Chief of the Army Staff ( India ) - Wikipedia Chief of the Army Staff ( India ) Chief of the Army Staff COAS Flag of the Chief of the Army Staff Incumbent General Bipin Rawat since 31 December 2016 Seat Central Secretariat Appointer The President of India Term length 3 years or at the age of 62, whichever is earlier. Precursor Commander - in - Chief, Indian Army Formation 1 April 1955 First holder General Rajendrasinhji Jadeja The Chief of the Army Staff is the commander and usually the highest - ranking officer of the Indian Army. The position is abbreviated as COAS in Indian Army, and usually held by a four - star officer in the rank of General. The current COAS is General Bipin Rawat, who took office on 31 December 2016 following the retirement of General Dalbir Singh. Contents 1 Office of the Chief of the Army Staff 2 Appointees 2.1 Commander - in - Chief, Indian Army ( 1947 -- 1955 ) 2.2 Chief of the Army Staff ( 1955 -- present ) 3 See also 4 References 5 Sources Office of the Chief of the Army Staff The office of the Chief of the 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 South Block of the Central Secretariat at Raisina Hill, New Delhi. Appointments to the office are made by the President of India. The COAS reaches superannuation upon three years in the office or at the age of 62, whichever is earlier. Appointees The following table chronicles the appointees to the office of the Chief of the Army Staff or its preceding positions since the independence of India. Commander - in - Chief, Indian Army ( 1947 -- 1955 ) ( * Seconded from the British Army ) No. Name Rank Photo Appointment Date Left Office Unit of Commission Decorations Rob Lockhart * General 15 August 1947 31 December 1947 51st Sikhs KCB, CIE, MC Roy Bucher * General 1 January 1948 15 January 1949 Cameronians ( Scottish Rifles ) KBE, CB, MC KM Cariappa General ( later Field Marshal ) 16 January 1949 14 January 1953 Rajput Regiment OBE Rajendrasinhji Jadeja General 14 January 1953 1 April 1955 2nd Lancers ( Gardner 's Horse ) DSO Chief of the Army Staff ( 1955 -- present ) No. Name Rank Photo Appointment Date Left Office Unit of Commission Decorations Rajendrasinhji Jadeja General 1 April 1955 14 May 1955 2nd Lancers ( Gardner 's Horse ) DSO SM Shrinagesh General 15 May 1955 7 May 1957 19th Hyderabad Regiment ( now Kumaon Regiment ) KS Thimayya General 8 May 1957 7 May 1961 19th Hyderabad Regiment ( now Kumaon Regiment ) Padma Bhushan, DSO, ADC PN Thapar General 8 May 1961 19 November 1962 1st Punjab Regiment 5 JN Chaudhuri General 20 November 1962 7 June 1966 7th Light Cavalry Padma Vibhushan, OBE 6 PP Kumaramangalam General 8 June 1966 7 June 1969 Regiment of Artillery Padma Vibhushan, DSO, MBE 7 SHFJ Manekshaw General ( later Field Marshal ) 8 June 1969 15 January 1973 12th Frontier Force Regiment ( 54th Sikhs ( Frontier Force ) ) Padma Vibhushan, Padma Bhushan, MC 8 GG Bewoor General 16 January 1973 31 May 1975 10th Baluch Regiment PVSM 9 TN Raina General 1 June 1975 31 May 1978 Kumaon Regiment Padma Bhushan, MVC 10 OP Malhotra General 1 June 1978 31 May 1981 Regiment of Artillery PVSM 11 KV Krishna Rao General 1 June 1981 31 July 1983 Mahar Regiment PVSM 12 AS Vaidya General 1 August 1983 31 January 1985 9th Deccan Horse Padma Vibhushan, PVSM, MVC ( Bar ), AVSM 13 Krishnaswamy Sundarji General 1 February 1985 31 May 1988 Mahar Regiment PVSM, ADC 14 V N. Sharma General 1 June 1988 30 June 1990 16th Light Cavalry PVSM, AVSM, ADC 15 SF Rodrigues General 1 July 1990 30 June 1993 Regiment of Artillery PVSM, VSM 16 BC Joshi General 1 July 1993 19 November 1994 64th Cavalry PVSM, AVSM, ADC 17 S Roy Chowdhury General 20 November 1994 30 September 1997 20th Lancers PVSM, ADC 18 VP Malik General 1 October 1997 30 September 2000 Sikh Light Infantry PVSM, AVSM, ADC 19 Sundararajan Padmanabhan General 1 October 2000 31 December 2002 Regiment of Artillery PVSM, AVSM, VSM, ADC 20 NC Vij General 1 January 2003 31 January 2005 Dogra Regiment PVSM, UYSM, AVSM 21 JJ Singh General 1 February 2005 30 September 2007 Maratha Light Infantry PVSM, AVSM, VSM, ADC 22 Deepak Kapoor General 1 October 2007 31 March 2010 Regiment of Artillery PVSM, AVSM, SM, VSM, ADC 23 VK Singh General 1 April 2010 31 May 2012 Rajput Regiment PVSM, AVSM, YSM, ADC 24 Bikram Singh General 1 June 2012 31 July 2014 Sikh Light Infantry PVSM, UYSM, AVSM, SM, VSM, ADC 25 Dalbir Singh General 1 August 2014 31 December 2016 5 Gorkha Rifles PVSM, UYSM, AVSM, VSM, ADC 26 Bipin Rawat General 31 December 2016 Incumbent 11 Gorkha Rifles UYSM, AVSM, YSM, SM, VSM See also Chief of the General Staff ( India ) - for those holding the preceding role before 1947 Chief of Air Staff ( India ) Chief of the Naval Staff ( India ) Field marshal ( India ) Wikimedia Commons has media related to Indian Army Chief. References Jump up ^ `` Lt Gen Bipin Rawat to be the next Army chief - Times of India ''. The Times of India. Archived from the original on 17 December 2016. Retrieved 17 December 2016. Jump up ^ `` The Commanders - In - Chief ( Change in Designation ) Act, 1955 ''. VakilNo1.com. Archived from the original on 11 November 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2011. Jump up ^ `` Chief of the Army Staff ''. Indian Army. Archived from the original on 16 May 2012. Retrieved 1 November 2011. Jump up ^ `` Archived copy ''. Archived from the original on 6 March 2014. Retrieved 2014 - 03 - 06. Sources Khanduri, Chandra B. ( 2006 ). Thimayya : an amazing life. New Delhi : Knowledge World. p. 394. ISBN 978 - 81 - 87966 - 36 - 4. Retrieved 30 July 2010. Chief of the Army Staff ( India ) Commander - in - Chief, Indian Army ( 1947 -- 1955 ) Rob Lockhart * * Roy Bucher * * Kodandera M. Cariappa Rajendrasinhji Jadeja Chief of the Army Staff ( 1955 -- present ) Rajendrasinhji Jadeja S.M. Shrinagesh Kodandera Subayya Thimayya Pran Nath Thapar Jayanto Nath Chaudhuri Paramasiva Prabhakar Kumaramangalam Sam Manekshaw Gopal Gurunath Bewoor Tapishwar Narain Raina Om Prakash Malhotra K.V. Krishna Rao Arun Shridhar Vaidya Krishnaswamy Sundarji Vishwa Nath Sharma Sunith Francis Rodrigues Bipin Chandra Joshi Shankar Roychowdhury Ved Prakash Malik Sundararajan Padmanabhan Nirmal Chander Vij Joginder Jaswant Singh Deepak Kapoor Vijay Kumar Singh Bikram Singh Dalbir Singh Bipin Rawat ( * * Seconded from the British Army ) Military of India Indian Army Indian Navy Indian Air Force Leadership Chief of the Army Staff Chief of the Naval Staff Chief of the Air Staff Topics History Academies Ranks and insignia Army Air Force Navy Special Forces Indian Peace Keeping Force Central Armed Police Forces Paramilitary forces Andaman and Nicobar Command Strategic Forces Command Nuclear Command Authority Ballistic missiles Weapons of mass destruction Defence Research and Development Organisation Ordnance Factories Board Territorial Army National Cadet Corps Wars and conflicts Indo - Pakistani wars 1947 1965 1971 Operation Polo Congo Crisis Operation Vijay Operation Trident Sino - Indian War Cho La incident Siachen conflict Blue Star Woodrose 1987 Sino - Indian skirmish Indian intervention in the Sri Lankan Civil War Operation Cactus Kargil War Kashmir insurgency 2001 Bangladeshi - Indian border skirmish Operation Parakram Piracy off the coast of Somalia Army Navy Air Force Retrieved from `` https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Chief_of_the_Army_Staff_(India)&oldid=803605331 '' Categories : Chiefs of Army Staff ( India ) Army chiefs of staff Hidden categories : Use dmy dates from March 2014 Use Indian English from June 2016 All Wikipedia articles written in Indian English Talk Contents About Wikipedia हिन्दी ಕನ್ನಡ മലയാളം Edit links This page was last edited on 3 October 2017, at 14 : 40. 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Question: first chief of army staff of independent india
Answer: Rajendrasinhji Jadeja