Dr J Bhagwati, Indian High Commissioner to the UK
Dr J Bhagwati was educated at St. Stephen’s College, Delhi University MSc (Physics), Sloan School, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, USA (MS Finance). Tufts University, USA ( Ph.D. Finance), and Executive Development Program, Harvard Business School, USA.
Dr Bhagwati joined the Indian Foreign Service in 1976, serving between then and 1988 in the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) New Delhi, Embassy of India Madrid, Embassy of India Havana, Department of Atomic Energy, Mumbai (Deputy Secretary (USA and Canada), MEA, New Delh; and as Deputy Secretary, Department of Atomic Energy, Mumbai; First Secretary, Chargé d’Affaires, Embassy of India, Havana (Cuba); Under Secretary (Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Maldives); Officer on Special Duty (External Press Relations), MEA, New Delhi; and Second Secretary Embassy of India, Madrid.
Between 1991 and 1999 he worked with the World Bank, Washington DC as Financial Officer, Treasury Technical Assistance (1991 – 1993; Senior Financial Officer, Funding Department (1993 – 1995); Principal Financial officer, Funding Department (1995 –1996) Lead Specialist - Derivatives (1996 – May 1998); and as Head, Asset-Liability Management (1998 – 1999).
He returned to the Ministry of External Affairs, taking the role of Joint Secretary (Capital Markets, Pension Reforms and External Commercial Borrowings), Ministry of Finance, New Delhi (1999 – 2002) and then took up the role of Chief, Corporate Finance, at the WORLD BANK (2002 – 2005; In 2005 he was appointed as Joint Secretary laterAdditional Secretary (Eurasia), Ministry of External Affairs, New Delhi (2005 – 2007). He was Additional Secretary (Economic Relations), Ministry of External Affairs, New Delhi (2007 – 2008) and then appointed as Ambassador to Belgium, Luxembourg and the European Union (2008 to 2012) before taking up his present post in 2012.