Ambassador Parvathaneni Harish is a career diplomat and a member of the 1990 batch of the Indian Foreign Service (IFS), representing a key mechanism of India's foreign policy apparatus. His career exemplifies the path of a senior Indian diplomat, moving through various bilateral and multilateral roles. He was appointed as the Permanent Representative of India to the United Nations in New York, taking up the assignment shortly after the retirement of his predecessor, Ruchira Kamboj, in June.
Harish's diplomatic journey began after joining the IFS in 1990, following his graduation as a gold medalist in Mechanical Engineering from Osmania University and studies at the Indian Institute of Management, Calcutta. His early postings included the Indian Embassies in Cairo and Riyadh, and he served as India's Representative to the Palestinian Authority from 1998 to 2000. He also served a five-year stint beginning in 2007 as Joint Secretary and Officer on Special Duty to the then Vice President of India, Mohammad Hamid Ansari.
His key ambassadorial roles include serving as Ambassador of India to the Socialist Republic of Vietnam from April 2016 to June 2019, during which the bilateral relationship was upgraded to a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership. He then served as Ambassador of India to the Federal Republic of Germany from November 2021 until September 2024. Before his Germany posting, he was Additional Secretary (Economic Relations) in the Ministry of External Affairs, where he led the Economic Diplomacy and Multilateral Economic Relations Divisions. In this capacity, he was the Indian Sous Sherpa for major international groupings like the G20, G7, BRICS, and IBSA, connecting his work directly to India's global economic and political engagement. His current role as Permanent Representative to the UN, which he assumed on September 1, 2024, places him at the forefront of India's multilateral diplomacy.