Education
Hardeep Singh Puri was born in Delhi on 15 February 1952. His official biography on the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas website records a BA (Honours) in History from the University of Delhi in 1971, where he placed first in order of merit, and an MA in History in 1973 with a first division. He studied at Hindu College, where the ministry's biography notes he served as "Prime Minister" of the Hindu College Parliament, the college's student body.
His personal website adds that he taught history at St. Stephen's College, Delhi, before joining the Foreign Service. The ministry's biography does not mention this.
Indian Foreign Service, 1974 – 2013
He joined the Indian Foreign Service in 1974. The ministry describes a 39-year career that included senior positions in the Ministry of External Affairs and the Ministry of Defence. A United Nations press release from 2009 lists his earlier assignments. These include the embassy in Japan (1976–78), and India's Permanent Mission in Geneva as First Secretary handling GATT (1981–84). He then served at the High Commission in Sri Lanka (1984–88).
From 1988 to 1991 he was seconded to the UN as Coordinator of the UNDP/UNCTAD Multilateral Trade Negotiations Project in Geneva during the Uruguay Round. Later postings included Deputy High Commissioner in London (1999–2002) and Permanent Representative to the UN in Geneva (2002–05). He was Ambassador to Brazil from 2006 and became Secretary in the Ministry of External Affairs in 2008.
He presented his credentials as India's Permanent Representative to the United Nations in New York on 8 May 2009 and held the post until 2013. During this period India was a non-permanent member of the Security Council (2011–12). He presided over the Council in August 2011 and November 2012 and chaired its Counter-Terrorism Committee in 2011–12. He retired from the Foreign Service on 28 February 2013.
Detailed diplomatic chronology
Policy work after the Foreign Service
After retirement he joined the International Peace Institute (IPI) in New York, first as Senior Adviser (June–December 2013) and then as Vice-President. He also served as Secretary General of the Independent Commission on Multilateralism. He left the IPI on 31 March 2016. The ministry's biography also records his appointment as President of the Governing Body and Chairman of the Governing Council of the Research and Information System for Developing Countries (RIS), a New Delhi policy research institute.
He is the author of Perilous Interventions: The Security Council and the Politics of Chaos (HarperCollins India, 2016) and Delusional Politics (Viking, Penguin India, December 2018), and he writes opinion columns, including for The Indian Express.
Entry into public life and Parliament
His personal website records that he joined the Bharatiya Janata Party in 2014. In January 2018 he was elected unopposed to the Rajya Sabha from Uttar Pradesh in a by-election. He was re-elected unopposed in November 2020. The Rajya Sabha members' record lists the current term as expiring on 25 November 2026. He also contested the 2019 Lok Sabha election from Amritsar, Punjab, and was not elected.
Ministerial appointments
He became Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Housing and Urban Affairs on 3 September 2017. After the 2019 general election he held Independent Charge of both Housing and Urban Affairs and Civil Aviation. He was also a Minister of State in the Ministry of Commerce and Industry. On 7 July 2021 he was sworn in as a Cabinet Minister with charge of Petroleum and Natural Gas and of Housing and Urban Affairs. Since June 2024 he has held the Petroleum and Natural Gas portfolio alone.
Ministerial journey, with dates
Current role
The Prime Minister's Office portfolio listing as on 25 July 2026 names "Shri Hardeep Singh Puri" as Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas. This website was last checked against that listing on 23 September 2026.