
28th	Taranjit Singh Sandhu		6 February 2020 [5]	31 January 2024	IFS officer
29th	Vinay Mohan Kwatra		13 August 2024	Incumbent	Former IFS officer, 34th Foreign Secretary

See also

• India–United States relations