Introduction
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 cables and communication, and usually held by a four-star officer in the rank of General.
Bipin Singh Rawat is current Chief of the Army Staff, who took office on 31 December 2016 following retirement of General Dalbir Singh Suhag on 31 December 2016.
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.
List
The following table chronicles the appointees to the office of the Chief of Army Staff or its preceding positions since the independence of India in 1947.
| Name | Rank | Tenure |
|---|---|---|
| Bipin Singh Rawat | General | 31 December 2016 to Till Date |
| Dalbir Singh Suhag | General | 31 July 2014 to 31 December 2016 |
| Bikram Singh | General | 31-May-12 to 31 Jul 201 |
| Vijay Kumar Singh | General | 31-Mar-10 to 31-May-12 |
| Deepak Kapoor | General | 30-Sep-07 to 31-Mar-10 |
| Joginder Jaswant Singh | General | 31-Jan-05 to 30-Sep-07 |
| Nirmal Chander Vij | General | 31-Dec-02 to 31-Jan-05 |
| Sundararajan Padmanabhan | General | 1-Oct-00 to 30-Dec-02 |
| Ved Prakash Malik | General | 1-Oct-97 to 30-Sep-00 |
| Shankar Roychowdhury | General | 20-Nov-94 to 30-Sep-97 |
| Bipin Chandra Joshi | General | 1-Jul-93 to 19-Nov-94 |
| Sunith Francis Rodrigues | General | 1-Jul-90 to 30-Jun-93 |
| Vishwa Nath Sharma | General | 1-Jun-88 to 30-Jun-90 |
| Krishnaswamy Sundarji | General | 1-Feb-85 to 31-May-88 |
| Arun Shridhar Vaidya | General | 1-Aug-83 to 31-Jan-85 |
| Kotikalapudi Venkata Krishna Rao | General | 1-Jun-81 to 31-Jul-83 |
| Om Prakash Malhotra | General | 1-Jun-78 to 31-May-81 |
| Tapishwar Narain Raina | General | 1-Jun-75 to 31-May-78 |
| Gopal Gurunath Bewoor | General | 16-Jan-73 to 31-May-75 |
| Sam Hormusji Framji Jamshedji Manekshaw | Field Marshal | 8-Jun-69 to 15-Jan-73 |
| Paramasiva Prabhakar Kumaramangalam | General | 8-Jun-66 to 7-Jun-69 |
| Joyanto Nath Chaudhuri | General | 20-Nov-62 to 7-Jun-66 |
| Pran Nath Thapar | General | 8-May-61 to 19-Nov-62 |
| Kodandera Subayya Thimayya | General | 8-May-57 to 7-May-61 |
| Satyawant Mallannah Shrinagesh | General | 15-May-55 to 7-May-57 |
| Maharaj Shri Rajendrasinhji Jadeja | General | 15-Jan-53 to 14-May-55 |
| Kodandera Madappa Cariappa | Field Marshal | 16-Jan-49 to 14-Jan-53 |
| Sir Francis Robert Roy Bucher | General | 1-Jan-48 to 15-Jan-49 |
| Sir Robert McGregor Macdonald Lockhart | General | 15-Aug-47 to 31-Dec-47 |