Foreign Secretary of India (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.
As an officer of the rank of secretary to the government of India, the foreign secretary ranks 23rd on the Indian Order of Precedence. 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.
The role of the foreign secretary is as follows: 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 allowancesBase Salary as per 7th Pay Commission (Per month)Pay Matrix LevelPay 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 1952Jawaharlal 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 1965Jawaharlal NehruGulzarilal NandaLal Bahadur ShastriSwaran Singh 6 C. S. Jha 19 February 1965 13 August 1967M. C. Chagla 7 Rajeshwar Dayal 19 August 1967 6 November 1968 Indira Gandhi 8 T. N. Kaul 7 November 1968 3 December 1972 Indira GandhiDinesh SinghSwaran Singh 9 Kewal Singh 4 December 1972 31 March 1976 Yashwantrao Chavan 10 J. S. Mehta 1 April 1976 18 November 1979Atal Bihari Vajpayee 11 Ram Sathe 19 November 1979 30 April 1982 Shyam Nandan Prasad MishraP. V. Narasimha Rao 12 M. K. Rasgotra 1 May 1982 31 January 1985Indira GandhiRajiv Gandhi 13 Romesh Bhandari 1 February 1985 31 March 1986Rajiv GandhiBali Ram Bhagat 14 A. P. Venkateswaran 1 April 1986 20 January 1987P. Shiv ShankarN. D. Tiwari 15 K. P. S. Menon Jr. January 1987 February 1989N. D. Tiwari 16 Shilendra Kumar Singh 16 February 1989 19 April 1990 P. V. Narasimha RaoVishwanath Pratap SinghI. K. Gujral 17 Muchukund Dubey 20 April 1990 30 November 1991I. K. Gujral 18 J. N. Dixit 1 December 1991 31 January 1994 Madhavsinh SolankiP. V. Narasimha Rao Dinesh Singh 19 Krishnan Srinivasan 1 February 1994 28 February 1995Pranab Mukherjee 20 Salman Haidar 1 March 1995 30 June 1997Pranab MukherjeeSikander BakhtI. K. Gujral 21 K. Raghunath 1 July 1997 1 December 1999Atal Bihari VajpayeeJaswant Singh 22 Lalit Mansingh 1 December 1999 11 March 2001 Jaswant Singh 23 Chokila IyerNirupama Rao is India's new foreign secretary The Times of India, 1 August 2009."Chokila Iyer was first woman, Indian Foreign Secretary in 2001." 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 SinhaNatwar Singh 26 Shyam Saran 31 July 2004 1 September 2006Manmohan Singh 27 Shivshankar Menon 1 September 2006 31 July 2009Pranab MukherjeeS. M. Krishna 28 Nirupama Rao 31 July 2009 31 July 2011 29 Ranjan Mathai 1 August 2011 1 August 2013Salman Khurshid 30 Sujatha Singh 1 August 2013 28 January 2015Sushma Swaraj 31 S. Jaishankar 28 January 2015 28 January 2018 32 Vijay Keshav Gokhale 29 January 2018 28 January 2020S. Jaishankar 33 Harsh Vardhan Shringla 29 January 2020 30 April 202234 Vinay Mohan Kwatra 1 May 2022 14 July 202435 Vikram Misri 15 July 2024 Incumbent
See also Cabinet Secretary of India Secretary of the Research and Analysis Wing Defence Secretary of India Home Secretary of India Finance Secretary of India Minister of External Affairs
References
External links Ministry of External Affairs, Official website Indian Foreign Secretaries Listing External Affairs Spouses Association or EASA