Order of precedence in India

Last updated January 30, 2025

The order of precedence of the Republic of India is a list in which the functionaries, dignitaries and officials are listed for ceremonial purposes and has no legal standing and does not reflect the Indian presidential line of succession or the co-equal status of the separation of powers under the Constitution of India. The order is established by the President of India, through the President's Secretariat and is maintained by the Ministry of Home Affairs.

Order of precedence

If there are multiple persons of similar rank, then they will be listed in alphabetical order. The order of precedence between themselves is determined by the date of entry into that position/rank.^[1]^[2]

Indian Order of Precedence
Rank	Position	Current office holder(s)
1	President	Droupadi Murmu
2	Vice President	Jagdeep Dhankhar
3	Prime Minister	Narendra Modi
4	Governors (within their respective states)	List of governors
5	Living former Presidents	Pratibha Patil Ram Nath Kovind
5A	Deputy Prime Minister	Vacant
6	Chief Justice of Supreme Court	Justice Sanjiv Khanna
6	Speaker of the Lok Sabha	Om Birla
7	Union Cabinet Ministers	Third Modi ministry
	National Security Advisor (IPS/IFS)	Ajit Doval ^[3]
	Principal Secretary (IAS/IFS) to the Prime Minister	Pramod Kumar Mishra
	Vice Chairperson of the NITI Aayog	Suman Bery
	Living former Prime Ministers	H.D. Deve Gowda
	Leader of the Opposition in Rajya Sabha	Mallikarjun Kharge
	Leader of the Opposition in Lok Sabha	Rahul Gandhi
	Chief Ministers (within their respective states)	List of chief ministers
7A^[4]	Living recipients of the Bharat Ratna	Amartya Sen C. N. R. Rao Sachin Tendulkar L. K. Advani
8	Ambassadors extraordinary and plenipotentiary and high commissioners of the Commonwealth countries accredited to India	List of ambassadors and high commissioners
	Governors (when outside their respective states)	List of governors
	Chief ministers (when outside their respective states)	List of chief ministers
9	Judges of the Supreme Court	List of judges of the Supreme Court
9A^[4]	Chairperson of the Union Public Service Commission	Mrs. Preeti Sudan
	Chief Election Commissioner	Rajiv Kumar
	Comptroller and Auditor General	Shri K Sanjay Murthy
10	Deputy Chairperson of the Rajya Sabha	Harivansh Narayan Singh
	Deputy Speaker of the Lok Sabha	vacant
	Deputy chief ministers	List of deputy chief ministers
	Members of the NITI Aayog	various
	Union ministers of state	Third Modi ministry
11	Attorney General	R. Venkataramani
	Cabinet Secretary	T. V. Somanathan
	Principal Scientific Adviser	Ajay K. Sood
	Governor of the Reserve Bank of India	Sanjay Malhotra
	Lieutenant governors (within their respective union territories)	List of lieutenant governors
12	Chiefs of staff holding the rank of General or equivalent rank (four-star rank officers in the armed forces)
	Chief of Defence Staff	General Anil Chauhan
	Chief of the Army Staff	General Upendra Dwivedi
	Chief of the Air Staff	Air Chief Marshal Amar Preet Singh
	Chief of the Naval Staff	Admiral Dinesh Kumar Tripathi
13	Envoys extraordinary and ministers plenipotentiary accredited to India	various
14	Chief justices of high courts (within their respective jurisdictions)	List of chief justices
14	State legislative speakers and chairpersons (within their respective states)	List of state legislative speakers and chairpersons
15	Union deputy ministers	various
	Union territory chief ministers (within their respective union territories)	List of chief ministers
	State cabinet ministers (within their respective states)	various
16	Officiating chiefs of staff holding the rank of Lieutenant General or equivalent rank (three-star rank) officers in the armed forces	List of lieutenant generals
		List of air marshals
		List of vice admirals
17	Chief justices of high courts (outside their respective jurisdictions)	List of chief justices of high courts
	Judges of high courts (within their respective jurisdictions)	List of judges of high courts
	Chairperson of the Central Administrative Tribunal	Ranjit Vasantrao More
	Chairperson of the National Human Rights Commission	Justice V. Ramasubramanian
	Chairperson of the National Commission for Women	Vijaya Kishore Rahatkar
	Chairperson of the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights	Priyank Kanoongo
	Chairperson of the National Commission for Minorities	Iqbal Singh Lalpura
	Chairperson of the National Commission for Scheduled Castes ^[4]	Kishor Makwana
	Chairperson of the National Commission for Scheduled Tribes ^[4]	Antar Singh Arya
	Chairperson of the National Commission for Backward Classes ^[4]	Hansraj Gangaram Ahir
	Chief Vigilance Commissioner	Praveen Kumar Srivastava
18	State cabinet ministers (outside their respective states)	various
	State legislative speakers and chairpersons (outside their respective states)	List of state legislative speakers and chairpersons
	Chairperson of the Competition Commission	Ravneet Kaur
	Union territoriy legislative speakers	List of legislative speakers
	State legislative deputy speakers and deputy chairpersons (within their respective states)	various
	State ministers of state (within their respective states)	various
	Union territory ministers (within their respective union territories)	various
19	Union territory legislative deputy speakers	various
	Administrators (within their respective union territories)	List of administrators
	State deputy ministers (within their respective states)	various
20	State legislative deputy speakers and deputy chairpersons (outside their respective states)	various
	State ministers of state (outside their respective state)	various
	Judges of high courts (outside their respective jurisdictions)	List of judges of high courts
21	Members of Parliament
	Members of Rajya Sabha	List of Rajya Sabha members
	Members of Lok Sabha	List of Lok Sabha members
22	State deputy ministers (outside their respective states)	various
23	Senior three-star rank officers in the armed forces who are in the C-in-C (Commanding-in-Chief) grade or vice chiefs of staff, holding the rank of Lieutenant General or equivalent rank
	Vice Chief of the Army Staff	Lieutenant General N. S. Raja Subramani
	Army commanders (General officers commanding-in-chief)	List of army commanders
	Vice Chief of the Air Staff	Air Marshal Sujeet Pushpkar Dharkar
	Air commanders (Air officers commanding-in-chief)	List of air commanders
	Vice Chief of the Naval Staff	Vice Admiral Krishna Swaminathan
	Naval commanders (Flag officers commanding-in-chief)	List of naval commanders
	Secretaries to the union government ^[a]	various
	State Chairperson, Commission for Human Rights	various
	State Chairperson, Commission for Women
	State Chairperson, Commission for Child Rights	various
	State Chairperson, Commission for Minorities	various
	State Chairperson, Commission for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes	various
	State Chairperson, Commission for Backward Classes	various
	Members of the National Human Rights Commission	various
	Members of the National Commission for Women	various
	Members of the National Commission for the Protection of Child Rights	various
	Members of the National Commission for Minorities	various
	Members of the National Commission for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes	various
	Members of the National Commission for Backward Classes	various
	Secretary to the President	Rajesh Verma
	Secretary General of the Rajya Sabha	Pramod Chandra Mody
	Secretary General of the Lok Sabha	Utpal Kumar Singh
	Solicitor General	Tushar Mehta
	Vice Chairperson of the Central Administrative Tribunal
	Chief secretaries to state/union territory governments (within their respective states)	various
24	Lieutenant generals of the Indian Army	various
	Vice admirals of the Indian Navy	various
	Air marshals of the Indian Air Force	various
25	Lieutenant governors (outside their respective union territories)	List of lieutenant governors
	Union territory chief ministers (outside their respective union territories)	List of chief ministers
	Union territory legislative speakers (outside their respective union territories)	List of speakers
	Chief secretaries (outside their respective states/union territories)	various
	Directors General of Police of various State police forces.	various
	Directors General of Central Armed Police Forces (AR, BSF, CISF, CRPF, ITBP, NSG, and SSB)	various
	DGs and Directors of various forces and organisations under the union government (i.e. NDRF, AAIB, NCRB, BPRD etc.)	various
	Directors of various Security and investigative agencies (i.e. ED, CBI, NIA, NCB etc.)	various
	Additional secretaries to the union government	various
	two-star rank principal staff officers of the armed forces of the rank of Major General or equivalent rank (i.e. Rear Admiral and Air Vice Marshal)	various
	Advocates general	various
	Additional solicitors general	various
	Chargé d' affaires and acting high commissioners a pied and ad. interim.	various
	Deputy comptrollers and auditors general	various
	Union territory legislative deputy speakers	various
	Director of the Intelligence Bureau	Tapan Deka
	Members of the Central Administrative Tribunal	various
	Members of the Competition Commission	various
	Members of the Union Public Service Commission	various
	Members of State Public Service Commissions.^[5]	various
	Union territory ministers (outside their respective union territories)	various
26	Joint secretaries to the union government and officers of equivalent rank.	various
26	Officers of the rank of Major General or equivalent rank.	various

Notes

↑ In official functions held at New Delhi, Army Commanders/Vice Chief of the Army Staff or equivalent in other Services will always rank after Secretaries to the Government of India.

Related Research Articles

The orders of precedence in China is the ranking of political leaders in China for the purposes of event protocol and to arrange the ordering of names in official news bulletins, both written and televised. It is also sometimes used to assess perceived level of political power. Although there is no formally published ranking, there is usually an established convention and protocol, and the relative positions of Chinese political figures can usually be deduced from the order in meetings and especially by the time and order in which figures are covered by the official media. Since 1982, the General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party has been the highest-ranking official in the People's Republic of China (PRC).

The Padma Bhushan is the third-highest civilian award in the Republic of India, preceded by the Bharat Ratna and the Padma Vibhushan and followed by the Padma Shri. Instituted on 2 January 1954, the award is given for "distinguished service of a high order ... without distinction of race, occupation, position or sex". The award criteria includes "service in any field including service rendered by Government servants" including doctors and scientists, but exclude those working with the public sector undertakings. As of 2020, the award has been bestowed on 1270 individuals, including twenty-four posthumous and ninety-seven non-citizen recipients.

The Finance Secretary is the administrative head of the Ministry of Finance. This post is held by senior IAS officer of the rank of Secretary to Government of India. Tuhin Kanta Pandey is the incumbent Finance Secretary.

The Cabinet Secretariat is responsible for the administration of the Government of India. It provides secretarial assistance to the Cabinet of India and facilitates smooth transaction of business between Ministries and Departments of the Government. It functions from the Rashtrapati Bhavan on Raisina Hill in New Delhi.

The Foreign Secretary of India is the top diplomat of India and administrative head of the Ministry of External Affairs. This post is held by an Indian foreign service officer of the rank of secretary to the government of India. Vikram Misri is currently serving as the Foreign Secretary of India from July 2024, succeeding Vinay Mohan Kwatra.

The Cabinet Secretary is the top-most executive official and senior-most civil servant of the Government of India. The Cabinet Secretary is the ex-officio head of the Civil Services Board, the Cabinet Secretariat, the Indian Administrative Service (IAS), and all Civil Services of India work under the rules of business of the government.

Joint Secretary to the Government of India is a post under the Central Staffing Scheme and the third highest non-political executive rank in the Government of India. The authority for creation of this post solely rests with the Cabinet of India.

Secretary to the Government of India, often abbreviated as Secretary, GoI, or simply as Secretary, is a post and a rank under the Central Staffing Scheme of the Government of India. The authority for the creation of this post solely rests with the Union Council of Ministers.

The Home Secretary is the administrative head of the Ministry of Home Affairs. This post is held by a senior IAS officer of the rank of Secretary to the Government of India. The current Home Secretary is Govind Mohan. All Central Forces including the Central Reserve Police Force, Central Industrial Security Force, Border Security Force and Central Police Organizations are under the Union Home Secretary.

The Defence Secretary is the administrative head of the Ministry of Defence. This post is held by a senior Indian Administrative Service of the rank of secretary to the Government of India. The current Defence Secretary is Shri. Rajesh Kumar Singh IAS.

Additional Secretary is a post and a rank under the Central Staffing Scheme of the Government of India. The authority for creation of this post solely rests with Cabinet of India.

General is a four-star general officer rank in the Indian Army. It is the highest active rank in the Indian Army. General ranks above the three-star rank of lieutenant general and below the five-star rank of field marshal, which is largely a war-time or ceremonial rank.

Rear admiral is a two-star flag officer rank in the Indian Navy. It is the third-highest active rank in the Indian Navy. Rear admiral ranks above the one-star rank of commodore and below the three-star rank of vice admiral.

Major general is a two-star general officer rank in the Indian Army. It is the third-highest active rank in the Indian Army. A major general ranks above the one-star rank of brigadier and below the three-star rank of lieutenant general.

The Personnel Secretary (ISO: Kārmik Saciv) popularly called as Secretary (P), is the administrative head of the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) under Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions. This post is held by senior IAS officer of the rank of Secretary to Government of India. The current Personnel Secretary is Rachna Shah, a 1991 batch IAS officer of Kerala cadre.

References

↑ "President's Secretariat" (PDF). Office of the President of India. Rajya Sabha. 26 August 1979. Retrieved 5 August 2010.
↑ "Table of Precedence (Updated)" (PDF). Ministry of Home Affairs. Retrieved 29 June 2021.
↑ Roche, Elizabeth (3 June 2019). "Ajit Doval to stay as NSA, gets cabinet rank with 5-year term". mint. Retrieved 23 February 2023.
1 2 3 4 5 "Ministry of Home". Archived from the original on 28 April 2014. Retrieved 2 August 2015.
↑ "Order of Precedence | GAD".

External links

Order of Precedence of India MHA, India

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.

[5] In official functions held at New Delhi, Army Commanders/Vice Chief of the Army Staff or equivalent in other Services will always rank after Secretaries to the Government of India.

[rajyasabha-1] "President's Secretariat" (PDF). Office of the President of India. Rajya Sabha. 26 August 1979. Retrieved 5 August 2010.

[2] "Table of Precedence (Updated)" (PDF). Ministry of Home Affairs. Retrieved 29 June 2021.

[3] Roche, Elizabeth (3 June 2019). "Ajit Doval to stay as NSA, gets cabinet rank with 5-year term". mint. Retrieved 23 February 2023.

[HA-4] 1 2 3 4 5 "Ministry of Home". Archived from the original on 28 April 2014. Retrieved 2 August 2015.

[6] "Order of Precedence | GAD".

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]

[a]

[5]