Nirupama Rao will be the new foreign secretary

Nirupama Rao, India's ambassador to China, will replace foreign secretary Shivshankar Menon, who retires on July 31. Menon will join the prime minister's office.

Rao, an Indian Foreign Service officer of the 1973 batch, is currently the most senior official in the diplomatic corps after Menon. She is the second woman to be India's foreign secretary. The first was Chokila Iyer, who was appointed foreign secretary by the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government back in 2001.

By coincidence, Rao's predecessor, Menon, had also served as India's ambassador in Beijing before being asked to head the external affairs ministry. Rao had a tough time in China, particularly during the Chinese crackdown in Tibet a year ago.

Rao first came into prominence when she took over as spokesperson in the ministry just before the Agra summit of Vajpayee and Pakistan's dictator, general Pervez Musharraf, in March 2001. In fact, when Gen Musharraf met her in India, he remarked: "I recognise you. I have seen your briefings on TV."

She then served as India's high commissioner for Sri Lanka and did stints in Washington, DC, and Moscow.

Rao is known among her foreign service colleagues as an immaculate dresser and has a collection of exotic jewellery. She is a trained classical singer and has given public performances. She also plays the guitar and has published a collection of poems.

Her husband, Sudhakar Rao, is the chief secretary of Karnataka. They have two sons.