Mr. Jaideep Sarkar was born in 1963 and joined the Indian Foreign Service in 1987 soon after completing a Bachelor’s in Engineering from the prestigious Indian Institute of Technology and a Masters in Business Administration from the Indian Institute of Management.

He served in Indian Missions in Tokyo, Seoul, and Bangladesh and held both political and economic portfolios. He worked in the Ministry of Finance from 1992-1996 dealing with economic relations with EU member states. He also served as a Director in the Ministry of External Affairs where his work involved managing India’s relations with some of its neighbors including Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, and Myanmar.

In 2004, Mr. Sarkar joined the Prime Minister’s Office as a Director and dealt with a number of Ministries including those of External Affairs, Finance, and Planning, among others. In 2006, he was selected to serve as Private Secretary to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

Before taking over as High Commissioner of India to South Africa, Mr. Sarkar was India’s Ambassador to Bhutan and before that, to Israel.

Mr. Sarkar is married and has two children. In 2012, he was awarded the Distinguished Service Award by the Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur.