A 1992 batch Indian Foreign Service (IFS) officer, Mridul Kumar, has been appointed as the next Ambassador of India to Switzerland.
He is currently serving as Additional Secretary in the Ministry of External Affairs. He is expected to take up the assignment shortly.
As a IFS Officer, Mr Kumar joined the Ministry of External Affairs in October 1992. He has served in Indian Missions in Cairo, Egypt (1994-1996), Rabat, Morocco (1996-1999) and London, the UK (2002-2005) and in Cape Town, South Africa (June 2009-June 2012). Mr Kumar has also served as India’s High Commissioner to Malaysia in 2020-21.
At the department headquarters, he worked in the United Nations Division (1999-2000) and Europe West Division (2001-2002) and served as the Deputy Chief of Protocol (Ceremonial) (2005-2007) and then as the Chef de cabinet in the office of Minister of State for External Affairs; and Information & Broadcasting (2007- May 2009).
He served as Joint Secretary in the Ministry of External Affairs in charge of Coordination, Parliament and VIP Division (November 2012-May 2013) and then headed the Gulf & Hajj Division (May 2013- February 2018). He was the chief coordinator for the annual Hajj pilgrimage from India to Saudi Arabia in 2014, 2015 and 2016.
Mr Kumar graduated from Delhi College of Engineering in 1990 in Electronics and Communications with distinction. He is also an alumnus of IIM Bangalore as he attended a short-term Management course from there in 1993.
He completed a diploma Course from Balliol College, Oxford University, the UK in Foreign Service Program (2000-2001) and a course on Leadership and Management from Judge Business School, Cambridge University, the UK (July 2013).
Before joining the Foreign Service, he worked as a probationary officer in the Indian Railways (Signals and Telecommunication-IES) from February-September, 1992.
