List Of Indian Defence Minister (2025 Updated)

Last Updated: 4 May 2025

The Indian Defence Minister (Rakshā Mantrī) is the head of the Ministry of Defence and a high-ranking Minister of the Government of India. The Defence Minister is one of the most Senior Offices in the Union Council of Ministers as well as being a high-level minister in the Union Cabinet.

The Indian Defence Minister additionally serves as President of the Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses and as Chancellor of the Defence Institute of Advanced Technology and of the National Defence University.

The Ministry of Defence (MoD) [Rakshā Mantrālaya] is charged with coordinating and supervising all agencies and functions of the government relating directly to National Security and the Indian Armed Forces. The current Defence Minister of India is Rajnath Singh.

Minister Of Defence At A Glance

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#	Header	Details
1	Style	The Honourable
2	Member Of	Union Cabinet
3	Reports To	Prime Minister
4	Appointer	President of India (On The Advice of the Prime Minister)
5	Term Length	5 Years
6	Formation	15 August 1947
7	First Holder	Baldev Singh
8	Present Minister	Rajnath Singh
9	Present MoS	Ajay Bhatt
10	Website	mod.gov.in

Facts About Ministry Of Defence

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• The first Indian Defence Minister was Baldev Singh Chokkar, who served in Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru’s cabinet during 1947–52.

• The President of India is the Ceremonial Commander-in-Chief of the armed forces in India.

• The Indian Armed Forces (including the Indian Army, Indian Air Force, and Indian Navy) and the Indian Coast Guard under the Ministry of Defence are primarily responsible for ensuring the territorial integrity of India.

• As per Statista, It is the biggest employer in the world with 2.92 million employees.

• The Ministry organizes and runs Republic Day celebrations and Parades every year in January, hosting a chief guest.

• The Ministry of Defence has the largest budget among the federal departments of India and currently stands third (First United States & Second China) in military expenditure in the world, among countries of the world.

List Of Indian Defence Minister

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#	Name	Term In	Term Out	Total Term	Prime Minister
1	Baldev Singh (INC)	15 Aug 1947	13 May 1952	4 Years 272 Days	Jawaharlal Nehru
2	N. Gopalaswami Ayyangar (INC)	13 May 1952	10 Feb 1953	273 Days	Jawaharlal Nehru
3	Jawaharlal Nehru (INC)	10 Feb 1953	10 Jan 1955	1 Year 334 Days	Jawaharlal Nehru
4	Kailash Nath Katju (INC)	10 Jan 1955	30 Jan 1957	2 Years 20 Days	Jawaharlal Nehru
~	Jawaharlal Nehru[3] (INC)	30 Jan 1957	17 Apr 1957	77 Days	Jawaharlal Nehru
5	V. K. Krishna Menon (INC)	17 Apr 1957	31 Oct 1962	5 Years 197 Days	Jawaharlal Nehru
~	Jawaharlal Nehru[3] (INC)	31 Oct 1962	14 Nov 1962	14 Days	Jawaharlal Nehru
6	Yashwantrao Chavan (INC)	14 Nov 1962	13 Nov 1966	3 Years 364 Days	Jawaharlal Nehru + Lal Bahadur Shastri + Indira Gandhi
7	Swaran Singh (INC)	13 Nov 1966	27 Jun 1970	3 Years 226 Days	Indira Gandhi
8	Jagjivan Ram (INC)	27 Jun 1970	10 Oct 1974	4 Years 105 Days	Indira Gandhi
~	Swaran Singh[7] (INC)	10 Oct 1974	01 Dec 1975	1 Year 52 Days	Indira Gandhi
9	Indira Gandhi (INC)	01 Dec 1975	20 Dec 1975	19 Days	Indira Gandhi
10	Bansi Lal (INC)	21 Dec 1975	24 Mar 1977	1 Year 93 Days	Indira Gandhi
~	Jagjivan Ram[8] (JP)	24 Mar 1977	28 Jul 1979	2 Years 126 Days	Morarji Desai
11	Chidambaram Subramaniam INC (U)	28 Jul 1979	14 Jan 1980	170 Days	Charan Singh
~	Indira Gandhi[9] (INC)	14 Jan 1980	15 Jan 1982	2 Years 1 Day	Indira Gandhi
12	Ramaswamy Venkataraman (INC)	15 Jan 1982	02 Aug 1984	2 Years 200 Days	Indira Gandhi
13	Shankarrao Chavan (INC)	02 Aug 1984	31 Dec 1984	151 Days	Indira Gandhi + Rajiv Gandhi
14	P. V. Narasimha Rao (INC)	01 Jan 1985	25 Sep 1985	268 Days	Rajiv Gandhi
15	Rajiv Gandhi (INC)	25 Sep 1985	24 Jan 1987	1 Year 121 Days	Rajiv Gandhi
16	Vishwanath Pratap Singh (INC)	24 Jan 1987	12 Apr 1987	78 Days	Rajiv Gandhi
17	K. C. Pant (INC)	13 Apr 1987	01 Dec 1989	2 Years 234 Days	Rajiv Gandhi
~	Vishwanath Pratap Singh(16) (JD)	02 Dec 1989	10 Nov 1990	343 Days	V. P. Singh
18	Chandra Shekhar SJP(R)	10 Nov 1990	21 Jun 1991	223 Days	Chandra Shekhar
~	P. V. Narasimha Rao[14] (INC)	21 Jun 1991	26 Jun 1991	5 Days	P. V. Narasimha Rao
19	Sharad Pawar (INC)	26 Jun 1991	06 Mar 1993	1 Year 253 Days	P. V. Narasimha Rao
~	P. V. Narasimha Rao[14] (INC)	06 Mar 1993	16 May 1996	3 Years 71 Days	P. V. Narasimha Rao
20	Pramod Mahajan (BJP)	16 May 1996	01 Jun 1996	16 Days	Atal Bihari Vajpayee
21	Mulayam Singh Yadav (SP)	01 Jun 1996	19 Mar 1998	1 Year 290 Days	Deve Gowda + I. K. Gujral
22	George Fernandes (SAP)	19 Mar 1998	16 Mar 2001	2 Year 101 Days	Atal Bihari Vajpayee
23	Jaswant Singh (BJP)	16 Mar 2001	21 Oct 2001	219 Days	Atal Bihari Vajpayee
~	George Fernandes[22] JD(U)	21 Oct 2001	22 May 2004	2 Years 214 Days	Atal Bihari Vajpayee
24	Pranab Mukherjee (INC)	22 May 2004	26 Oct 2006	2 Years 156 Days	Manmohan Singh
25	A. K. Antony (INC)	26 Oct 2006	26 May 2014	7 Years 212 Days	Manmohan Singh
26	Arun Jaitley (BJP)	26 May 2014	09 Nov 2014	166 Days	Narendra Modi
27	Manohar Parrikar (BJP)	09 Nov 2014	13 Mar 2017	2 Years 124 Days	Narendra Modi
~	Arun Jaitley[26] (BJP)	13 Mar 2017	03 Sep 2017	174 Days	Narendra Modi
28	Nirmala Sitharaman (BJP)	03 Sep 2017	30 May 2019	1 Year 269 Days	Narendra Modi
29	Rajnath Singh (BJP)	30 May 2019	~	5 Years 337 Days	Narendra Modi

Acronym 1) INC: Indian National Congress 2) JP: Janata Party 3) INC (U): Indian National Congress (Urs) 4) JD: Janata Dal 5) SJP (R): Samajwadi Janata Party (Rashtriya) 6) BJP: Bharatiya Janata Party 7) SP: Samajwadi Party 8) SAP: Samata Party 9) JD (U): Janata Dal (United)

List Of Minister of State in the Ministry of Defence

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#	Minister	Term In	Term Out	Total Term
1	Mahavir Tyagi	16 Mar 1953	17 Apr 1957	4 Years 32 Days
2	Kotha Raghuramaiah	16 Apr 1962	09 Jun 1964	2 Years 54 Days
3	Alungal Mathai Thomas	13 Jun 1964	11 Jan 1966	1 Year 212 Days
4	Jaisukhlal Hathi	29 Oct 1965	11 Jan 1966	74 Days
~	Alungal Mathai Thomas[3]	11 Jan 1966	24 Jan 1966	13 Days
~	Jaisukhlal Hathi[4]	11 Jan 1966	24 Jan 1966	13 Days
~	Alungal Mathai Thomas[3]	24 Jan 1966	13 Mar 1967	1 Year 48 Days
~	Jaisukhlal Hathi[4]	24 Jan 1966	13 Mar 1967	1 Year 48 Days
5	Bali Ram Bhagat	13 Mar 1967	14 Nov 1967	246 Days
6	Lalit Narayan Mishra	14 Nov 1967	27 Jun 1970	2 Years 225 Days
7	Narendrasinghji Mahida	27 Jun 1970	18 Mar 1971	264 Days
8	Prakash Chandra Sethi	27 Jun 1970	02 May 1971	309 Days
9	Vidya Charan Shukla	02 May 1971	10 Oct 1974	3 Years 161 Days
10	Ram Niwas Mirdha	10 Oct 1974	21 Dec 1975	1 Year 72 Days
11	Vitthalrao Gadgil	25 Dec 1975	24 Mar 1977	1 Year 89 Days
12	Janaki Ballabh Patnaik	23 Dec 1976	24 Mar 1977	91 Days
13	Sher Singh Kadyan	14 Aug 1977	28 Jul 1979	1 Year 348 Days
14	Jagbir Singh	30 Jul 1979	14 Jul 1980	168 Days
15	C. P. N. Singh	3 Mar 1980	19 Oct 1980	230 Days
16	Shivraj Patil	19 Oct 1980	15 Jan 1982	1 Year 88 Days
17	Kamakhya Prasad Singh Deo	29 Jan 1983	31 Dec 1984	1 Year 332 Days
18	Sukh Ram	25 Sep 1985	22 Oct 1986	1 Year 27 Days
19	Arun Singh	25 Sep 1985	18 Jul 1987	1 Year 296 Days
~	Shivraj Patil[16]	22 Oct 1986	25 Jun 1988	1 Year 247 Days
20	Chintamani Panigrahi	25 Jun 1988	04 Jul 1989	1 Year 9 Days
21	Dumar Lal Baitha	4 Jul 1989	02 Dec 1989	151 Days
22	Raja Ramanna	20 Jan 1990	10 Nov 1990	294 Days
23	Lalit Vijay Singh	21 Nov 1990	21 Jun 1991	212 Days
24	S. Krishna Kumar	26 Jun 1991	18 Jan 1993	1 Year 206 Days
25	Mallikarjun Goud	18 Jan 1993	19 Jan 1995	2 Years 1 Day
26	Suresh Pachouri	15 Sep 1995	16 May 1996	244 Days
27	Mallikarjun Goud	30 Sep 1995	16 May 1996	229 Days
28	N. V. N. Somu	06 Jul 1996	14 Nov 1997	296 Days
29	Harin Pathak	13 Oct 1999	14 Nov 2000	1 Year 32 Days
30	Bachi Singh Rawat	13 Oct 1999	22 Nov 1999	40 Days
31	Krishnam Raju	22 Jul 2001	01 Jul 2002	344 Days
~	Harin Pathak[29]	15 Oct 2001	29 Jan 2003	1 Year 106 Days
32	Chaman Lal Gupta	01 Jul 2002	22 May 2004	1 Year 326 Days
33	O. Rajagopal	29 Jan 2003	22 May 2004	114 Days
34	Bijoy Krishna Handique	23 May 2004	29 Jan 2006	1 Year 251 Days
35	Rao Inderjit Singh	29 Jan 2006	22 May 2009	3 Years 113 Days
36	M. M. Pallam Raju	29 Jan 2006	28 Oct 2012	6 Years 273 Days
37	Jitin Prasada	28 Oct 2012	29 Oct 2012	1 Day
38	Lalchand Kataria	28 Oct 2012	31 Oct 2012	3 Days
39	Jitendra Singh	28 Oct 2012	26 May 2014	1 Year 180 Days
~	Rao Inderjit Singh[35]	26 May 2014	05 Jul 2016	2 Years 39 Days
40	Subhash Bhamre	05 Jul 2016	30 May 2019	2 Years 329 Days
41	Shripad Naik	30 May 2019	07 Jul 2021	2 Years 37 Days
42	Ajay Bhatt	07 Jul 2021	09 Jun 2024	2 Years 338 Days
43	Sanjay Seth	10 Jun 2024	~	327 Days

List Of Deputy Defence Ministers

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#	Name	Term In	Term Out	Total Term
1	Kumar Shri Himmatsinhji	14 Aug 1950	29 Feb 1952	1 Year 199 Days
2	Surjit Singh Majithia	12 Aug 1952	17 Apr 1957	4 Years 248 Days
3	Satish Chandra	27 Nov 1952	17 Apr 1957	4 Years 141 Days
~	Surjit Singh Majithia[2]	17 Apr 1957	10 Apr 1962	4 Years 358 Days
4	Kotha Raghuramaiah	21 May 1957	10 Apr 1962	4 Years 324 Days
5	Dajisaheb Chavan	8 May 1962	9 Jun 1964	2 Years 32 Days
6	Datla Satyanarayana Raju	15 Jun 1964	24 Jan 1966	1 Year 223 Days
7	Shyam Dhar Mishra	24 Jan 1966	14 Feb 1966	21 Days
8	M. R. Krishna	16 Nov 1967	27 Jun 1970	2 Years 223 Days
9	Janaki Ballabh Patnaik	5 Feb 1973	23 Days 1976	3 Years 322 Days
10	Kamakhya Prasad Singh Deo	15 Jan 1982	29 Jan 1983	1 Year 14 Days

Questions On Defence Ministry Of India

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