Sujatha Singh to be India's next Foreign Secretary

NEW DELHI: Sujatha Singh, currently envoy to Germany, will be India's next Foreign Secretary following an approval of her appointment by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, ending months of speculation on who will head the foreign service.

59-year-old Singh, a 1976 batch IFS officer, was in close contention for the top job along with India's Ambassador to China S Jaishankar, who is a batch junior to her. His name was doing the rounds because of his excellent service record particularly as envoy to China.

Due to retire in July next year, Singh will now have a two-year extension and will succeed Ranjan Mathai whose tenure will end on July 31.

Singh, who will be the third woman to head the service after Chokila Iyer and Nirupama Rao, is the daughter of T V Rajeshwar, the former Intelligence Bureau Chief known to be close to the top brass of the Congress.

Singh is the wife of former Secretary (East) Sanjay Singh, who retired in April this year.

There were reports that she along with other diplomats who are senior to Jaishankar were contemplating resignation in case of his elevation. Finally, the Prime Minister opted for seniority. Her name was cleared after the Prime Minister returned from his Kashmir visit last week.

Though Sujatha Singh has not done any diplomatic stint in India's neighbourhood, she was undersecretary looking after Nepal from 1982-1985 before her postings in Europe including Italy and France.