Ranjan Mathai is new Foreign Secretary

The current Indian Ambassador to France, Mr Ranjan Mathai, will be the next Foreign Secretary. He will be the third successive Foreign Secretary hailing from Kerala. Mr Mathai will take over as Foreign Secretary on August 1 this year replacing Ms Nirupama Rao. Ms Rao is tipped to move to Washington DC as India's next envoy to the US. Mr Mathai will have a fixed tenure of two years. Described as a thorough professional diplomat, competent and soft spoken, Mr Mathai joined the Indian Foreign Service in 1974. He has held key positions including being Ambassador in Israel and Qatar apart from being the Indian Deputy High Commissioner in London. The Indian Permanent Representative at the UN, Mr Hardeep Puri was said to be the other official in the race for the top bureaucratic post in the Ministry of External Affairs.