Vikram Misri Biography: Birth, Age, Early Life, Family, Education, Career, Assignments, and More

Vikram Misri Biography: An India's envoy to China, Vikram Misri, has been appointed as the Deputy National Security Advisor. During the 20-month border standoff, he handled relations with Beijing. 
He will take over office on January 1 and succeeded Pankaj Saran, ex-Indian envoy to Russia and Bangladesh. He will work alongside the other two Deputy NSA's Rajinder Khanna and Dattatreya Padsalgikar. 

Vikram Misri: Age, Early Life, and Family

He was born on November 7, 1964, in Srinagar. He completed his early education at the Scindia School in Gwalior. He earned his Bachelor's degree with Honours in History from the Hindu College of the University of Delhi. Then, he completed his MBA at the XLRI, Jamshedpur. He is married to Dolly Misri and has two children. He speaks fluent Hindi, English, and Kashmiri. Also, he had a working knowledge of French.

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Vikram Misri: Career and Work

After completing his MBA and before joining the government, he worked for three years in the private sector in the fields of advertising. He is a Fellow of the Aspen Institute, USA's India Leadership Initiative.

In 1989, he joined the Indian Foreign Service. He has served in various capacities of the Headquarters of the Ministry of External Affairs, Government of India, New Delhi in the Prime Minister's Office, and in several Indian missions abroad in Europe, Africa, Asia, and North America.
He was also appointed the Private Secretary to Prime Minister Inder Kumar Gujral in 1997. 

He was appointed the private secretary to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in 2012. He continued to serve in that capacity when PM Manmohan Singh was succeeded by Narendra Modi. 

In 2014, he was appointed as the ambassador to Spain. In 2016, he was appointed the ambassador to Myanmar.

He was appointed the ambassador to China in 2019. During China-India skirmishes (2020-2021), he was ambassador. To discuss the tensions, he held several meetings with senior Chinese officials.

Vikram Misri: Assignments in New Delhi

  - Under Secretary in the Office of the External Affairs Minister of India (Mr. I.K. Gujral – November 1996 - April 1997)

-  Private Secretary to the Prime Minister of India (Mr. I.K. Gujral – April 1997 - March 1998)

- Under Secretary/Deputy Secretary for the Pakistan Desk in the Ministry of External Affairs in New Delhi (April 1998 - August 2000)

- Director of the Office of the External Affairs Minister of India (Mr. Pranab Mukherjee – November 2006 - September 2008)

- Joint Secretary in the Prime Minister’s Office, New Delhi (March 2012-October 2012)

- Private Secretary to Prime Minister (Dr. Manmohan Singh – October 2012-May 2014)

- Private Secretary to Prime Minister (Mr. Narendra Modi – May 2014-July 2014).

Vikram Misri: Overseas Assignments 

He served various Indian missions abroad. His overseas assignments include

- From January 1991 to September 1993, Third/Second Secretary in the Embassy of India in Brussels.

- From September 1993 to October 1996, Second/First Secretary in the Embassy of India in Tunis.

- From August 2000 to  September 2003, First Secretary/Counsellor/C.d´A in the High Commission of India in Islamabad.

- From September 2003 to October 2006, Political Counsellor in the Embassy of India in Washington D.C. 

- From September 2008 to September 2011, Deputy High Commissioner of India in Sri Lanka.

- From September 2011to February 2012, Consul General of India in Munich.

- From August 2014 to August 2016, Ambassador of India to Spain.

- From August 2016 to December 2018, Ambassador of India to Myanmar.

- From2019 to December 2021, Ambassador to China.

Vikram Misri: Tenure in Beijing

His tenure in Beijing included:

- He coordinated the Mamallapuram meeting between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping.

- During the 20th-month standoff along the line of actual control (LAC) since 2020, he handled relations with the Chinese government and also coordinated during the pandemic.

- He is also credited with keeping up the lines of communication during a period of heavy tensions in the relationship.

- He took a tough line with China during an interview after the Galwan clashes in which around 20 Indian soldiers were killed in June 2020.

- He said that peace on the border was essential for progress in the rest of the bilateral relationship.

As per a press release by the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Mr. Vikram Misri had told Mr. Wang that though the ties had undergone many "twists and turns" they are full of opportunities, and a "silver lining in the dark clouds" could be seen.

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