India has appointed senior diplomat Vipul as its next Ambassador to Saudi Arabia, one of the country’s most important diplomatic postings in West Asia. The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) announced the appointment, stating that he is expected to assume his new responsibilities in Riyadh shortly.
A 1998-batch Indian Foreign Service (IFS) officer, Vipul is currently serving as India’s Ambassador to Qatar. He will succeed the outgoing Indian envoy to Saudi Arabia and bring extensive experience in Gulf affairs to the position.
Over a diplomatic career spanning more than two decades, Vipul has served in several important Indian missions abroad, including Cairo, Colombo, Geneva and Dubai. During these assignments, he handled a wide range of responsibilities covering political relations, trade and commerce, development cooperation, international security, disarmament and media affairs.
Vipul has also held key positions at the MEA headquarters in New Delhi. He served as Joint Secretary in the ministry between 2014 and 2017 and later became Consul General of India in Dubai from 2017 to 2020. After returning to India, he worked as Joint Secretary (Gulf), overseeing India’s relations with Gulf countries from 2020 to 2023 before being appointed Ambassador to Qatar in August 2023.
An engineering graduate from the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Delhi and an MBA holder from the Indian School of Business (ISB), Hyderabad, Vipul is widely regarded as a specialist in Gulf affairs. His experience and regional expertise are expected to help further strengthen the growing strategic partnership between India and Saudi Arabia.
His appointment comes at a time when India and Saudi Arabia continue to deepen cooperation in areas such as energy security, trade, investment, defence collaboration and regional stability.
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