Jayant Prasad was born on June 5, 1952 and educated in Delhi University and Jawaharlal Nehru University. After lecturing on modern Indian history for two years at St. Stephen's College, Delhi University, he entered the Indian Foreign Service in 1976.
In Indian Missions abroad, he has served as India's Permanent Representative to the Conference on Disarmament, Geneva, Ambassador to Algeria; Counsellor for trade access and development cooperation at the Indian Mission to the European Union in Brussels, First Secretary in the Permanent Mission of India to the United Nations, Geneva and Second Secretary in the Embassy of India in Paris.
In the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA), New Delhi, he served as head of the Americas Division, head of the unit on Multilateral Economic Relations, Staff Officer to the Foreign Secretary, Deputy Secretary for Disarmament Affairs and Desk Officer for Bangladesh.
He was member of U.N. Secretary-General's Advisory Board on Disarmament Matters (2005-07), Fellow at the Weatherhead Center for International Affairs, Harvard University (1998-99), and Rapporteur of the U.N. Commission on Human Rights, Geneva (1986-87).
He is now the Indian ambassador to Nepal.