Ambassador of India to The Russian Federation
Ambassador Ajai Malhotra has a Master of Arts degree in Economics from the Delhi School of Economics, University of Delhi.
He joined the Indian Foreign Service in 1977. His first assignment abroad was from 1979-1982 at the High Commission of India, Nairobi, where he handled political work relating to Kenya, oversaw India's relations with Seychelles, and was the Focal Point for India to the UN Environment Programme and UNCHS (Habitat). He then served from 1982-1985 as Second Secretary (Political)/First Secretary (Political) in the Embassy of India, Moscow. His next assignment was from 1985-1989 as First Secretary (Political) with the Permanent Mission of India to the UN, Geneva, where he also handled ILO, WHO and WIPO work, besides representing India on the ILO Committee on Freedom of Association. From 1989-1993 he was Deputy Secretary and later Director in the UN Division of the Ministry of External Affairs, New Delhi, initially handling human rights and international environmental issues and later supervising all multilateral political and social issues. He was Counsellor (Information), Embassy of India, Moscow, from 1993–1996. From 1996–1999 he was Director/OSD/Joint Secretary in the Ministry of External Affairs, New Delhi, guiding all aspects of India's relations with 22 Central and East European countries, including the Russian Federation. He was assigned as Minister (Commerce) in the Embassy of India, Washington D.C., from 1999–2003, also serving as Chairman of the International Cotton Advisory Committee from 2002-2003.
He was appointed Ambassador of India to Romania, resident in Bucharest with concurrent accreditation to Albania and Moldova, serving there from 2003-2005. From 2005-2009, he was Ambassador and Deputy Permanent Representative of India to the United Nations, New York, representing India at the UN and other multilateral fora. He was Ambassador of India to Kuwait from 2009-2011. Since 16 May 2011, he has been the Ambassador of India to the Russian Federation.
Ambassador Malhotra has published articles on topics such as environment and sustainable development, the 1992 Rio Conference on Environment and Development, biological diversity, climate change, the rights of future generations and international law. In 2004, he was awarded a Doctorate (Honoris Causa) by the Vasile Goldis Western University of Arad, Romania, as recognition of his work on environment and development .
He knows Hindi, English, Kiswahili, Russian and German. He is married and has one daughter and one son.
