List of Chiefs of the Indian Defence

Here in this you will get information about the Chiefs of Indian Defence.

S.No.	Chief of Defence Staff	Chief of the Army Staff	Chief of the Naval Staff	Chief of the Air Staff
1	General Bipin Rawat (2020–2021)	General Upendra Dwivedi (2024–Present)	Admiral Dinesh Kumar Tripathi (2024–Present)	Air Chief Marshal Amar Preet Singh (2024–Present)
2	General Anil Chauhan (2022–Present)	General Manoj Pande (2022–2024)	Admiral R. Hari Kumar (2021–2024)	Air Chief Marshal Vivek Ram Chaudhari (2021–2024)
3	—	General Manoj Mukund Naravane (2019–2022)	Admiral Karambir Singh (2019–2021)	Air Chief Marshal Rakesh Kumar Singh Bhadauria (2019–2021)

Chief of the Army Staff (COAS)

No.	Name	Tenure	Regiment/Corps
1	General Sir Robert Lockhart	15 Aug 1947 – 31 Dec 1947	British Indian Army
2	General Sir Roy Bucher	1 Jan 1948 – 14 Jan 1949	British Indian Army
3	Field Marshal K.M. Cariappa	15 Jan 1949 – 14 Jan 1953	Rajput Regiment
4	Field Marshal Sam Manekshaw	8 Jun 1969 – 15 Jan 1973	12th Frontier Force Regiment
5	General G.G. Bewoor	16 Jan 1973 – 31 May 1975	Dogra Regiment
6	General T.N. Raina	1 Jun 1975 – 31 May 1978	Kumaon Regiment
7	General O.P. Malhotra	1 Jun 1978 – 31 May 1981	Regiment of Artillery
8	General K.V. Krishna Rao	1 Jun 1981 – 31 Jul 1983	Mahar Regiment
9	General A.S. Vaidya	1 Aug 1983 – 31 Jul 1986	Rajput Regiment
10	General K. Sundarji	1 Aug 1986 – 31 Jul 1988	Rajput Regiment
11	General V.N. Sharma	1 Aug 1988 – 30 Jun 1990	Rajput Regiment
12	General S.F. Rodrigues	1 Jul 1990 – 30 Jun 1993	Madras Regiment
13	General B.C. Joshi	1 Jul 1993 – 30 Jun 1994	Rajput Regiment
14	General S. Roy Chowdhury	1 Jul 1994 – 30 Jun 1997	Rajput Regiment
15	General V.P. Malik	1 Jul 1997 – 30 Sep 2000	Rajput Regiment
16	General S. Padmanabhan	1 Oct 2000 – 30 Sep 2003	Rajput Regiment
17	General N.C. Vij	1 Oct 2003 – 30 Sep 2005	Rajput Regiment
18	General J.J. Singh	1 Oct 2005 – 30 Sep 2007	Rajput Regiment
19	General Deepak Kapoor	30 Sep 2007 – 30 Mar 2010	Rajput Regiment
20	General V.K. Singh	31 Mar 2010 – 31 May 2012	Rajput Regiment
21	General Bikram Singh	1 Jun 2012 – 31 Jul 2014	Rajput Regiment
22	General Dalbir Singh Suhag	1 Aug 2014 – 31 Dec 2016	5 Gorkha Rifles
23	General Bipin Rawat	31 Dec 2016 – 31 Dec 2019	11 Gorkha Rifles
24	General Manoj Mukund Naravane	31 Dec 2019 – 30 Apr 2022	Sikh Light Infantry
25	General Manoj Pande	30 Apr 2022 – 30 Jun 2024	Corps of Engineers
26	General Upendra Dwivedi	30 Jun 2024 – Incumbent	Jammu & Kashmir Rifles

Chief of the Naval Staff (CNS)

No.	Name	Tenure
1	Rear Admiral J.T.S. Hall	15 Aug 1947 – 14 Aug 1948
2	Admiral Sir Edward Parry	15 Aug 1948 – 13 Oct 1951
3	Admiral Sir Mark Pizey	14 Oct 1951 – 21 Jul 1955
4	Vice-Admiral Sir Stephen Carlill	22 Jul 1955 – 21 Apr 1958
5	Admiral R.D. Katari	22 Apr 1958 – 21 Apr 1962
6	Admiral B.S. Soman	22 Apr 1962 – 21 Apr 1966
7	Admiral A.K. Chatterjee	22 Apr 1966 – 21 Apr 1970
8	Admiral S.M. Nanda	22 Apr 1970 – 28 Feb 1973
9	Admiral S.N. Kohli	1 Mar 1973 – 28 Feb 1976
10	Admiral J.L. Cursetji	1 Mar 1976 – 28 Feb 1979
11	Admiral R.L. Pereira	1 Mar 1979 – 28 Feb 1982
12	Admiral O.S. Dawson	1 Mar 1982 – 30 Nov 1984
13	Admiral R.H. Tahiliani	1 Dec 1984 – 30 Nov 1987
14	Admiral J.G. Nadkarni	1 Dec 1987 – 30 Nov 1990
15	Admiral L. Ramdas	1 Dec 1990 – 30 Nov 1993
16	Admiral Vijai Singh Shekhawat	1 Dec 1993 – 30 Nov 1996
17	Admiral Vishnu Bhagwat	1 Dec 1996 – 11 Nov 1998
18	Admiral Sushil Kumar	12 Nov 1998 – 30 Oct 2001
19	Admiral Madhvendra Singh	31 Oct 2001 – 30 Oct 2004
20	Admiral Arun Prakash	31 Oct 2004 – 31 Oct 2006
21	Admiral Sureesh Mehta	31 Oct 2006 – 31 Aug 2009
22	Admiral Nirmal Kumar Verma	31 Aug 2009 – 31 Aug 2012
23	Admiral D.K. Joshi	31 Aug 2012 – 26 Feb 2014
24	Admiral Robin K. Dhowan	17 Apr 2014 – 31 May 2016
25	Admiral Sunil Lanba	31 May 2016 – 31 May 2019
26	Admiral Karambir Singh	31 May 2019 – 30 Nov 2021
27	Admiral R. Hari Kumar	30 Nov 2021 – 30 Apr 2024
28	Admiral Dinesh Kumar Tripathi	30 Apr 2024 – Incumbent

Chief of the Air Staff (CAS)

No.	Name	Tenure
1	Air Marshal Sir Thomas Elmhirst	15 Aug 1947 – 14 Feb 1950
2	Air Marshal Sir Ronald Ivelaw-Chapman	15 Feb 1950 – 14 Feb 1954
3	Air Marshal Sir Gerald Gibbs	15 Feb 1954 – 14 Feb 1955
4	Air Marshal Subroto Mukerjee	15 Feb 1955 – 14 Feb 1960
5	Air Marshal Aspy Engineer	15 Feb 1960 – 14 Feb 1963
6	Air Chief Marshal Arjan Singh	15 Feb 1963 – 14 Feb 1969
7	Air Chief Marshal P.C. Lal	15 Feb 1969 – 14 Feb 1973
8	Air Chief Marshal O.P. Mehra	15 Feb 1973 – 14 Feb 1976
9	Air Chief Marshal H.M. Moolgavkar	15 Feb 1976 – 14 Feb 1979
10	Air Chief Marshal I.H. Latif	15 Feb 1979 – 14 Feb 1981
11	Air Chief Marshal Dilbagh Singh	15 Feb 1981 – 14 Feb 1984
12	Air Chief Marshal L.M. Katre	15 Feb 1984 – 14 Feb 1988
13	Air Chief Marshal D.A. La Fontaine	15 Feb 1988 – 14 Feb 1991
14	Air Chief Marshal Surinder Mehra	15 Feb 1991 – 14 Feb 1993
15	Air Chief Marshal S.K. Kaul	15 Feb 1993 – 14 Feb 1995
16	Air Chief Marshal S.P. Tyagi	15 Feb 1995 – 14 Feb 1998
17	Air Chief Marshal A.Y. Tipnis	15 Feb 1998 – 14 Feb 2001
18	Air Chief Marshal S. Krishnaswamy	15 Feb 2001 – 14 Feb 2004
19	Air Chief Marshal S.P. Tyagi	15 Feb 2004 – 14 Feb 2007
20	Air Chief Marshal F.H. Major	15 Feb 2007 – 14 Feb 2009
21	Air Chief Marshal P.V. Naik	15 Feb 2009 – 14 Feb 2011
22	Air Chief Marshal N.A.K. Browne	15 Feb 2011 – 14 Feb 2014
23	Air Chief Marshal Arup Raha	15 Feb 2014 – 14 Feb 2017
24	Air Chief Marshal B.S. Dhanoa	15 Feb 2017 – 30 Sep 2019
25	Air Chief Marshal R.K.S. Bhadauria	30 Sep 2019 – 30 Sep 2021
26	Air Chief Marshal Vivek Ram Chaudhari	30 Sep 2021 – 30 Sep 2024
27	Air Chief Marshal Amar Preet Singh	30 Sep 2024 – Incumbent

1. Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) – Updated List

The post of Chief of Defence Staff was created on 1 January 2020. Here’s the complete list:

No.	Name	Assumed Office	Left Office	Service Branch
1	General Bipin Rawat, PVSM, UYSM, AVSM, YSM, SM, VSM, ADC	1 January 2020	8 December 2021 †	Indian Army
2	General Anil Chauhan, PVSM, UYSM, AVSM, SM, VSM	30 September 2022	Incumbent	Indian Army

Note: The position remained vacant between December 2021 and September 2022 following General Bipin Rawat’s death in a helicopter crash.^[1][2][3]

5. Current Chiefs of Staff Committee (as of April 2026)

Office	Incumbent	Since	Service
Chief of Defence Staff (Permanent Chairman)	General Anil Chauhan, PVSM, UYSM, AVSM, SM, VSM	30 September 2022	Indian Army
Chief of the Army Staff	General Upendra Dwivedi, PVSM, AVSM, ADC	30 June 2024	Indian Army
Chief of the Naval Staff	Admiral Dinesh Kumar Tripathi, PVSM, AVSM, NM	30 April 2024	Indian Navy
Chief of the Air Staff	Air Chief Marshal Amar Preet Singh, PVSM, AVSM	30 September 2024	Indian Air Force
Chief of Integrated Defence Staff (Non-voting)	Air Marshal Ashutosh Dixit, AVSM, VM, VSM	1 May 2025	Indian Air Force

Key Updates to Highlight:

1. General Bipin Rawat was India’s first CDS but died in office on 8 December 2021 in a helicopter crash in Tamil Nadu.^[2][1]
2. General Anil Chauhan (retd.) was appointed as the second CDS on 30 September 2022, after the post remained vacant for 10 months.^[1][2][3]
3. General Upendra Dwivedi took over as the 30th COAS on 30 June 2024, succeeding General Manoj Pande.^[4][5][3]
4. Admiral Dinesh Kumar Tripathi assumed office as the 26th CNS on 30 April 2024.^[7][6][3]
5. Air Chief Marshal Amar Preet Singh became the 28th CAS on 30 September 2024.^{[10][11][9][3]}

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