Chief of Army Staff (COAS) is the highest ranking officer of the Indian Army. He is also the head of the Indian Army headquarters. He is also the principal advisor to the Ministry of Defence and also the key military advisor of the President of India, the supreme commander of the forces of India.
The current Chief Of Army Staff is General Manoj Pande.

History
It was established in 1748 as the Commander-in-chief, India to command all the forces in India.After the war of 1857, the Commander in Chief became the supreme commander of the British Indian Army. The Commander in Chief was also in close contact with the Viceroy of India.
After the partition of India in 1947, the post was divided into :- Commander in Chief of Indian Army, Commander in Chief of Pakistan Army and the Commander in Chief of British forces in India and Pakistan.
The designation was changed to “Chief of Army Staff” after the Commander in Chief Act of 1955. The office is based at South Block of the Central Secretariat at Raisina Hill, New Delhi.
The appointments to the office are made by the Appointments Committee of The Cabinet. They can serve the country for three years or till the age of 62, whichever comes earlier.
Here’s the list of Commander in Chief, Indian Army :-
Name | Took Office | Left Office | Time in Office |
General Sir Robert Mcgregor Macdonald Lockhart | 15 August 1947 | 31 December 1947 | 108 Days |
General Francis Robert Roy Bucher | 01 January 1948 | 20 June 1948 | 171 Days. |
Here’s the List of Chief Of Army Staff and Commander-in Chief, Indian Army :-
Name | Took Office | Left Office | Time in Office |
General Francis Robert Roy Bucher | 21 June 1948 | 15 January 1949 | 208 Days |
General Kodandera Madappa Cariappa | 15 January 1949 | 14 January 1953 | 3 Years and 365 days |
General Maharaj Shri Rajendrasinjhi Jadeja | 14 January 1953 | 1 April 1955 | 2 Years and 77 Days |
Here’s the list of Chief Of Army Staff :-
Name | Took Office | Left Office | Time in Office |
General Maharaj Shri Rajendrasinjhi Jadeja | 01 April 1955 | 14 May 1955 | 43 Days |
General Satyawant Mallana Srinagesh | 15 May 1955 | 7 May 1957 | 1 Year and 357 Days |
General Kodandera Subayya Thimayya | 8 May 1957 | 7 May 1961 | 4 Years |
General Pran Nath Thapar | 8 May 1961 | 19 November 1962 | 1 Year and 195 Days |
General Jayanto Nath Chaudhuri | 20 November 1962 | 7 June 1966 | 3 Years and 199 Days |
General Paramsiva Prabhakar Kumaramangalam | 8 June 1966 | 7 June 1969 | 2 Years and 364 Days |
Fiels Marshal Sam Hormusji Framji Jamshedji Manekshaw | 8 June 1969 | 15 January 1973 | 3 Years and 221 Days |
General Gopal Gurunath Bewoor | 16 January 1973 | 31 May 1975 | 2 Years and 135 Days |
General Tapishwar Narain Raina | 1 June 1975 | 31 May 1978 | 2 Years 364 Days |
General Om Prakash Malhotra | 1 June 1978 | 31 May 1981 | 2 Years and 364 Days |
General Kotikalapudi Venkata Krishna Rao | 1 June 1981 | 31 July 1983 | 1 Year and 364 Days |
General Arunkumar Sridhar Vaidya | 1 August 1983 | 31 January 1986 | 2 Years and 244 Days |
General Krishnaswamy Sundarji | 1 February 1986 | 31 May 1988 | 2 Years and 120 Days |
General Vishwa Nath Sharma | 1 June 1988 | 30 June 1990 | 2 Years and 29 Days |
General Sunith Francis Rodrigues | 1 July 1990 | 30 June 1993 | 2 Years and 364 Days |
General Bipin Chandra Joshi | 1 July 1993 | 19 November 1994 | 1 Year and 141 Days |
General Shankar Roy Chowdhary | 20 November 1994 | 30 September 1997 | 2 Years and 314 Days |
General Ved Prakash Malik | 1 October 1997 | 30 September 2000 | 2 Years and 365 Days |
General Sundararanjan Padmanabhan | 1 October 2000 | 31 December 2002 | 2 Years and 91 Days |
General Nirmal Chander Vij | 1 January 2003 | 31 January 2005 | 2 Years and 30 Days |
General Joginder Jaswant Singh | 1 February 2005 | 30 September 2007 | 2 Years and 241 Days |
General Deepak Kapoor | 1 October 2007 | 31 March 2010 | 2 Years and 181 Days |
General Vijay Kumar Singh | 1 April 2010 | 31 May 2012 | 2 Years and 60 Days |
General Bikram Singh | 1 June 2012 | 31 July 2014 | 2 Years and 60 Days |
General Dalbir Singh Suhag | 1 August 2014 | 31 December 2016 | 2 Years and 152 Days |
General Bipin Rawat | 31 December 2016 | 31 December 2019 | 3 Years |
General Manoj Mukund Narvane | 31 December 2019 | 30 April 2022 | 2 Years and 120 Days |
General Manoj Pande | 30 April 2022 | on going |