He is a former Indian diplomat who joined the Indian Foreign Service (I.F.S) in 1964. He has worked in several Indian embassies abroad such as Moscow, Washington, Geneva and Myanmar. As the first Indian Ambassador to Ukraine, Georgia and Armenia he opened the Indian embassies in these new countries in 1992 after these republics were formed following the disintegration of the Soviet Union. As Secretary in Ministry of External Affairs (1998-2001) he was closely associated with the evolution and implementation of India's Look East policy as well as multilateral economic relations with the world. He was a member of the National Security Advisory Board in 2002-03. He was also a Visiting Professor at the Centre of East Asian Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University.

He was Vice-Chairman of the Research and Information System (RIS) of Developing Countries, a leading think-tank on international economic issues in New Delhi. It was during his association with the RIS that proposals of Free Trade Agreements with some of the countries of Southeast and East Asia were initiated and the concept of an Asian Economic Community was articulated.

He was also a Visiting Senior Research Fellow at the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, Singapore from 2003-06. He was with the Weatherhead Centre of Harvard University, Cambridge, U.S.A in 2007-08 and continues to be associated with it as a Fellow. Presently, he is the Ram Sathe Chair Professor, at the Symbiosis School of International Studies, Symbiosis International (Deemed University), Pune. He also a Member of the Eminent Persons' and Experts' Group of the ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF) and is on the Advisory Boards of the Society for Indian Ocean Studies and the India International Centre, New Delhi .

Areas of Interest: ASEAN, South and Southeast Asia, Economic Diplomacy