Vice Chief of the Army Staff (India)

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Vice Chief of the Army Staff
Flag of Indian Vice Chief of Army Staff.svg
Lt General Pushpendra Singh.jpg
since 1 August 2025
Flag of Indian Army.svg  Indian Army
StatusSecond in command
AbbreviationVCOAS
Reports to Flag COAS.svg Chief of the Army Staff
Residence Residence 25, Safdarjung Road, New Delhi
Seat Room No. 234, South Block, Central Secretariat, Integrated Headquarters(Army) of Ministry of Defence, New Delhi
Appointer ACC
Constituting instrument Army Act, 1950 (Act No. 46 of 1950)
Formation15 January 1965;60 years ago (1965-01-15)
First holder P. P. Kumaramangalam

The Vice Chief of the Army Staff (VCOAS) is a statutory position in the Indian Armed Forces usually held by a three star lieutenant general. As the second highest-ranking officer to serve in the Indian Army, the VCOAS is the deputy professional head of the Indian Army and a senior adviser to the Minister of Defence. The office holder is usually the second most senior army officer unless the Chief of Defence is an army officer.

Contents

Eleven of the forty Vice Chiefs have gone on to head the Indian Army as the Chief of the Army Staff.

The current VCOAS is Lieutenant General Pushpendra Pal Singh who assumed the office on 1st August 2025.

History

In the British Indian Army, the Chief of the General Staff (CGS) assisted the Commander-in-Chief, India.

After the Independence, the CGS remained the number two officer in the Indian Army below the Commander-in-Chief, India. and later the Chief of Army Staff. In January 1959, the post of Deputy Chief of the Army Staff (DCOAS) was created to replace the CGS at the Army HQ. The DCOAS was the second-in-command and was equivalent to an Army Commander (GOC-in-C).

In January 1965, the CGS post became the Vice Chief of the Army Staff, with the DCOAS becoming a PSO appointment. [1] [2]

Lieutenant General P.P. Kumaramangalam took over as the first VCOAS.

Order of Precedence

The VCOAS ranks at No. 23 on the Indian order of precedence, along with the Vice Chiefs of Staff of the Indian Navy and Indian Air Force and the Army Commanders (GOC-in-C), Naval Commanders (FOC-in-C) and Air Commanders (AOC-in-C). [3]

The VCOAS is at the Apex Pay grade (Grade 17), with a monthly pay of ₹225,000 (US$3,200). [4]

Appointment

The Vice Chief of Army staff is appointed by the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet, chaired by the Prime Minister, from among the senior general officers of the Army. Since the appointment is of Commander-in-Chief grade, the appointees are usually one of the Army Commanders of the seven commands.

Unlike the Chief of Army Staff, there is no fixed term nor term limit to the position of the VCOAS, although most of those appointed to the office have typically served for two or three year tenures.

Appointees

The following table chronicles the appointees to the office of the Vice Chief of the Army Staff.

S.No.PortraitNameAssumed officeLeft officeUnit of Commission COAS Ref
1 General Paramasiva Prabhakar Kumramangalam.jpg Lieutenant General

Paramsiva Prabhakar Kumaramangalam, DSO MBE

15 January 19657 June 1966 Regiment of Artillery Gen. J. N. Chaudhuri [5] [6]
2 Lieutenant General

Kashmir Singh Katoch, MC

8 June 196622 November 1970 East Surrey Regiment Gen. Kumaramangalam [7]
Field Marshal Manekshaw
3 Lieutenant General

Har Prasad, PVSM

23 November 197031 October 1973 3rd Cavalry [8]
Gen. Bewoor
4 Lieutenant General

Mohan Lal Thapan, PVSM

1 November 197331 July 1974 Jat Regiment [9]
5 Lieutenant General

Naveen Chand Rawlley, PVSM AVSM MC

1 August 197431 December 1975 12th Frontier Force [10]
Gen. Raina
6 Lieutenant General

Abhi Manyu Vohra, PVSM

1 January 197619 January 1977 3rd Gorkha Rifles [11]
7 Om-prakash-Mhalotra.jpg Lieutenant General

Om Prakash Malhotra, PVSM

20 January 197731 May 1978 Regiment of Artillery [12]
8 Lieutenant General

Stanley Leslie Menezes, PVSM SC

1 July 197831 January 1980 The Grenadiers Gen. Malhotra [13] [14]
9 Lieutenant General

Jaswant Singh, PVSM AVSM

1 February 19806 July 1980 Punjab Regiment
10 Lieutenant General

Adi Meherji Sethna, PVSM AVSM

7 July 198031 December 1982 6th Rajputana Rifles [15]
Gen. Krishna Rao
11 Lieutenant General

Srinivas Kumar Sinha, PVSM

1 January 19831 June 1983 Jat Regiment [16] [17] [18]
12 Lieutenant General

Gajendra Singh Rawat, PVSM AVSM

5 August 198331 December 1984 5th Gorkha Rifles (FF) Gen. Vaidya [19] [20]
13 General Krishnaswami Sundarji.jpg Lieutenant General

Krishnaswamy Sundarji, PVSM

13 February 198531 January 1986 2 Mahar Regiment [21] [22]
14 Lieutenant General

K. K. Hazari, PVSM AVSM

1 February 198631 May 1987 Regiment of Artillery Gen. Sundarji
15 Lieutenant General

J. K. Puri, PVSM AVSM

1 June 198731 August 1987 Regiment of Artillery [23]
16 General Sunith Francis Rodrigues.jpg Lieutenant General

Sunith Francis Rodrigues, PVSM AVSM

1 November 198720 April 1989 Regiment of Artillery [24]
Gen. Sharma
17 Lieutenant General

V. K. Sood, PVSM AVSM

15 May 198929 February 1992 Dogra Regiment [25]
Gen. Rodrigues
18 Lieutenant General

Vijai Singh, PVSM

1 March 199230 June 1993 8th Light Cavalry [26]
19 Lieutenant General

Surinder Nath, PVSM AVSM

1 July 199330 June 1995 Regiment of Artillery Gen. Joshi
Gen. S. R. Chowdhary
20 Lieutenant General

M. L. Dar, PVSM AVSM

1 July 199531 July 1996 17th Horse (Poona Horse) [27]
21 Gen vp malik1.jpg Lieutenant General

Ved Prakash Malik, PVSM AVSM

1 August 199630 September 1997 Sikh Light Infantry
22 Lieutenant General

Chandra Shekhar, PVSM AVSM ADC

1 October 199730 September 2000 4th Gorkha Rifles Gen. Malik [28]
23 Lieutenant General

Vijay Oberoi, PVSM AVSM VSM

1 October 200030 September 2001 Maratha Light Infantry Gen. Padmanabhan [29] [30]
24 General Nirmal Chander Vij.jpg Lieutenant General

Nirmal Chand Vij, PVSM UYSM AVSM

1 October 200131 December 2002 Dogra Regiment [31]
25 Lieutenant General

Shantonu Choudhry, PVSM AVSM VSM

1 January 200331 December 2004 Regiment of Artillery Gen. Vij [32] [33]
26 Lieutenant General

Bhupinder Singh Thakur, PVSM AVSM

15 January 200530 September 2005 Central India Horse [34] [35]
Gen. J. J. Singh
27 Lieutenant General

S. Pattabhiraman, PVSM AVSM SM VSM

1 October 200531 December 2006 Bombay Sappers [36] [37]
28 General Deepak Kapoor.jpg Lieutenant General

Deepak Kapoor, PVSM AVSM SM VSM ADC

1 January 200730 September 2007 Regiment of Artillery [38] [39]
29 Lieutenant General

Milan Lalitkumar Naidu, PVSM AVSM YSM

1 October 200731 December 2008 Rajput Regiment Gen. Kapoor [40] [41] [42]
30 Lieutenant General

Noble Thamburaj, PVSM SM

1 January 200830 September 2009 Bombay Sappers [43] [44] [45]
31 The Vice Chief of Army Staff, Lt Gen. P.C. Bhardwaj, paying homage, at Amar Jawan Jyoti on the occasion of Infantry Day, in New Delhi on October 27, 2010 (cropped).jpg Lieutenant General

Prabodh Chandra Bhardwaj, PVSM AVSM VrC SC VSM

1 October 200930 November 2010 Parachute Regiment [46] [47] [48]
Gen. V. K. Singh
32 Lieutenant General

Arvinder Singh Lamba, PVSM AVSM

6 December 201030 September 2011 Regiment of Artillery [49] [50]
33 S K Singh (cropped).jpg Lieutenant General

Sri Krishna Singh, PVSM UYSM AVSM

1 October 201131 December 2013 8th Gorkha Rifles [51]
Gen. Bikram Singh
34 General Dalbir Singh official photo.jpg Lieutenant General

Dalbir Singh Suhag, PVSM UYSM AVSM VSM ADC

1 January 201431 July 2014 5th Gorkha Rifles (FF) [52]
35 Lt. Gen. Philip Campose.jpg Lieutenant General

Philip Campose, PVSM AVSM VSM

1 August 201431 July 2015 9th Gorkha Rifles Gen. Dalbir Singh [53] [54]
36 M M S Rai VCAS.jpg Lieutenant General

Man Mohan Singh Rai, PVSM AVSM VSM

1 August 201531 July 2016 Bombay Sappers [55]
37 Bipin Rawat (CDS).jpg Lieutenant General

Bipin Rawat, PVSM UYSM AVSM YSM SM VSM ADC

1 September 201631 December 2016 11th Gorkha Rifles [56]
38 Sarath Chand cropped.jpg Lieutenant General

Sarath Chand, PVSM UYSM AVSM VSM

13 January 201731 May 2018 Garhwal Rifles Gen. Rawat [57]
39 Devraj Anbu VCAS.jpg Lieutenant General

Devraj Anbu, PVSM UYSM AVSM YSM SM ADC

1 June 201831 August 2019 Sikh Light Infantry [58]
40 General Manoj Mukund Naravane PVSM AVSM SM VSM ADC (1).jpg Lieutenant General

Manoj Mukund Naravane, PVSM AVSM SM VSM ADC

1 September 201930 December 2019 Sikh Light Infantry [59]
41 Lt Gen SK Saini.jpg Lieutenant General

Satinder Kumar Saini, PVSM AVSM YSM VSM ADC

25 January 202031 January 2021 Jat Regiment Gen. Naravane [60]
42 LT GEN CP MOHANTY, VICE CHIEF OF THE ARMY STAFF.jpg Lieutenant General

Chandi Prasad Mohanty, PVSM AVSM SM VSM ADC

1 February 202131 January 2022 Rajput Regiment [61]
43 Gen Manoj Pandey.jpg Lieutenant General

Manoj Pande, PVSM AVSM VSM ADC

1 February 202230 April 2022 Bombay Sappers [62]
44 Lt. Gen. B.S. Raju UYSM, AVSM, YSM, Vice Chief of Army Staff.jpg Lieutenant General

Baggavalli Somashekar Raju PVSM UYSM AVSM YSM

1 May 202228 February 2023 Jat Regiment Gen. Pande [63]
45 Lt Gen MV Suchindra Kumar.jpg Lieutenant General

M. V. Suchindra Kumar, PVSM AVSM YSM ** VSM

1 March 202318 February 2024 Assam Regiment [64]
46 General Upendra Dwivedi COAS (without cap).jpg Lieutenant General

Upendra Dwivedi, PVSM AVSM ADC

19 February 202430 June 2024 Jammu and Kashmir RIfles [65]
47 Lt Gen NS Raja Subramani VCOAS.jpg Lieutenant General

N. S. Raja Subramani, PVSM AVSM SM VSM

1 July 202431 July 2025 Garhwal Rifles Gen. Dwivedi [66]
48 Lt General Pushpendra Singh.jpg Lieutenant General

Pushpendra Pal Singh, AVSM SM **

1 August 2025Incumbent Parachute Regiment [67]

See also

Notes

1. ^ Later promoted to the post of General and the Chief of Army Staff.

References

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