Sr. No.
|
Name
|
Photo
|
Entered office
|
Left office
|
Notes
|
1st
|
Asaf Ali
|
|
1947
|
1948
|
Lawyer and former Governor of Odisha.
|
2nd
|
Benegal Rama Rau
|
|
1948
|
1949
|
4th Governor of Reserve Bank of India.
|
3rd
|
Vijaya Lakshmi Pandit
|
|
1949
|
1951
|
First women President of the United Nations General Assembly (1953)
|
4th
|
Binay Ranjan Sen
|
|
1951
|
1952
|
Director General of the Food and Agriculture Organization (1956–67)
|
5th
|
Gaganvihari Lallubhai Mehta
|
|
1952
|
1958
|
|
6th
|
M. C. Chagla
|
|
1958
|
1961
|
Indian Cabinet minister
|
7th
|
Braj Kumar Nehru
|
|
1961
|
1968
|
ICS officer, Governor of seven different states. Also served as Economic Affairs Secretary.
|
8th
|
Ali Yavar Jung
|
|
1968
|
1970
|
Governor of Maharashtra, VC of AMU, VC of Osmania University
|
9th
|
Lakshmi Kant Jha
|
|
1970
|
1973
|
ICS, Secy Industries, Commerce, Finance, Secy to the PM,8th Governor of Reserve Bank of India, Governor of J&K
|
10th
|
T. N. Kaul
|
|
1973
|
1976
|
ICS, former Foreign Secretary.
|
11th
|
Kewal Singh
|
|
1976
|
1977
|
ICS, former Foreign Secretary.
|
12th
|
Nanabhoy Palkhivala
|
|
1977
|
1979
|
Eminent lawyer
|
13th
|
K. R. Narayanan
|
|
1980
|
1984
|
10th President of India
|
14th
|
Katyayani Shankar Bajpai
|
|
1984
|
1986
|
|
15th
|
P. K. Kaul
|
|
1986
|
1989
|
IAS officer, former Cabinet Secretary of India. Also served as Finance Secretary, Defence Secretary and Commerce Secretary.
|
16th
|
Karan Singh
|
|
1989
|
1990
|
Titular Maharaja of Jammu and Kashmir
|
17th
|
Abid Hussain
|
|
1990
|
1992
|
IAS officer, former Commerce Secretary.
|
18th
|
Siddhartha Shankar Ray
|
|
1992
|
1996
|
Minister of Education, Chief Minister of West Bengal
|
19th
|
Naresh Chandra
|
|
1996
|
2001
|
IAS officer, former Cabinet Secretary of India. Also served as Home Secretary, Defence Secretary.
|
20th
|
Lalit Mansingh
|
|
2001
|
2004
|
IFS officer, former Foreign Secretary and Indian High Commissioner to the United Kingdom.
|
21st
|
Ronen Sen
|
|
August 2004
|
March 2009
|
IFS officer.
|
22nd
|
Meera Shankar
|
|
2009
|
2011
|
IFS officer.
|
23rd
|
Nirupama Rao
|
|
1 August 2011
|
5 November 2013
|
IFS officer, former Foreign Secretary.
|
24th
|
Subrahmanyam Jaishankar
|
|
1 December 2013
|
28 January 2015
|
IFS officer, former Foreign Secretary and current Union Minister for External Affairs.
|
25th
|
Arun Kumar Singh
|
|
6 May 2015
|
August 2016
|
IFS officer.
|
26th
|
Navtej Sarna
|
|
November 2016
|
20 December 2018
|
IFS officer
|
27th
|
Harsh Vardhan Shringla |
|
11 January 2019[2] |
11 January 2020[3][4]
|
IFS officer, 33rd Foreign Secretary
|
28th
|
Taranjit Singh Sandhu |
|
6 February 2020 [5]
|
31 January 2024
|
IFS officer
|
29th
|
Vinay Mohan Kwatra
|
|
13 August 2024
|
Incumbent
|
Former IFS officer,
34th Foreign Secretary
|