Saurabh Kumar (ambassador)

Saurabh Kumar
Indian Ambassador to European Union
Incumbent
Assumed office
1 March 2024
Prime MinisterNarendra Modi
Preceded bySantosh Jha
Secretary (East) Ministry of External Affairs
In office
18 November 2021 – 29 February 2024
Preceded byRiva Ganguly Das
Succeeded byJaideep Mazumdar
Ambassador of India to Myanmar
In office
21 January 2019 – 17 November 2021
Preceded byVikram Misri
Succeeded byVinay Kumar
Ambassador of India to the Islamic Republic of Iran
In office
25 August 2015 – December 24, 2018
Preceded byD. P. Srivastava
Succeeded byGaddam Dharmendra
Personal details
Born (1966-01-01) 1 January 1966 (age 58)
Lucknow
Alma materIndian Institute of Technology Kanpur
OccupationCivil servant IFS
ProfessionDiplomat

Saurabh Kumar is an Indian diplomat currently serving as Ambassador of India to European Union.[1] He was previously the Indian Ambassador of India to Myanmar[2] and to the Islamic Republic of Iran.[2][3]

Early life and education

Saurabh Kumar was born on 1 January 1966 in Lucknow, India. He completed his schooling from La Martinière College, Lucknow. An engineer by training, he obtained his B.Tech. from the Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur and M.Tech. from Indian Institute of Technology Delhi.

Career

Upon completing his education, he joined the Indian Foreign Service in 1989.[4] His first post was to the Commission of India in Hong Kong in 1991.

Between 1993 and 1998 he served as an Under Secretary in the Ministry of External Affairs in New Delhi looking after China and Pakistan. He subsequently returned as Director of the China Desk in 2004 following stints as First Secretary in Indonesia (1998-2001) and Fiji (2001-2004). He became Deputy Chief of Mission to the Embassy of India in Beijing, China in 2007 and later became the Deputy Chief of Mission/chargé d'affaires to the Embassy of India in Rome, Italy between 2008 and 2012.

In 2012 he returned to New Delhi as Joint Secretary dealing with counter terrorism, policy planning, and research and subsequently joined the National Security Council Secretariat.

In 2015 he was appointed Ambassador of India to the Islamic Republic of Iran, a position he held until he assumed his role of Ambassador of India to Myanmar in early 2019 and served the office till 17 November 2021.[5][6] Thereafter, he served as Secretary (East) Ministry of External Affairs from December 2021 to February 2024. Currently, he is serving as ambassador of India to European Union.

Personal life

He is married to Smriti Srivastav and has two daughters, Sugandha and Sanjana. He is fluent in English, Hindi, and has knowledge of Mandarin Chinese.

References

  1. ^ "Saurabh Kumar appointed as India's ambassador to Belgium with concurrent accreditation to EU". Malaysia Sun. Retrieved 6 December 2023.
  2. ^ a b "Saurabh Kumar appointed as the next Ambassador of India to the Republic of Union of Myanmar". mea.gov.in. Retrieved 24 October 2018.
  3. ^ "Saurabh Kumar appointed as the next Ambassador of India to the Islamic Republic of lran". mea.gov.in. Retrieved 7 June 2016.
  4. ^ "Saurabh Kumar Bio". indianembassy-tehran.ir. Retrieved 7 September 2021.
  5. ^ "Saurabh Kumar named India's new envoy to Iran". The Economic Times. Retrieved 25 May 2015.
  6. ^ "Saurabh Kumar appointed India's envoy to Myanmar". The Economic Times. Retrieved 24 October 2018.