Ambassador (Retd.) Skand Ranjan Tayal is a graduate of Allahabad University and has a Post-Graduate Degree in Chemistry from the prestigious Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur.

After joining the Indian Foreign Service (1976), Ambassador (Retd) Tayal served in Indian Missions in Sofia, Warsaw, Geneva, and Moscow. He was India’s Consul General in Johannesburg (1996-98) and Houston (2002-05), and Ambassador of India to Uzbekistan (2005-08). Since 2008, he was Ambassador of India to the Republic of Korea.

Ambassador (Retd) Tayal was Secretary of the Indian National Commission for UNESCO during 1991-95 and served briefly as the Director in charge of IITs in the Department of Education, Ministry of Human Resource Development. He was Joint Secretary and the Chief Passport Officer of India during 1999-2002.

Ambassador (Retd) Tayal has wide experience in both bilateral and multilateral diplomacy and has been a frequent speaker on contemporary affairs.

In July 2013, Ambassador Tayal was appointed as Chairman of the Governing Body of the well-known Dyal Singh College in New Delhi for three years. He was an independent Director in 2012-15 on the Boards of Hindustan Shipyard Limited, Visakhapatnam, and Minerals & Metals Trading Corporation, New Delhi.

Ambassador Tayal was a Visiting Professor in the Department of East Asian Studies, Delhi University from 2012 to 2016.

Ambassador Tayal is the President of India-Republic of Korea Friendship Society, New Delhi, Secretary of the Society for Complementary Therapies, Delhi, and Advisor to the Millennial India International Chamber of Commerce & Agriculture, Delhi.