Foreign Secretary (India)

Foreign Secretary of India
Foreign Secretary of India
Videśa Saciva
	Emblem of India
	Flag of India
	Incumbent; Vinay Mohan Kwatra, IFS; since 1 May 2022
	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

The foreign secretary of India (IAST: Videśa Saciva) is the top diplomat of India and administrative head of the Ministry of External Affairs. This post is held by an Indian foreign service officer of the rank of secretary to the government of India. Vinay Mohan Kwatra is an Indian diplomat and currently serving as the Foreign Secretary of India from May 2022, succeeding Harsh Vardhan Shringla.^[1]

As an officer of the rank of secretary to the government of India, the foreign secretary ranks 23rd on the Indian Order of Precedence.^[2] 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'.

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 External Affairs Ministry.^[3]

The role of the foreign secretary is as follows:^[4]

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$2,800)^[5]	Pay Level 17

List of foreign secretaries

No.	Name	Took office	Left office	Minister of External Affairs
1	K. P. S. Menon Sr.	16 April 1948	21 September 1952	Jawaharlal Nehru (de jure) V. K. Krishna Menon (de facto)
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	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	Swaran Singh
9	Kewal Singh	4 December 1972	31 March 1976	Yashwantrao Chavan
10	J. S. Mehta	1 April 1976	18 November 1979	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
11	Ram Sathe	19 November 1979	30 April 1982	P. V. Narasimha Rao
12	M. K. Rasgotra	1 May 1982	31 January 1985	P. V. Narasimha Rao
				Indira Gandhi
				Rajiv Gandhi
13	Romesh Bhandari	1 February 1985	31 March 1986	Rajiv Gandhi
13	Romesh Bhandari	1 February 1985	31 March 1986	Bali Ram Bhagat
14	A. P. Venkateswaran	1 April 1986	20 January 1987	Bali Ram Bhagat
				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	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	I. K. Gujral
				Atal Bihari Vajpayee
				Jaswant Singh
22	Lalit Mansingh	1 December 1999	11 March 2001	Jaswant Singh
23	Chokila Iyer^[6]	12 March 2001	29 June 2002	Jaswant Singh
24	Kanwal Sibal	1 July 2002	30 November 2003	Yashwant Sinha
25	Shashank	19 November 2003	31 July 2004	Yashwant Sinha
25	Shashank	19 November 2003	31 July 2004	Natwar Singh
26	Shyam Saran	31 July 2004	1 September 2006	Natwar Singh
26	Shyam Saran	31 July 2004	1 September 2006	Manmohan Singh
27	Shivshankar Menon	1 September 2006	31 July 2009	Manmohan Singh
				Pranab Mukherjee
				S. M. Krishna
28	Nirupama Rao	31 July 2009	31 July 2011
29	Ranjan Mathai	1 August 2011	1 August 2013
29	Ranjan Mathai	1 August 2011	1 August 2013	Salman Khurshid
30	Sujatha Singh	1 August 2013	28 January 2015	Salman Khurshid
30	Sujatha Singh	1 August 2013	28 January 2015	Sushma Swaraj
31	Subrahmanyam Jaishankar	28 January 2015	28 January 2018
32	Vijay Keshav Gokhale	29 January 2018	28 January 2020
32	Vijay Keshav Gokhale	29 January 2018	28 January 2020	Subrahmanyam Jaishankar
33	Harsh Vardhan Shringla	29 January 2020	April 30, 2022
34	Vinay Mohan Kwatra	1 May 2022	Incumbent