New Indian ambassador to UAE: PM Narendra Modi's senior aide Dr Deepak Mittal begins tenure at Embassy in Abu Dhabi

Abu Dhabi: Nearly two months after his appointment was announced, Dr Deepak Mittal, India's new ambassador to the UAE, assumed office on Friday.

He began his first day in office by paying floral tribute to India's Father of the Nation, Mahatma Gandhi.

The ambassador also planted a sapling at the Indian Embassy in Abu Dhabi, marking a symbolic start to his tenure in the UAE.

The Embassy shared images of the new envoy paying tribute at the bust of Mahatma Gandhi and planting the sapling in the mission's premises on social media, with the post stating: "Embracing Mahatma's ideals and sustainability."

Dr Mittal, a 1998-batch officer of the Indian Foreign Service (IFS), succeeds Sunjay Sudhir, who served from November 2021 until October 2025.

Dr Mittal is a career diplomat who has served in Indian missions in Egypt, Israel and Bangladesh. He has also served as the consul general of India in Ho Chi Minh City and was the ambassador of India to the State of Qatar from August 2020 to March 2023.

At the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA), he has held various positions on desks dealing with India's neighbouring countries. As joint secretary, he led the division handling consular matters and later headed the division responsible for India's relations with Pakistan, Afghanistan and Iran.

He has served two terms in the Office of the Prime Minister of India, as director and later as additional secretary. Dr Mittal’s last role was at PMO as additional secretary to Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

According to a previous report in ANI, Dr Mittal played a key role in establishing the first formal diplomatic contact between India and Taliban after the withdrawal of US troops from Afghanistan. He met Sher Mohammad Abbas Stanekzai, then head of the Taliban's Political Office in Doha, in 2021.

Dr Mittal is proficient in Hindi, English and Arabic. He is married and has a son and a daughter.

His appointment as the new ambassador comes amid deepening cooperation between India and the UAE across sectors such as trade, investment, energy and technology.