Vikram Doraiswami joined the Foreign Service of India in 1992, after a brief sojourn as a journalist. He took a Masters’ Degree in History from the University of Delhi the year prior to joining the Government. Prior to entering the diplomatic service, he learnt basic French at the Alliance Francaise of India in New Delhi.

After training, Doraiswami was posted to the Commission of India in Hong Kong as Third Secretary. He learnt Mandarin Chinese, taking an elective diploma in that language at the New Asia Yale-in-Asia language school of the Chinese University of Hong Kong. After successfully clearing the prescribed departmental examination in Chinese, he was posted to the Embassy of India in Beijing in 1996 as Second Secretary, where he served for nearly four years.

Upon returning to the Ministry of External Affairs in New Delhi in 2000, Doraiswami was appointed Deputy Chief of Protocol (Ceremonials), in which capacity he helped organize the programmes of visiting Heads of State, Heads of Government, Vice Presidents and Foreign Ministers. He was also charged with organizing the visits of the Prime Minister of India on his official visits abroad.

After two years as Deputy Chief of Protocol, Doraiswami was seconded to the Prime Minister’s Office in 2002, as one of only four Indian diplomats working in the PMO. In that capacity, he had the opportunity of working on foreign policy as well as with departments of the Government of India other than the Ministry of External Affairs.

In 2004, with the formation of a new Government in India after national elections that May, Doraiswami was selected to serve as Private Secretary to Dr Manmohan Singh, Prime Minister of India. In this new responsibility, he was tasked with a range of duties from the administrative and logistic to policy responsibilities.

In 2006, Doraiswami was posted to the Permanent Mission of India to the United Nations in New York, where he has recently completed his three-year term as Political Counsellor, covering the Security Council and other political issues. He assumes charges as India’s Consul General in Johannesburg on 26th October 2009.

Vikram Doraiswami’s interests include reading, sports, travel and Jazz. His wife Sangeeta is a trained primary school teacher. They have a ten year old son, Arjun.