Mrs Ruchi Ghanashyam is an Indian Diplomat who retired in April 2020 from her last position in the Indian Diplomatic Corps as High Commissioner of India to the United Kingdom, Envoy to the Commonwealth and Representative to the IMO. 

After completing her Master’s in Psychology in 1981 from the University of Bhopal with distinction and a gold medal, Ruchi Ghanashyam appeared for the Indian Civil Services examination in the same year and joined the Indian Foreign Service in 1982. 

In a career spanning about thirty eight years, she has served in various diplomatic capacities in Indian Diplomatic Missions in Damascus, Kathmandu, Brussels, Islamabad and New York (Permanent Mission of India to the United Nations). She became Head of Mission in 2008 and worked as India’s High Commissioner to Ghana (accredited concurrently to Burkina Faso, Togo & Sierra Leone) during 2008-11. She was India’s High Commissioner to South Africa (concurrently accredited to the Kingdom of Lesotho) during 2014-17. In between her postings abroad, Ruchi Ghanashyam has worked in the Ministry of External Affairs, New Delhi as an Under Secretary, Director, Joint Secretary, Additional Secretary and Secretary. She returned to the Ministry of External Affairs from South Africa to take over as Secretary (West) during 2017-18. Thereafter, she travelled to the US as the First lady Career High Commissioner to the United Kingdom and second lady after Vijayalakshmi Pandit. 

In her career which commenced with learning how to read, write and speak classical Arabic language in Damascus, Ruchi Ghanashyam has worked on all aspects of Diplomatic work including Political, Consular, Cultural, Information & Press, Administration and Trade & Commerce. She has also had the privilege of working in both bilateral and multilateral areas.

Some special assignments handled by Mrs Ruchi Ghanashyam include (i) Secretary, B.P. Koirala India-Nepal Foundation in the Embassy of India Kathmandu, (ii) Coordinator for India-United Kingdom Round Table (iii) Coordinator for Indo-German Consultative Group, (iv)Minister Plenipotentiary in the Permanent Mission of India to the United Nations, New York when she was India’s representative on the Boards of UNDP (United Nations Development Program), UNICEF (United Nations Children’s Fund) & then UNFPA (United Nations Fund for Population Activities) for four years. While in the UK, she was also Permanent Representative of India to the IMO (International Maritime Organization) in London.