S. Narendra served as a close and senior aide of Prime Minister P.V. Narasimha Rao. He held the posts of principal information officer and concurrently information adviser to the prime minister (February 1992 to July 1992) and spokesperson of the prime minister and the Government of India from 1992 to 1998. He was in charge of designing and implementing communication and PR strategies for the prime minister's 1991 economic reforms. As a member of Rao's inner circle, Narendra was privy to the government's decision-making process and the attendant politics inside and outside the government. A career civil servant specialising in media and communication, Narendra served under Congress and non-Congress governments.