IFS Muktesh Pardeshi to take over as Secretary (CPV & OIA)

The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet has approved the appointment of Muktesh Kumar Pardeshi, Special Secretary (G20 Operations) as Secretary, Consular Passport Visa & Office of International Affairs CPV & OIA), Ministry of External Affairs. He will replace Dr Ausaf Sayeed upon his superannuation on 30.09.2023.

Ambassador Muktesh Pardeshi is currently Special Secretary and heads the operations and logistics of India's G20 Presidency Secretariat.

Pardeshi is one of the main architects of the recently concluded G20. He was me of the pillar of the success of G20 handling the entire operations smoothly. Looking her his expertise and efficiency, the government has called him from New Zealand to hemlock the operations of G20. And he proved it right.

Pardeshi has always been successful in whatever role he has been assigned by the government. He is revered for his innovative role in modernisation of passport issuance system in India. When he led the passport sewa project as Chief Passport Officer in MEA.

It's was his unblemished track record that prompted Modi government to pick him for the most crucial role in organising the all important G20 summit. He has been put at the helm of operations which required lots of coordination, perseverance and deftness to handle the nuances of diplomacy as well as the hard core delivery. Pardeshi once again proved that he is ready for another challenging task.

A career diplomat, Pardeshi is a 1991 batch Indian Foreign Service (IFS) officer. Prior to G-20 presidency secretariat, he had served as the High Commissioner of India to New Zealand.He was also concurrently accredited as the High Commissioner to Samoa, Vanuatu, Niue and the Cook Islands from July 2019-July 2022.

He served as the Ambassador of India to Mexico from April 2016 to June 2019. He was also concurrently accredited as the High Commissioner to Belize. During his tenure, India-Mexico ´Privileged Partnership' saw a huge advancement: bilateral trade increased from US$ 5.9 bn in 2015 to US$ 10.15 bn in 2018, thus registering 75% growth over a three-year period. India participated as the Guest of Honour Country at the 46th Cervantino International Festival 2018 and the 33rd International Book Fair Guadalajara 2019. He was named ‘Ambassador of the Year 2018' for his valuable contributions by Mexican diplomatic journal El Mundo Internacional.

At Headquarters, Shri Pardeshi was Joint Secretary and Chief Passport Officer of India between 2010-16. His leadership role in the transformation of passport services in India (which doubled from 6 to 12 million during 2010-15) has been widely acclaimed. As the Mission Leader of the ‘Passport Seva Project', he received numerous awards, including the prestigious National Award on e-Governance (Gold) 2014-15 and Web Ratna (Platinum) Award 2014. During 2010-16, he also served on the Board of Directors of the Security Printing and Minting Cooperation of India Limited (SPMCIL).

In a diplomatic career spanning over three decades, Ambassador Pardeshi has earlier served as Minister/Deputy Head of Mission at the Embassy of India in Jakarta (2007-10) and Counsellor at the Permanent Mission of India to the Conference on Disarmament in Geneva (2004-07). Between 2001-04, he was Deputy Secretary (South East Asia & Pacific) in the Ministry of External Affairs, New Delhi. During 1993-2001 period, he worked at the Indian Missions in Mexico City, Bogota and Kathmandu (where he also held the position of the Secretary of B. P. Koirala India-Nepal Foundation).

He was educated at the University of Delhi where he obtained his Bachelor and Master of Arts from Hindu College and Delhi School of Economics respectively (both with first position in the University). He also holds a Diploma in Spanish from the National Autonomous University of Mexico.