Nirupama Rao

Nirupama Rao
Rao in 2010
Ambassador of India to the United States of America
In office 1 August 2011 – 5 November 2013
Preceded by	Meera Shankar
Succeeded by	S Jaishankar
28th Foreign Secretary of India
In office 1 August 2009 – 31 July 2011
Preceded by	Shivshankar Menon
Succeeded by	Ranjan Mathai
Indian Ambassador to China
In office 1 November 2006 – 31 July 2009
Preceded by	Nalin Surie
Succeeded by	S Jaishankar
Indian High Commissioner to Sri Lanka
In office 1 August 2004 – 30 September 2006
Preceded by	Nirupam Sen
Succeeded by	Alok Prasad
Personal details
Born	(1950-12-06) 6 December 1950 (age 73) Malappuram, Kerala, India
Occupation	IFS
Profession	Civil Servant
Website	www.nirupamamenonrao.net

Nirupama Menon Rao (born 6 December 1950) is a retired civil servant of 1973 batch Indian Foreign Service cadre who served as India's Foreign Secretary from 2009 to 2011, as well as being India's Ambassador to the United States, China and Sri Lanka (High Commissioner) during her career.

In July 2009, she became the second woman (after Chokila Iyer) to hold the post of India's Foreign Secretary, the head of the Indian Foreign Service. In her career she served in several capacities including, Minister of Press, Information and Culture in Washington DC, Deputy Chief of Mission in Moscow, stints in the MEA as Joint Secretary, East Asia and External Publicity, the latter position making her the first woman spokesperson of the MEA, Chief of Personnel, Ambassador to Peru and China, and High Commissioner to Sri Lanka.^[1][2]