For the second time in a few years, India’s Ambassador to Washington is returning to New Delhi after a short tenure in the United States
Ambassador Harshvardhan Shringla, a career Indian Foreign Service officer arrived in DC in January this year. I met him here in Malibu on his first official visit to Southern California in April.
Now he has been promoted the highest career role for an IFS officer and will take charge as India’s Foreign Secretary in the Ministry of External Affairs on January 29, 2020. Shringla is 57 years old and hails from the eastern state of Odisha (fka Orissa).
Just a few years ago Ambassador S Jaishanker was asked to return to India for a similar role; he most recently left the foreign service to become part of Prime Minister Modi’s cabinet as Minister for External Affairs, only the second bureaucrat to transition to this top political role.
Last updated: December 26th, 2025
