Ambassador S.R.Tayal was born in the year 1951 in the Northern State of Uttar Pradesh. He spent his childhood in the city of Aligarh and obtained graduation from the University of Allahabad. He is a Post Graduate in Chemistry from the prestigious Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur.

After joining the Indian Foreign Service in the year 1976, Ambassador Tayal has served in Indian Missions in Sofia, Warsaw, Geneva and Moscow. He was India’s Consul General in Johannesburg in the years 1996-98 and Consul General of India in Houston in 2002-2005. He was Ambassador of India to Uzbekistan prior to his appointment as Ambassador of India to the Republic of Korea.

In the Ministry of External Affairs in New Delhi, Ambassador Tayal has worked in the United Nations Division and was also Director (UNESCO Unit) and Secretary to the Indian National Commission for UNESCO during 1990-1995. Ambassador Tayal was Head of Division for all Consular, Passport and Visa work in the Ministry of External Affairs during 1999-2002 when he was also the Chief Passport Officer of India managing the Central Passport Organisation of India as CEO with a staff strength of 2500 and a budget of over $25 million.

Ambassador Tayal has wide experience in both bilateral and multi-lateral diplomacy and his hobbies include Golf and Bridge.

Ambassador Tayal is accompanied in Seoul by his wife Mrs Kusum Tayal and son Master Kartikeya Tayal.
He has two daughters - Sidhi is married to Gaurav Deepak and Aparajita is an Attorney.