Senior diplomat Periasamy Kumaran appointed India’s next High Commissioner to the United Kingdom…reports Asian Lite News Desk
Senior diplomat Periasamy Kumaran has been appointed as India’s next High Commissioner to the United Kingdom, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) announced on Thursday.
A 1992-batch Indian Foreign Service officer, Kumaran is currently serving as Secretary (East) in the Ministry of External Affairs and is expected to take up his new assignment shortly.
He will succeed Vikram Doraiswami, who has been appointed as India’s Ambassador to China and will also assume his new role soon.
Kumaran brings with him over three decades of diplomatic experience across key global postings and strategic assignments. After joining the Indian Foreign Service in 1992, his early overseas assignments included roles as Third Secretary in Cairo (1994–1997), Second Secretary in Tripoli (1997–2000), and First Secretary in Brussels (2000–2003).
He later returned to India to serve as Deputy Secretary (Europe West) in the MEA from 2003 to 2005, followed by a tenure as Regional Passport Officer in Bengaluru between 2005 and 2007.
His diplomatic career also includes significant postings in sensitive and high-profile missions. He served as Counsellor at the High Commission of India in Islamabad from 2007 to 2009, and later as Counsellor at the Embassy of India in Washington from 2009 to 2011. He went on to serve as Deputy High Commissioner in Colombo from 2011 to 2014.
Between 2014 and 2016, Kumaran held the position of Joint Secretary in the Consular, Passport and Visa Division in New Delhi. He was subsequently appointed as India’s Ambassador to Qatar (2016–2020) and later as High Commissioner to Singapore (2020–2023), strengthening India’s diplomatic engagement in West Asia and Southeast Asia.
In July 2023, he took charge as Additional Secretary handling Economic Relations and Development Partnership Administration, before being elevated to Special Secretary in the same division. He assumed his current role as Secretary (East) on April 1, 2025.
Fluent in English, Tamil, Hindi and Arabic, Kumaran’s appointment comes at a time when India-UK ties continue to expand across trade, strategic cooperation and people-to-people engagement.
