AS A child, top economist and diplomat Kumar Iyer never envisioned himself in a national level strategic role. However, in recent years, he has found himself doing precisely that. Serving as the director-general for economics, science, and technology at the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FC DO), Iyer has been leading all cross-cutting work on international economic policy, including overlooking UK’s sanctions regime and business relations with other countries. Iyer is currently on a short sabbatical from his role as director-general at the FCDO.
Replacing the original Foreign & Commonwealth Office, the new FCDO was created by Boris Johnson’s government – in 2020 – to look after international affairs, development, and diplomacy – and is primarily aimed at promoting the UK’s national interests and contribute positively to the world. The reorganisation came about as many within the Conservative party were critical of the former Department for International Development (DfID) and wanted its role to be abolished and brought to fit in with the UK’s wider foreign policy objectives. Among the FCDO’s crucial responsibilities are safeguarding the UK’s national security by countering terrorism, enhancing prosperity through increased exports and investment, opening markets, ensuring access to resources, and providing modern and efficient consular services to support British nationals worldwide. Iyer had been a director-general at the FCDO since its formation in 2020.
Iyer’s recent body of work involves strengthening sanctions policy to support war-torn Ukraine and weakening Russia by collaborating with other countries’ governments. He recently visited Georgia to ensure that its partnership with the UK continues to prevent battlefield goods from reaching Russia. He was also in volved in strengthening and improving the overall effectiveness of the sanctions policy against the Russian Federation. Apart from being primarily responsible for the country’s sanctions regime, he also over looks development policy and trade, ensuring economic security and looking after foreign policy and tech diplomacy.
He also has cross cutting responsibility for areas such as the FC DO’s research, analysis, special projects, eco nomics and evaluation capabilities. As a board member, Iyer also gives corporate leadership to the FCDO by ensuring that the department meets international policy priori ties, formal Public Service Agreements targets and service delivery norms set by ministers. Before joining the FCDO, Iyer was direc tor-general in the Prime Minis ter’s Covid-19 Taskforce and the chief economist at the For eign and Commonwealth Of fice (FCO) from 2019 to 2020, the latter being a major mile stone not only in his own ca reer but a very visible emblem of diverse and fair representation at the diplo matic levels. Iyer was appointed as FCO chief economist in July 2019.
At the time, this appointment made him the first member of an ethnic minority community to join the FCO management board, signifying a huge leap in ensuring diversity across the FCO, particularly within its leadership. In the role, Iyer led the FCO’s Economics Unit, providing in-house economic analysis input into foreign policy formulation. Taking up the new role at FCO, Iyer had stat ed that it was the perfect combination of his love of economics and his deep interest in global diplomacy. Before becoming the FCO’s chief economist, Iyer had also served as the British deputy high cin Mumbai, India, with responsibility for Western India and as the director-general – Economic Trade and Investment (UKTI), with overall responsibility for the trade relationship between UK and India. In this role, Iyer was responsible for all aspects of diplomatic engagement in western states of India, namely, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and Goa.
As director-general India of UKTI, he overlooked the UK-India commercial and trade relationship. Iyer has also taught international finance and macroeconomics at Harvard where he was a Kennedy Scholar; conducted his post-gradu ate studies at Cambridge and was also a visiting academic at Oxford. He has split his career between the private and public sectors, holding senior positions in both areas including consultancy firms – Oliver Wyman, the Boston Consulting Group, and then the Treasury, the Prime Minister’s Strategy Unit and the Foreign and Common wealth Office. Born in London, Iyer spent his childhood years in India before moving back to Stroke-on Trent at the age of 11. In addition to English, he grew up speaking Hindi and Tamil.
Years later, this added skill came handy when he was posted to India as British Deputy high commissioner and direc tor-general for Economics, Trade and Com mercial Affairs in south Asia in 2013. In his own words, he said: “I think living abroad during my early childhood gave me a sense of the world as a bigger place and I de veloped an interest in international issues that has always stayed with me”. He went on to study economics at Durham University where he also was president of the Durham Union. He continued his education at Corpus Christi College, Cambridge (MPhil), where he was a Bank of England scholar. He was later a Kennedy Scholar at Harvard Univer sity where he was also a Teaching Fellow in in ternational finance and macroeconomics. After leaving academia for consultancy, Iyer joined the UK Prime Min ister’s Strategy Unit as deputy director at the height of the global financial crisis in 2008. In 2010, he was transferred to the Treasury as the deputy director for strategy, planning and budget, and then as the head of financial sector interventions before being appointed as the FCO’s deputy high commissioner for Western India. He served in this role from 2013 to 2017. After leaving his post in India, Iyer worked as a visiting academic at Hertford College, Oxford, and as a senior partner in consulting firm, Oliver Wyman. As a recognition of his services to British for eign policy, he was honoured with a top British order of chivalry when he was named as Com panion of the Order of St Michael and St George in the 2023 King’s Birthday Honours list. Married to a criminal barrister by the name of Kathryn, the couple has two children and Iyer enjoys cricket, chess, cooking and travel ling, a government press released revealed, on his appointment as FCO chief economist in June 2019.