NEW DELHI (TIP): Arun Kumar Singh, a 1979 batch Indian Foreign Service officer, has been named ambassador to the United States in place of S Jaishankar, who took over as foreign secretary on January 28.

Singh joined the Indian Foreign Service in 1979 after completing his Master’s Degree in Economics from Delhi University and had a two-year teaching stint at the university.

Fifty-nine year old Singh is presently the India Ambassador to France. He also served at India’s Permanent Mission to the United Nations Office, New York, in 1993-1997 as Counselor and handled multilateral social and economic negotiations. He served in the Indian Mission at Moscow as Counselor/Minister in 1997-2000.

His various foreign postings include being the Deputy Chief of Mission at the Embassy of India, Washington DC from October 2008 to April 2013.