Manoj Pande is the current General of the Indian Army or Chief of the Army Staff (COAS), who took over the office of the COAS on April 30, 2022.
The Indian Army is the largest standing army in the world, with 1,237,117 active troops and 960,000 reserve troops.
The precursor of the Indian Army was the British Indian Army founded on April 1st 1895. It took its current form on 15th January 1949 when Field Marshal Kodandera M. Cariappa took over as the first Commander-in-Chief of the Indian Army from General Sir Francis Butcher, the last British Commander-in-Chief of India.
The office of the Chief of Army Staff was created through The Commanders-In-Chief (Change in Designation) Act of the Indian Parliament in 1955. It replaced the erstwhile office of the Commander-in-Chief, Army. The office is based at the South Block of the Central Secretariat at Raisina Hill, New Delhi.
The Chief of the Army Staff of India is the operational head and highest-ranking officer of the Indian Army. The position is always held by a full General. As the most senior officer to serve in the Indian Army, the Chief of the Army Staff is a military adviser to the Government of the Republic of India and the Ministry of Defence.
There have been 4 Commander-in-Chiefs and 28 Chiefs of Army Staff in the Indian Army to date.
This article lists the Chief of Army Staff of the Indian Army since 1947. The information from this article will be useful in the Civil Services Examination.
List of India’s Chief of Army Staff: UPSC Notes – Download PDF Here
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List of Chief of Army Staff (1947 – Present)
The list of the Chief of Army Staff in India is given in the table below:
| List of Indian Army Generals – Chief of Army Staff | ||||
| S.No. | Name | Rank | Tenure | Unit of Commission |
| 1 | General Sir Robert Lockhart | Commander-in-Chief | 15 Aug 1947 to 31st Dec 1947 | 51 Sikhs Frontier Force |
| 2 | General Francis Robert Roy Bucher | Commander-in-Chief | 21 June 1948 – 15 January 1949 | Scottish Rifles |
| 3 | Field Marshal Kodandera Madappa Cariappa | Commander-in-Chief | 16 January 1949 – 14 January 1953 | Rajput Rifles |
| 4 | General Maharaj Rajendrasinhji Jadeja | Commander-in-Chief | 15 January 1953 – 1 April 1955 | 2nd Lancers (Gardner’s Horse) |
| 5 | General Maharaj Rajendrasinhji Jadeja | Chief of Army Staff | 1 April 1955 – 14 May 1955 | 2nd Lancers (Gardner’s Horse) |
| 6 | General Satyawant Mallana Sringesh | Chief of Army Staff | 15 May 1955 – 7 May 1957 | 19th Hyderabad Regiment |
| 7 | General Kodandera Subayya Thimayya | Chief of Army Staff | 8 May 1957 – 7 May 1961 | 19th Hyderabad Regiment |
| 8 | General Pran Nath Thapar | Chief of Army Staff | 8 May 1961 – 19 November 1962 | 1st Punjab Regiment |
| 9 | General Jayanto Nath Chaudhuri | Chief of Army Staff | 20 November 1962 – 7 June 1966 | 7th Light Cavalry |
| 10 | General Paramasiva Prabhakar Kumaramangalam | Chief of Army Staff | 8 June 1966 – 7 June 1969 | Regiment of Artillery |
| 11 | Field Marshal Sam Hormusji Framji Jamshedji Manekshaw | Chief of Army Staff | 8 June 1969 – 15 January 1973 | 12th Frontier Force Regiment |
| 12 | General Gopal Gurunath Bewoor | Chief of Army Staff | 16 January 1973 – 31 May 1975 | Dogra Regiment |
| 13 | General Tapishwar Narain Raina | Chief of Army Staff | 1 June 1975 – 31 May 1978 | Kumaon Regiment |
| 14 | General Om Prakash Malhotra | Chief of Army Staff | 1 June 1978 – 31 May 1981 | Regiment of Artillery |
| 15 | General Kotikalapudi Venkata Krishna Rao | Chief of Army Staff | 1 June 1981 – 31 July 1983 | Mahar Regiment |
| 16 | General Arun Kumar Shridhar Vaidya | Chief of Army Staff | 1 August 1983 – 31 January 1986 | 9th Deccan Horse |
| 17 | General Krishnaswamy Sundarji | Chief of Army Staff | 1 February 1986 – 31 May 1988 | Mahar Regiment |
| 18 | General Ashwa Nath Sharma | Chief of Army Staff | 1 June 1988 – 30 June 1990 | 16th Light Cavalry |
| 19 | General Sunith Francis Rodrigues | Chief of Army Staff | 1 July 1990 – 30 June 1993 | Regiment of Artillery |
| 20 | General Bipin Chandra Joshi | Chief of Army Staff | 1 July 1993 – 19 November 1994 | 64th Cavalry |
| 21 | General Shankar Roy Chowdhary | Chief of Army Staff | 20 November 1994 – 30 September 1997 | 20th Lancers |
| 22 | General Ved Prakash Malik | Chief of Army Staff | 1 October 1997 – 30 September 2000 | Sikh Light Infantry |
| 23 | General Sundarajan Padmanabhan | Chief of Army Staff | 1 October 2000 – 31 December 2002 | Regiment of Artillery |
| 24 | General Nirmal Chander Vij | Chief of Army Staff | 1 January 2003 – 31 January 2005 | Dogra Regiment |
| 25 | General Joginder Jaswant Singh | Chief of Army Staff | 1 February 2005 – 30 September 2007 | Maratha Light Infantry |
| 26 | General Deepak Kapoor | Chief of Army Staff | 1 October 2007 – 31 March 2010 | Regiment of Artillery |
| 27 | General Vijay Kumar Singh | Chief of Army Staff | 1 April 2010 – 31 May 2012 | Rajput Regiment |
| 28 | General Bikram Singh | Chief of Army Staff | 1 June 2012 – 31 July 2014 | Sikh Light Infantry |
| 29 | General Dalbir Singh Suhag | Chief of Army Staff | 1 August 2014 – 31 December 2016 | 5 Gorkha Rifles |
| 30 | General Bipin Rawat | Chief of Army Staff | 31 December 2016 – 31 December 2019 | 11 Gorkha Rifles |
| 31 | General Manoj Mukund Naravane | Chief of Army Staff | 31 December 2019 – 30 April 2022 | 7 Sikh Light Infantry |
| 32 | General Manoj Pande | Chief of Army Staff | 30 April 2022 – Present | Corps of Engineers |
Candidates can find the list of Admirals and Air Chief Marshals through the links given below:
Frequently Asked Questions on Chief of Army Staff (CoAS) in India
Q 1. Who is currently the Indian Army Chief?
Q 2. What is the tenure of Chief of Army Staff in India?
Q 3. Who is the Chief of Army Staff in India?
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