He started his career as a commissioned officer in the Indian Army (1963-1968), subsequently he joined the Indian Foreign Service on 29 July 1968, and his first diplomatic assignment was as Third Secretary in the Embassy of India in Moscow from August 1970. For years he was known in the corridors of South Block (Secretariat Building) as "Chotta GP" ('chotta' is Hindi for small) to distinguish him from his namesake G Parthasarathy one of India's tallest diplomats, who served as India's High Commissioner to Pakistan between 1963 and 1965.