Ruchira Kamboj is the Permanent Representative of India / Ambassador of India to the United Nations in New York. On presentation of her credentials to Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on 2 August 2022, she became the first lady diplomat from India to assume this position.
In her over three-decade long diplomatic career, she has served in many key positions.
Ruchira Kamboj joined the Indian Foreign Service in 1987. She was the All India woman topper of the 1987 Civil Services batch as well as topper of the 1987 Foreign Service batch.
She began her diplomatic journey in Paris, France where she was posted as the Third Secretary (later Second Secretary) in the Indian Embassy to France from 1989-1991.

From Paris, she returned to Delhi where she worked as Under Secretary in the Europe West Division of India’s Ministry of External Affairs from 1991–96. In this capacity, she also represented India at the 14th Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in 1995 at Auckland, New Zealand.
From 1999-2002, she served as Deputy Secretary and later Director in charge of Foreign Service Personnel and Cadre in the Ministry of External Affairs in Delhi.
Ruchira Kamboj was posted as Counsellor at India’s Permanent Mission to the United Nations in New York from 2002-2005, where she dealt with a wide range of political issues, including UN Peacekeeping, UNSC Reform, the Middle East crisis, etc. Upon release of Secretary-General Kofi Anan’s Blue Ribbon Panel Report in December 2014, she was part of the G-4 team that worked on the reform and expansion of the UNSC.
From 2006-2009, she was India’s Consul General in Cape Town, South Africa. The position involved close liaison with the Parliament of South Africa. In this period, she also steered the visits of the President of India to Cape Town in 2008.
Ruchira Kamboj was picked to be the Deputy Head of the Office of the Secretary-General at the Commonwealth Secretariat, London. She was among the two Staff Officers of the Commonwealth Secretary-General in a multilateral setting, overseeing a wide range of political and economic issues, attending as well in this period the Commonwealth Heads of Government meeting in 2009 at Trinidad and Tobago.
Chief of Protocol, India
From 2011-2014, she was India’s Chief of Protocol, the first and only woman in Government to have held this position. In this capacity, she directed all outgoing visits of the President of India, the Vice President of India, the Prime Minister of India, and the External Affairs Minister of India. She also dealt with all incoming Heads of Government and State in India.
As Chief of Protocol, she was involved in the organization of international Summits in India inclusive of the 4th BRICS Summit in New Delhi in 2012 and the 11th Council of Ministers Meeting of the Indian Ocean Rim Association at Bangalore, India in 2011. She also successfully steered the ASEAN India Commemorative Summit in December 2012 marked by the presence of 10 Heads of State and Government in New Delhi. In 2013, she directed the 11th Asia Europe Foreign Ministers’ Meeting held at Gurgaon, Haryana which was attended by 52 Foreign Ministers from Asia and Europe with over 1500 participants.
PM Modi’s Swearing-in Ceremony
In her third tryst with multilateralism, she was posted as India’s Ambassador to UNESCO Paris in April 2014. However, she was called back to direct the swearing-in of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, which was marked by the presence of Heads of State and Government from the SAARC countries and Mauritius. She resumed her duties in Paris on completion of this special assignment.
Ruchira Kamboj had a stellar three-year stint at UNESCO. In 2016, history was made when three Indian sites were added to UNESCO’s World Heritage list including Nalanda Mahavihara. The same year, she steered India to victory when Yoga was declared as the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.
In April 2016, she organized an International Conference on the Zero at UNESCO showcasing the great and glorious tradition of India in Mathematics and Science. A bust of ancient Indian mathematician Aryabhata was gifted to UNESCO.
In 2015, she was called back to assist in the organization of the 3rd India-Africa Forum Summit held in New Delhi, which was marked by the presence of Heads of State and Government of the 54-member African Union.
High Commissioner to South Africa
Ruchira Kamboj was the High Commissioner of India to South Africa, with concurrent accreditation to the Kingdom of Lesotho from 2017 to 2019. This stint was marked by the first-ever India-South Africa Business Summit held in Johannesburg in 2018. External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj participated in a unique commemoration of the 125th anniversary of the Pietermaritzburg ‘incident’ (involving Mahatma Gandhi), celebrating people-to-people ties between India and South Africa. The visit of PM Modi to Johannesburg in July 2018 for BRICS10 was a reaffirmation of the salience of the India-South Africa relationship and BRICs.
Ruchira Kamboj was appointed as Ambassador to Bhutan in 2019.
During her tenure, many important initiatives were successfully undertaken in both traditional and newly identified areas of cooperation. Seven new trade routes were opened with Bhutan, including Allhay, which facilitated the movement of essential and non-essential goods during the Covid pandemic. In the IT Sector, the India – Bhutan E-Library project was completed; the connection between the National Knowledge Network of India and its counterpart, Druk-Ren was facilitated and arrangements were firmed up for a Third International Internet Gateway for Bhutan. The India – Bhutan Satellite project was due for a launch in 2022. In appreciation of the positive and contributory role played by India during Covid pandemic to strengthen India – Bhutan relations, His Majesty The King of Bhutan conferred Bhutan’s highest civilian honor, the Order of the Druk Gyalpo, upon PM Modi in 2021.
Publications and Family
Ruchira Kamboj has written several OpEds in newspapers and magazines.  She has also been called upon to speak at prestigious events in India and abroad on a wide range of issues.
Ruchira Kamboj, a native of Lucknow, is married to businessman Diwakar Kamboj and has one daughter. Her late father was an Officer in the Indian Army and her mother is a writer-professor (Retd.) of Sanskrit from the University of Delhi. She speaks three languages, Hindi, English and French.
She was recently featured in the “Top 100 Women Achievers of India” in India  Today ‘She’ List of 1st January 2024.