SEASONED diplomat Periasamy Kumaran was on Thursday appointed as India’s new high commissioner to the United Kingdom, the India’s Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said.
Kumaran, a 1992-batch Indian Foreign Service (IFS) officer, is presently serving as secretary (East) in the MEA and is expected to take up the assignment shortly.
He will replace Vikram Doraiswami, who has been appointed as India’s ambassador to China and is also expected to take up his new role shortly.
Kumaran has been serving as secretary (East) in the MEA since 2025. After joining the IFS in 1992, his first assignment was as Third Secretary in the Embassy of India in Cairo from 1994 to 1997. He later served as Second Secretary in the Embassy of India in Tripoli from 1997 to 2000 and as First Secretary in the Embassy of India in Brussels from 2000 to 2003.
He returned to India to serve as deputy secretary (Europe West) in the MEA from 2003 to 2005. He then served as regional passport officer in Bengaluru from 2005 to 2007, followed by a posting as counsellor in the High Commission of India in Islamabad from 2007 to 2009.
He later served as Counsellor in the Embassy of India in Washington from 2009 to 2011 and as deputy high commissioner at the High Commission of India in Colombo from 2011 to 2014.
From 2014 to 2016, Kumaran served as joint secretary (Consular, Passport and Visa Division) in the MEA, New Delhi. He was India’s ambassador to Qatar from 2016 to 2020 and served as India’s High Commissioner to Singapore from 2020 to 2023.
In July 2023, he assumed charge as additional secretary (Economic Relations and Development Partnership Administration) and was later promoted to special secretary (Economic Relations and Development Partnership Administration) in the MEA, New Delhi.
He assumed his current role as secretary (East) in the MEA on April 1, 2025. He speaks English, Tamil, Hindi and Arabic.
(With inputs from agencies)
