List of Prime Ministers of India

The South Block of Secretariat Building, which houses the Prime Minister's Office.

The complete list of Prime Ministers of India includes the persons sworn into the office as Prime Minister of India following the proclamation of the independence of India in 1947.

Color key

Party of Prime Minister (left of Political Party column):

  Congress: Indian National Congress, Indian National Congress (Indira)

  Bharatiya Janata Party

  Samajwadi Janata Party

  Janata Party

  Janata Party (Secular)

  Janata Dal

Governing Alliance (right of Political Party column):

  Congress-led: Indian National Congress, Indian National Congress (Indira), United Progressive Alliance

  Supported by Congress: Janata Party (Secular), Samajwadi Janata Party, United Front

  BJP-led: Bharatiya Janata Party, National Democratic Alliance

  Janata Party

  National Front

(The 12th Council of Ministers, led by Chandra Shekhar Singh, was supported by both Congress and the BJP.)

Prime Ministers

Key:
No.: Incumbent No.
CM: Council of Ministers

No.		Picture	Name (Birth–Death); Constituency	CM	Term of office		Elections (Lok Sabha)	Political party (Alliance)			Refs
	1		Jawaharlal Nehru (1889–1964) MP for Phulpur	1	15 August 1947	27 May 1964	1952 (1st)		Indian National Congress
				2			1957 (2nd)
				3			1962 (3rd)
				Indo-Pakistani War of 1947; created Planning commission of India and initiated Five-year plan to increase government investment in agriculture and industry; launched programmes to build irrigation canals, dams and spread the use of fertilizers to increase agricultural production; oversaw widespread poverty and unemployment, even with improvements in agriculture and infrastructure; oversaw establishment of All India Institute of Medical Sciences, Indian Institutes of Technology and Indian Institutes of Management; criminalized caste discrimination and increased the legal rights and social freedoms of women; pioneered the policy of non-alignment and co-founded the Non-Aligned Movement; Sino-Indian War; signed the Indus Waters Treaty; granted asylum to the Dalai Lama; oversaw liberation of Goa.
	A		Gulzarilal Nanda (1898–1998) MP for Sabarkantha	—	27 May 1964	9 June 1964	– (3rd)		Indian National Congress
				Served as caretaker Prime Minister until the election of Lal Bahadur Shastri.
	2		Lal Bahadur Shastri (1904–1966) MP for Allahabad	4	9 June 1964	11 January 1966	– (3rd)		Indian National Congress
				Indo-Pakistani War of 1965; pushed for Green Revolution in India and Operation Flood; The National Dairy Development Board was formed; died from a heart attack at a summit in Tashkent.
	(A)		Gulzarilal Nanda (1898–1998) MP for Sabarkantha	—	11 January 1966 (int)	24 January 1966	– (3rd)		Indian National Congress
				Served as caretaker Prime Minister once again, until Indira Gandhi was chosen as the new leader.
	3		Indira Gandhi (1917–1984) MP for Rae Bareli	5	24 January 1966	24 March 1977	– (3rd) • 1967 (4th)		Indian National Congress
				6			1971 (5th)
				Nationalized banks; won the Indo-Pakistani War of 1971, which resulted in the formation of Bangladesh; signed the Shimla Agreement; tested the first nuclear weapon with Smiling Buddha; initiated Green Revolution in India; imposed state of emergency 1975–1977.
	4		Morarji Desai (1896–1995) MP for Surat	7	24 March 1977	28 July 1979	1977 (6th)		Janata Party
				Ended the state of emergency initiated by Indira Gandhi; improved relations with Pakistan, China and the United States; softened its relationship with the Soviet Union; launched Sixth Five-Year Plan, aiming to boost agricultural production and rural industries; the plan proved unsuccessful leading to resurging inflation, fuel shortages, unemployment and poverty; lost many MPs from Janata Party, including his rival Charan Singh, which led to his resignation.
	5		Charan Singh (1902–1987) MP for Baghpat	8	28 July 1979	14 January 1980	– (6th)		Janata Party (Secular) with Indian National Congress
				Initiated high level diplomatic relations with Israel; lost support of Congress, which led to his resignation without even a single session of Lok Sabha.
	(3)		Indira Gandhi (1917–1984) MP for Rae Bareli	9	14 January 1980	31 October 1984	1980 (7th)		Indian National Congress (Indira)
				Operation Blue Star, which subsequently led to her assassination.
	6		Rajiv Gandhi (1944–1991) MP for Amethi	10	31 October 1984	2 December 1989	1984 (8th)		Indian National Congress
				1984 anti-Sikh riots; significantly reduced License Raj; expanded telecommunications in India; signed the Indo-Sri Lanka Peace Accord; Bofors scandal; nullified the Supreme Court's judgement on Shah Bano case.
	7		V. P. Singh (1931–2008) MP for Fatehpur	11	2 December 1989	10 November 1990	1989 (9th)		Janata Dal (National Front)
				Negotiated terrorist kidnapping of Mufti Mohammad Sayeed's daughter; visited Golden Temple to ask for forgiveness for Operation Bluestar; withdrew IPKF from Sri Lanka; initiated fixed quota/reservation for all public sector jobs as per recommendation from Mandal Commission; Ram Janmabhoomi agitation and subsequent loss of vote of no confidence because of it.
	8		Chandra Shekhar (1927–2007) MP for Ballia	12	10 November 1990	21 June 1991	– (9th)		Samajwadi Janata Party with Bharatiya Janata Party
				Resigned due to accusations of spying on former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi, and subsequent withdrawal of Congress' support; Assassination of Rajiv Gandhi.
	9		P. V. Narasimha Rao (1921–2004) MP for Nandyal	13	21 June 1991	16 May 1996	1991 (10th)		Indian National Congress
				Initiated Economic liberalization in India; SEBI Act 1992; formation of National Stock Exchange of India; 1993 Bombay bombings; introduced TADA; Demolition of Babri Masjid.
	10		Atal Bihari Vajpayee (1924– ) MP for Lucknow	14	16 May 1996	1 June 1996	1996† (11th)		Bharatiya Janata Party
				Hung parliament†. Was in power for only 13 days, after BJP could not gather enough support from other parties to form a majority.
	11		H. D. Deve Gowda (1933– ) MP for Hassan	15	1 June 1996	21 April 1997	1996† (11th)		Janata Dal (United Front)
				Hung parliament†. After a failed attempt of forming a BJP government, Congress refused to form a government and instead supported a minority United Front coalition led by Janata Dal. President of China Jiang Zemin begins the first visit by a Chinese head of state to India; initiates President's rule in Gujarat.
	12		Inder Kumar Gujral (1919– ) MP (Rajya Sabha) for Bihar	16	21 April 1997	19 March 1998	– (11th)		Janata Dal (United Front)
				Fodder scam; Jain Commission.
	(10)		Atal Bihari Vajpayee (1924– ) MP for Lucknow	17	19 March 1998	22 May 2004	1998 (12th)		Bharatiya Janata Party (National Democratic Alliance)
				18			1999 (13th)
				Pokhran nuclear tests; Kargil War; National Highway Development Project; Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana; expanding ties with Israel; POTA; Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan; 2001 Indian Parliament attack and Operation Parakram; 2002 Gujarat violence; National Technical Research Organisation.
	13		Dr. Manmohan Singh (1932– ) MP (Rajya Sabha) for Assam	19	22 May 2004	Incumbent	2004 (14th)		Indian National Congress (United Progressive Alliance)
				20			2009 (15th)
				2006 Indian anti-reservation protests; Indo-US civilian nuclear agreement; won the 2008 Lok Sabha vote of confidence; US $ 1 Trillion Economy milestone reached; expanding ties with Israel; Economic crisis of 2008; National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA); Right to Information Act; revoking of POTA; 2008 Mumbai attacks and the implementation of Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act; First visit by Indian PM since 1982 to Saudi Arabia;National Investigation Agency (India); 2G spectrum scam;Adarsh scam; NTRO Scam; Commonwealth Games Scam; Unique ID; Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act;Anna Hazare's Jan Lokpal agitation

See also

• Prime Minister's Office
• List of Prime Ministers of India by longevity

Notes

• ¹ Assassinated or Died in Office
• ² Returned to Office after a previous term
• ³ Resigned
• ⁴ Dismissed by President following a no-confidence motion