Minister of External Affairs (India)

Not to be confused with the Foreign Secretary of India.

The minister of external affairs (or simply, the external affairs minister Hindi: Videsh Mantri) 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 minister of external affairs is to represent India and its government in the international community. The minister also plays an important role in determining the foreign policy. Occasionally, the minister of external affairs is assisted by a minister of state for external affairs or the lower-ranked deputy minister of external affairs.

Minister of External Affairs
Videś Mantrī
Emblem of India
Flag of India
Incumbent Subrahmanyam Jaishankar since 31 May 2019 (2019-05-31)
Ministry of External Affairs
Abbreviation	MEA
Member of	Cabinet of India Cabinet Committee on Security
Reports to	President of India Prime Minister of India Parliament of India
Appointer	President of India on the recommendation of the Prime Minister of India
Formation	1947 (1947)
First holder	Jawaharlal Nehru
Deputy	Kirti Vardhan Singh • Pabitra Margherita

India's first prime minister, Jawaharlal Nehru, also held the post of external affairs minister throughout his 17-year premiership and remains the longest-serving external affairs minister. Several other prime ministers have since held the additional charge of the minister of external affairs, but never has any other cabinet minister held additional charge of the office - although during Nehru's premiership V. K. Krishna Menon was acknowledged as de facto minister of external affairs beyond his official designation as defence minister. There have been a number of external affairs ministers who went on to become the prime minister like Atal Bihari Vajpayee, P. V. Narasimha Rao and I. K. Gujral. Two former career-diplomats have served as ministers of external affairs, including K. Natwar Singh (2004–2005) who served as India's ambassador to Poland and as high commissioner to Pakistan, and the current minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar who retired as the foreign secretary. Two other ministers, M. C. Chagla and I. K. Gujral also served as ambassadors, with Chagla serving as India's ambassador to the United States and high commissioner to the United Kingdom, while Gujral served as ambassador to the Soviet Union.

The current minister of external affairs is Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, who succeeded Sushma Swaraj of the Bharatiya Janata Party on 30 May 2019.

Cabinet ministers

No.	Portrait		Minister (Birth-Death) Constituency	Term of office			Political party	Ministry	Prime Minister
				From	To	Period
Minister of External Affairs and Commonwealth Relations
1			Jawaharlal Nehru (1889–1964) MCA for United Provinces (Prime Minister)	15 August 1947	26 January 1950	2 years, 164 days	Indian National Congress	Nehru I		Self
Minister of External Affairs
(1)			Jawaharlal Nehru (1889–1964) MCA for United Provinces (till 1952) MP for Phulpur (from 1952) (Prime Minister)	26 January 1950	27 May 1964[†]	14 years, 122 days	Indian National Congress	Nehru I		Self
								Nehru II
								Nehru III
								Nehru IV
2			Gulzarilal Nanda (1898–1998) MP for Sabarkantha (Prime Minister)	27 May 1964	9 June 1964	13 days		Nanda I		Self
3			Lal Bahadur Shastri (1904–1966) MP for Allahabad (Prime Minister)	9 June 1964	17 July 1964	38 days		Shastri		Lal Bahadur Shastri
4			Swaran Singh (1907–1994) MP for Jullundur	17 July 1964	11 January 1966	2 years, 120 days
				11 January 1966	24 January 1966			Nanda II		Gulzarilal Nanda
				24 January 1966	14 November 1966			Indira I		Indira Gandhi
5			M. C. Chagla (1900–1981) Rajya Sabha MP for Maharashtra	14 November 1966	13 March 1967	295 days
				13 March 1967	5 September 1967			Indira II
6			Indira Gandhi (1917–1984) MP for Rae Bareli (Prime Minister)	6 September 1967	13 February 1969	1 year, 160 days
7			Dinesh Singh (1925–1995) MP for Pratapgarh	14 February 1969	27 June 1970	1 year, 133 days	Indian National Congress (R)
(4)			Swaran Singh (1907–1994) MP for Jullundur	27 June 1970	18 March 1971	4 years, 105 days
				18 March 1971	10 October 1974			Indira III
8			Yashwantrao Chavan (1913–1984) MP for Satara	10 October 1974	24 March 1977	2 years, 165 days
9			Atal Bihari Vajpayee (1924–2018) MP for New Delhi	26 March 1977	28 July 1979	2 years, 124 days	Janata Party	Desai		Morarji Desai
10			Shyam Nandan Prasad Mishra (1920–2004) MP for Begusarai	28 July 1979	14 January 1980	170 days	Janata Party (Secular)	Charan		Charan Singh
11			P. V. Narasimha Rao (1921–2004) MP for Hanamkonda	14 January 1980	19 July 1984	4 years, 187 days	Indian National Congress (I)	Indira IV		Indira Gandhi
(6)			Indira Gandhi (1917–1984) MP for Medak (Prime Minister)	19 July 1984	31 October 1984†	104 days
12			Rajiv Gandhi (1944–1991) MP for Amethi (Prime Minister)	31 October 1984	31 December 1984	328 days		Rajiv I		Rajiv Gandhi
				31 December 1984	24 September 1985			Rajiv
13			Bali Ram Bhagat (1922–2011) MP for Arrah	24 September 1985	12 May 1986	230 days
14			P. Shiv Shankar (1929–2017) Rajya Sabha MP for Gujarat	12 May 1986	22 October 1986	163 days
15			N. D. Tiwari (1925–2018) Rajya Sabha MP for Uttar Pradesh	22 October 1986	25 July 1987	276 days
(12)			Rajiv Gandhi (1944–1991) MP for Amethi (Prime Minister)	25 July 1987	25 June 1988	336 days
(11)			P. V. Narasimha Rao (1921–2004) MP for Ramtek	25 June 1988	2 December 1989	1 year, 160 days
16			Vishwanath Pratap Singh (1931–2008) MP for Fatehpur (Prime Minister)	2 December 1989	5 December 1989	3 days	Janata Dal	Vishwanath		Vishwanath Pratap Singh
17			Inder Kumar Gujral (1919–2012) MP for Jalandhar	5 December 1989	10 November 1990	340 days
18			Chandra Shekhar (1927–2007) MP for Ballia (Prime Minister)	10 November 1990	21 November 1990	11 days	Samajwadi Janata Party (Rashtriya)	Chandra Shekhar		Chandra Shekhar
19			Vidya Charan Shukla (1929–2013) MP for Mahasamund	21 November 1990	20 February 1991	91 days
(18)			Chandra Shekhar (1927–2007) MP for Ballia (Prime Minister)	20 February 1991	21 June 1991	121 days
20			Madhavsinh Solanki (1927–2021) Rajya Sabha MP for Gujarat	21 June 1991	31 March 1992	284 days	Indian National Congress (I)	Rao		P. V. Narasimha Rao
(11)			P. V. Narasimha Rao (1921–2004) MP for Nandyal (Prime Minister)	31 March 1992	18 January 1993	293 days
(7)			Dinesh Singh (1925–1995) Rajya Sabha MP for Uttar Pradesh	18 January 1993	10 February 1995	2 years, 23 days
21			Pranab Mukherjee (1935–2020) Rajya MP for West Bengal	10 February 1995	16 May 1996	1 year, 96 days
(9)			Atal Bihari Vajpayee (1924–2018) MP for Lucknow (Prime Minister)	16 May 1996	21 May 1996	5 days	Bharatiya Janata Party	Vajpayee I		Atal Bihari Vajpayee
22			Sikander Bakht (1918–2004) Rajya Sabha MP for Madhya Pradesh	21 May 1996	1 June 1996	11 days
(17)			Inder Kumar Gujral (1919–2012) Rajya Sabha MP for Bihar (Prime Minister from 21 April 1997)	1 June 1996	21 April 1997	1 year, 290 days	Janata Dal	Deve Gowda		H. D. Deve Gowda
				21 April 1997	18 March 1998			Gujral		Self
(9)			Atal Bihari Vajpayee (1924–2018) MP for Lucknow (Prime Minister)	19 March 1998	5 December 1998	261 days	Bharatiya Janata Party	Vajpayee II		Atal Bihari Vajpayee
23			Jaswant Singh (1938–2020) Rajya Sabha MP for Rajasthan	5 December 1998	13 October 1999	3 years, 208 days
				13 October 1999	1 July 2002			Vajpayee III
24			Yashwant Sinha (born 1937) MP for Hazaribagh	1 July 2002	22 May 2004	1 year, 326 days
25			K. Natwar Singh (1929–2024) Rajya Sabha MP for Rajasthan	23 May 2004	6 November 2005	1 year, 167 days	Indian National Congress	Manmohan I		Manmohan Singh
26			Manmohan Singh (born 1932) Rajya Sabha MP for Assam (Prime Minister)	6 November 2005	24 October 2006	352 days
(21)			Pranab Mukherjee (1935–2020) MP for Jangipur	24 October 2006	22 May 2009	2 years, 210 days
27			S. M. Krishna (1932–2024) Rajya Sabha MP for Karnataka	23 May 2009	28 October 2012	3 years, 158 days		Manmohan II
28			Salman Khurshid (born 1953) MP for Farrukhabad	28 October 2012	26 May 2014	1 year, 210 days
29			Sushma Swaraj (1952–2019) MP for Vidisha	26 May 2014	30 May 2019	5 years, 4 days	Bharatiya Janata Party	Modi I		Narendra Modi
30			S. Jaishankar (born 1955) Rajya Sabha MP for Gujarat	31 May 2019	Incumbent	5 years, 203 days		Modi II
								Modi III

Ministers of state

No.	Portrait		Minister (Birth-Death) Constituency	Term of office			Political party	Ministry	Prime Minister
				From	To	Period
1			Syed Mahmud (1889–1971) MP for Gopalganj	7 December 1954	17 April 1957	2 years, 131 days	Indian National Congress	Nehru II		Jawaharlal Nehru
2			Lakshmi N. Menon (1899–1994) Rajya Sabha MP for Bihar	16 April 1962	24 January 1966	3 years, 283 days	Indian National Congress	Nehru IV
								Nanda I		Gulzarilal Nanda
								Shastri		Lal Bahadur Shastri
								Nanda II		Gulzarilal Nanda
3			Dinesh Singh (1925–1995) Rajya Sabha MP for Uttar Pradesh	24 January 1966	13 March 1967	1 year, 48 days		Indira I		Indira Gandhi
4			Bali Ram Bhagat (1922–2011) MP for Arrah	14 November 1967	14 February 1969	1 year, 92 days	Indian National Congress	Indira II
5			Surendra Pal Singh (1917–2009) MP for Bulandshahr	5 February 1973	10 October 1974	1 year, 247 days	Indian National Congress (R)	Indira III
6			Samarendra Kundu (1930–?) MP for Balasore	14 August 1977	28 July 1979	1 year, 348 days	Janata Party	Desai		Morarji Desai
7			Bedabrata Barua (born 1928) MP for Kaliabor	4 August 1979	14 January 1980	163 days	Indian National Congress (Urs)	Charan		Charan Singh
8			A. A. Rahim (1920–1995) MP for Chirayinkil	2 September 1982	31 October 1984	2 years, 59 days	Indian National Congress (I)	Indira IV		Indira Gandhi
9			Ram Niwas Mirdha (1924–2010) Rajya Sabha MP for Rajasthan	2 August 1984	31 October 1984	90 days
(8)			A. A. Rahim (1920–1995) MP for Chirayinkil	4 November 1984	31 December 1984	57 days		Rajiv I		Rajiv Gandhi
(9)			Ram Niwas Mirdha (1924–2010) Rajya Sabha MP for Rajasthan
10			Khurshed Alam Khan (1919–2013) MP for Farrukhabad	31 December 1984	25 September 1985	268 days		Rajiv II
11			K. R. Narayanan (1921–2005) MP for Ottapalam	25 September 1985	22 October 1986	1 year, 27 days
12			Eduardo Faleiro (born 1940) MP for Mormugao	12 May 1986	14 February 1988	1 year, 278 days
13			K. Natwar Singh (1929–2024) MP for Bharatpur	22 October 1986	2 December 1989	3 years, 41 days
14			Kamla Kant Tiwari MP for Buxar	25 June 1988	22 April 1989	301 days
15			Hari Kishore Singh (1934–2013) MP for Sheohar	23 April 1990	10 November 1990	201 days	Indian People's Front	Vishwanath		Vishwanath Pratap Singh
16			Eduardo Faleiro (born 1940) MP for Mormugao	21 June 1991	18 January 1993	1 year, 211 days	Indian National Congress (I)	Rao		P. V. Narasimha Rao
17			R. L. Bhatia (1920–2021) MP for Amritsar	2 July 1992	16 May 1993	318 days
18			Salman Khurshid (born 1953) MP for Farrukhabad	18 January 1993	16 May 1996	3 years, 119 days
19			Saleem Iqbal Shervani (born 1953) MP for Badaun	9 June 1997	19 March 1998	332 days	Samajwadi Party	Gujral		Inder Kumar Gujral
20			Kamala Sinha (1932–2014) Rajya Sabha MP for Bihar				Janata Dal
21			Vasundhara Raje (born 1953) MP for Jhalawar	20 March 1998	13 October 1999	1 year, 207 days	Bharatiya Janata Party	Vajpayee II		Atal Bihari Vajpayee
22			Ajit Kumar Panja (1936–2008) MP for Calcutta North East	13 October 1999	16 March 2001	1 year, 154 days	All India Trinamool Congress	Vajpayee III
23			Krishnam Raju (1940–2022) MP for Narasapuram	30 September 2000	22 July 2001	295 days	Bharatiya Janata Party
24			Omar Abdullah (born 1970) MP for Srinagar	22 July 2001	23 December 2002	1 year, 154 days	Jammu and Kashmir National Conference
25			Digvijay Singh (1955–2010) MP for Banka	1 July 2002	22 May 2004	1 year, 326 days	Janata Dal (United)
26			Vinod Khanna (1946–2017) MP for Gurdaspur	29 January 2003	22 May 2004	1 year, 114 days	Bharatiya Janata Party
27			E. Ahamed (1938–2017) MP for Ponnani	23 May 2004	22 May 2009	4 years, 364 days	Indian Union Muslim League	Manmohan I		Manmohan Singh
28			Rao Inderjit Singh (born 1951) MP for Mahendragarh	22 May 2004	29 January 2006	1 year, 252 days	Indian National Congress
29			Anand Sharma (born 1953) Rajya Sabha MP for Himachal Pradesh	29 January 2006	22 May 2009	3 years, 113 days
30			Preneet Kaur (born 1944) MP for Patiala	28 May 2009	26 May 2014	4 years, 363 days		Manmohan II
31			Shashi Tharoor (born 1956) MP for Thiruvananthapuram	28 May 2009	19 April 2010	326 days
32			E. Ahamed (1938–2017) MP for Malappuram	19 January 2011	26 May 2014	3 years, 127 days	Indian Union Muslim League
33			General V. K. Singh (Retd.) PVSM AVSM YSM ADC (born 1950) MP for Ghaziabad	26 May 2014	30 May 2019	5 years, 4 days	Bharatiya Janata Party	Modi I		Narendra Modi
34			M. J. Akbar (born 1951) Rajya Sabha MP for Madhya Pradesh	5 July 2016	17 October 2018	2 years, 104 days
35			V. Muraleedharan (born 1958) Rajya Sabha MP for Maharashtra	31 May 2019	9 June 2024	5 years, 9 days		Modi II
36			Meenakshi Lekhi (born 1967) MP for New Delhi	7 July 2021	9 June 2024	2 years, 338 days
37			Rajkumar Ranjan Singh (born 1952) MP for Inner Manipur	7 July 2021	9 June 2024	2 years, 338 days
38			Kirti Vardhan Singh (born 1966) MP for Gonda	10 June 2024	Incumbent	193 days		Modi III
39			Pabitra Margherita (born 1974) Rajya Sabha MP for Assam

Deputy ministers

No.	Portrait		Minister (Birth-Death) Constituency	Term of office			Political party	Ministry	Prime Minister
				From	To	Period
Deputy Minister of External Affairs and Commonwealth Relations
1			B. V. Keskar (1903–1984) MCA for Madras	7 December 1948	26 January 1950	1 year, 50 days	Indian National Congress	Nehru I		Jawaharlal Nehru
Deputy Minister of External Affairs
(1)			B. V. Keskar (1903–1984) MCA for Madras	31 January 1950	13 May 1952	2 years, 103 days	Indian National Congress	Nehru I		Jawaharlal Nehru
2			Anil Kumar Chanda (1906–1976) MP for Birbhum	12 August 1952	17 April 1957	4 years, 262 days	Indian National Congress	Nehru II
				17 April 1957	1 May 1957			Nehru III
3			Lakshmi N. Menon (1899–1994) Rajya Sabha MP for Bihar	17 April 1957	10 April 1962	4 years, 358 days
4			Dinesh Singh (1925–1995) MP for Pratapgarh	8 May 1962	27 May 1964	3 years, 261 days	Indian National Congress	Nehru IV
				27 May 1964	9 June 1964			Nanda I		Gulzarilal Nanda
				15 June 1964	11 January 1966			Shastri		Lal Bahadur Shastri
				11 January 1966	24 January 1966			Nanda II		Gulzarilal Nanda
5			Surendra Pal Singh (1917–2009) MP for Bulandshahr	18 March 1967	18 March 1971	5 years, 352 days	Indian National Congress	Indira II		Indira Gandhi
					Indian National Congress (R)
				18 March 1971				5 February 1973	Indira III
6			Bipinpal Das (1923–2005) Rajya Sabha MP for Assam	17 October 1974	24 March 1977	2 years, 158 days
7			Digvijay Singh (1955–2010) Rajya Sabha MP for Bihar	28 November 1990	21 June 1991	205 days	Samajwadi Janata Party (Rashtriya)	Chandra Shekhar		Chandra Shekhar

See also

• Indian Foreign Secretary
• S Jaishankar

References

External links

• Official Website of Ministry of External Affairs
• MEA Library