Vipul appointed as India's next Ambassador to Saudi Arabia.
New Delhi: The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) has appointed senior diplomat Vipul as India’s next Ambassador to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA).
In a statement issued on Tuesday, June 2, the MEA said that Vipul, an Indian Foreign Service (IFS) officer of the 1998 batch and currently India’s Ambassador to Qatar, will assume his new assignment shortly.
He will succeed Sohail Ajaz Khan, who has been transferred to the MEA headquarters in New Delhi.
Over a career spanning more than two decades, Vipul has served in Indian missions in Cairo, Colombo, Geneva and Dubai. His assignments have covered political and commercial affairs, development cooperation, disarmament, international security and media relations.
He served as Director and later Joint Secretary to India’s External Affairs Minister between 2014 and 2017 before being appointed Consul General of India in Dubai, a position he held until 2020.
From 2020 to 2023, Vipul headed the Gulf Division in the MEA, overseeing India’s relations with countries across the region. He later took charge as Ambassador to Qatar and presented his credentials to Amir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani in August 2023.
His experience comes as India continues to strengthen strategic, economic and people-to-people ties with Gulf nations, particularly Saudi Arabia, one of New Delhi’s key regional partners.
Vipul graduated in Mechanical Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Delhi in 1994 and holds an MBA from the Indian School of Business (ISB), Hyderabad.
He is expected to take up his new diplomatic responsibilities in Riyadh in the coming weeks.
This post was last modified on June 2, 2026 11:47 pm