Minister of External Affairs ( India ) - wikipedia Minister of External Affairs ( India ) Minister of External Affairs Videsh Mantri Emblem of India Incumbent Sushma Swaraj since 26 May 2014 Ministry of External Affairs Appointer President on the advice of the Prime Minister Inaugural holder Jawaharlal Nehru Formation 2 September 1946 The Minister of External Affairs ( or simply foreign minister ) is the head of the Ministry of External Affairs of the Government of India. One of the senior-most offices in the Union Cabinet, the chief responsibility of the Foreign Minister is to represent India and its government in the international community. The foreign minister also plays an important role in determining Indian foreign policy. Occasionally, the foreign minister is assisted by a Minister of State for External Affairs or the lower - ranked Deputy Minister of External Affairs. India 's first prime minister, Jawaharlal Nehru, also held the foreign minister post throughout his 17 - year premiership of the country ; he remains the country 's longest - serving foreign minister. Several other prime ministers have since held the additional charge of foreign minister, but never has any other cabinet minister held additional charge of the office. There have been a number of foreign ministers who went on to become prime minister. The current Minister of External Affairs is Sushma Swaraj of the Bharatiya Janata Party, who took over from Salman Khurshid of the Indian National Congress on 26 May 2014 Contents 1 List of Foreign Ministers 2 See also 3 References 4 External links List of Foreign Ministers No Name Portrait Term of office Political party ( Alliance ) Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru 2 September 1946 27 May 1964 Indian National Congress Jawaharlal Nehru Gulzarilal Nanda 27 May 1964 9 June 1964 Gulzarilal Nanda ( acting ) Lal Bahadur Shastri 9 June 1964 17 July 1964 Lal Bahadur Shastri Swaran Singh 18 July 1964 14 November 1966 Lal Bahadur Shastri Indira Gandhi M.C. Chagla 14 November 1966 5 September 1967 Indira Gandhi 6 Indira Gandhi 6 September 1967 13 February 1969 7 Dinesh Singh 14 February 1969 27 June 1970 ( 4 ) Swaran Singh 27 June 1970 10 October 1974 8 Yashwantrao Chavan 10 October 1974 24 March 1977 9 Atal Bihari Vajpayee 26 March 1977 28 July 1979 Janata Party Morarji Desai 10 Shyam Nandan Prasad Mishra 28 July 1979 13 January 1980 Janata Party ( Secular ) Charan Singh 11 P.V. Narasimha Rao 14 January 1980 19 July 1984 Indian National Congress Indira Gandhi ( 6 ) Indira Gandhi 19 July 1984 31 October 1984 12 Rajiv Gandhi 31 October 1984 24 September 1985 Rajiv Gandhi 13 Bali Ram Bhagat 25 September 1985 12 May 1986 14 P. Shiv Shankar 12 May 1986 22 October 1986 15 N.D. Tiwari 22 October 1986 25 July 1987 ( 12 ) Rajiv Gandhi 25 July 1987 25 June 1988 ( 11 ) P.V. Narasimha Rao 25 June 1988 2 December 1989 16 V.P. Singh 2 December 1989 5 December 1989 Janata Dal ( National Front ) V.P. Singh 17 I.K. Gujral 5 December 1989 10 November 1990 18 Vidya Charan Shukla 21 November 1990 20 February 1991 Samajwadi Janata Party Chandra Shekhar 19 Madhavsinh Solanki 21 June 1991 31 March 1992 Indian National Congress P.V. Narasimha Rao ( 11 ) P.V. Narasimha Rao 31 March 1992 18 January 1993 ( 7 ) Dinesh Singh 18 January 1993 10 February 1995 20 Pranab Mukherjee 10 February 1995 16 May 1996 21 Sikander Bakht 21 May 1996 1 June 1996 Bharatiya Janata Party Atal Bihari Vajpayee ( 17 ) I.K. Gujral 1 June 1996 18 March 1998 Janata Dal ( United Front ) H.D. Deve Gowda I.K. Gujral Mrs. Kamala Sinha Minister of State for External Affairs ( Independent Charge ) ( 9 ) Atal Bihari Vajpayee 19 March 1998 5 December 1998 Bharatiya Janata Party ( National Democratic Alliance ) Atal Bihari Vajpayee 22 Jaswant Singh 5 December 1998 23 June 2002 23 Yashwant Sinha 1 July 2002 22 May 2004 24 Natwar Singh 22 May 2004 6 November 2005 Indian National Congress ( United Progressive Alliance ) Manmohan Singh 25 Manmohan Singh 6 November 2005 24 October 2006 ( 20 ) Pranab Mukherjee 24 October 2006 22 May 2009 26 S.M. Krishna 22 May 2009 26 October 2012 27 Salman Khurshid 28 October 2012 26 May 2014 28 Sushma Swaraj 26 May 2014 Incumbent Bharatiya Janata Party ( National Democratic Alliance ) Narendra Modi See also Indian Foreign Secretary References Jump up ^ Rediff.com dated 22 May 2004, accessed 25 October 200 Jump up ^ BBC News dated 7 November 2005, accessed 25 October 200 Jump up ^ The Hindu dated 25 October 2006, accessed 25 October 2006. 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Question: who became first woman to head india's external affair ministry
Answer: Indira Gandhi