India has named Arun Singh, currently its Ambassador to France, as its next top envoy in the US, and sent an agrèment in this regard to the American government.

A 1979-batch IFS officer, Singh would be replacing S Jaishankar, who was appointed as Foreign Secretary on January 28. According to officials, the government was looking at Mohan Kumar, Indian Ambassador to Bahrain, as a possible replacement of Singh.

India has already sent an agrèment to the US government naming Singh as its next Ambassador and was awaiting a response from the Obama administration.

However, officials said the shuffling would be only done after Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s proposed visit to Paris in April. Modi is likely to travel to Canada in April on a bilateral visit and is expected to make a stop-over in Germany while going and in Paris on return.

Singh, who has been joint secretary in-charge of Pakistan, Iran and Afghanistan division in the MEA, has done postings in Japan and Israel among other countries. He has also served as Deputy Chief of Mission in Washington for nearly five years.