Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, who served as the Foreign Secretary from 2015 to 2018, has been inducted into the new Narendra Modi Cabinet. He is the longest-serving foreign secretary. He also served as Indian Ambassador to the United States, China and the Czech Republic, and as High Commissioner to Singapore (2007–09). He is the Tata group’s president of global corporate affairs. In 2019, Jaishankar was conferred with Padma Shri, the fourth highest civilian award of the country.

Jaishankar, also considered as the architect of Modi’s foreign policy, managed the Prime Minister’s grand Madison Square Garden event, that was attended by over 18,000 people. He is credited with steering India’s policy through the Doklam standoff with China. It is often said that if the standoff had not been handled pragmatically, it could have flared up into a military conflict.

Jaishankar was Joint Secretary (Americas) at the Ministry of External Affairs between 2004-2007 when the Congress led-UPA was at the helm of affairs. As the Joint Secretary, he was involved in negotiating the US-India civil nuclear agreement and improving defence co-operation, including during relief operations following the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami. He was also associated with the launch of the US-India Energy Dialogue. He spearheaded the Indian team during the negotiations on the 123 Agreement with the United States between 2006-2007.

From 1988 to 1990, he served in Sri Lanka as First Secretary and political adviser to the Indian Peacekeeping Force (IPKF). From 1990 to 1993, he was Counsellor (Commercial) at the Indian mission in Budapest.