Smita Purushottam (d.o.b. 19.10.57) served as Ambassador to Venezuela (Jan 2012 – Jun 2015), Switzerland, Liechtenstein and the Holy See (Aug 2015-Oct 2017); as Deputy Chief of Mission in the Embassy of India in Berlin; Minister (Political) at the High Commission of India, London; Counsellor for Economic and Commercial Affairs at the Indian Embassy in Beijing and Brussels, and Second Secretary at the Permanent Mission of India to the United Nations, New York and the Embassy of India, Moscow.

She served also as Joint Secretary at the Foreign Service Institute (MEA), New Delhi; Joint Secretary in the Integrated Defence Staff Headquarters; Director/Under Secretary (East Europe/Russia/Soviet Union) and SAARC, Deputy Secretary (United Nations Economic) and Under Secretary (Bhutan) in MEA. She was one of the very few Indian foreign office officials who predicted that Glasnost and Perestroika would lead to the unwinding of Communist Party rule in the USSR.

In Brussels in the early 90s she handled responsibility for economic and commercial affairs and helped to launch the first Indo-Europe software alliance with Shri Dewang Mehta, President of NASSCOM; she worked on business development and aid projects like the ISO TQM project, upgrading quality standards in the auto components sector, and many others. She focused on these areas although the potential of these sectors was not recognised even in India, while abroad, India’s emerging excellence in these sectors was virtually unknown.

As Counsellor for Economic and Commercial Affairs in Beijing, she learnt about China’s progress and economic reforms first hand. She made friends, cultivated extensive contacts, handled many commercial delegations, and analysed key aspects of China’s development experience which she relayed back to interested departments and industry associations in India.  She was the only female member from a developing country of a diplomatic officers group dedicated to analysing the Chinese economy. The assignment led her to focus on decoding China’s development trajectory in later years.

As Min (Pol), London, she handled responsibility for political affairs and participated in the think tank community. She cultivated key allies in the British Parliament which helped to turn sentiment in favour of India. As DCM, Berlin, she handled responsibility for the political and administrative wings, interacted with German MPs and think tanks, and handled several high-level/ VVIP visits during Germany’s Presidency of the G-8, the EU and Chairmanship of the NSG. She played a key role in transmitting the German Foreign Office’ advice which led to the NSG finally granting a waiver enabling full civil nuclear cooperation with India on September 6, 2008. 

In Venezuela, she tried very hard to promote India’s interests but despite great efforts there was limited scope to achieve creative results. She was able to facilitate some forms of cooperation.  In Switzerland, she transformed a sleepy bilateral relationship into a robust partnership with the world’s leading country in innovation, international competitiveness, vocational education, and environmental performance, with 3 Summits held in quick succession.  Concrete progress was achieved on critical matters, including addressing black money and garnering Swiss support for India’s Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) candidature. Additionally, her diplomatic efforts attracted investment commitments from high-tech Swiss firms. She worked with utmost diligence, imagination, empathy and integrity throughout her career.