BY VEENA RAO
Atlanta, GA, August 27, 2026: Ambassador Dr. Sumit Seth, a career diplomat and former physician who most recently served as India’s Ambassador to Panama, has arrived in Atlanta and assumed charge as the new Consul General of India.
“New innings. Arrived in Atlanta for my new assignment as Consul General of India,” Dr. Seth said in a social media post Thursday, announcing the start of his assignment.
The Consulate General of India in Atlanta said Seth was received at the airport by the Head of Chancery Nishi Arora and other officials as he formally assumed charge.
Seth succeeds Ramesh Babu Lakshmanan, who recently completed his tenure as Consul General in Atlanta.
The Atlanta Consulate serves a wide jurisdiction across the southeastern United States and the Caribbean, covering Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Mississippi, South Carolina and Tennessee, as well as Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands.
Dr. Seth comes to Atlanta after completing a three-year assignment as India’s Ambassador to Panama. He also served concurrently as India’s Ambassador to Costa Rica and Nicaragua. In a recent farewell interview in Panama, Seth disclosed that Atlanta would be his next posting and said his work would include consular services as well as promoting culture, trade and business and bringing India and the United States closer.
A 2005-batch officer of the Indian Foreign Service, Seth has completed 21 years in the diplomatic service. Before his ambassadorial posting, he headed the Foreign Policy Planning and Research Division at India’s Ministry of External Affairs. He previously served as Deputy Chief of Mission in Yangon, Myanmar, and held diplomatic assignments at Indian missions in Madrid, Bogotá and India’s Permanent Mission to the United Nations in Geneva.
Seth’s professional journey is unusual for a diplomat: he began his career as a medical doctor.
Before joining the Indian Foreign Service, Dr. Seth specialized in forensic medicine and medical jurisprudence and taught medicine. He is a graduate of medical institutions in New Delhi and is the author of Review of Forensic Medicine, a reference book for medical graduates in India.
Dr. Seth also holds an advanced-level diploma in Spanish and has attended programs in international relations at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy and the Elliott School of International Affairs. His areas of interest have included neighborhood diplomacy, health diplomacy, the Indo-Pacific, foreign policy planning and digital diplomacy.
During his tenure in Panama, Dr. Seth promoted closer ties between India and the region through what he described as the “five Ts” — traditions, trade, technology, tourism and talent. Panama’s Foreign Ministry, marking the conclusion of his assignment this month, credited him with expanding cooperation in areas including science, technology, innovation, health, education and energy.
Dr. Seth now takes over the Atlanta mission at a time of growing economic, educational and people-to-people ties between India and the southeastern United States.
Cover photo credit: Consulate General of India in Atlanta.
