| 1 | Jawaharlal Nehru | 15 August 1947 - 27 May 1964 |
| 2 | Gulzarilal Nanda (acting) | 27 May 1964 - 9 June 1964
11 January 1966 - 24 January 1966 |
| 3 | Lal Bahadur Shastri/td> | 9 June 1964 - 11 January 1966 |
| 4 | Indira Gandhi | 24 January 1966 - 24 March 1977
14 January 1980 - 31 October 1984 |
| 5 | Morarji Desai | 24 March 1977 - 28 July 1979 |
| 6 | Charan Singh | 28 July 1979 - 14 January 1980 |
| 7 | Rajiv Gandhi | 31 October 1984 - 2 December 1989 |
| 8 | V. P. Singh | 2 December 1989 - 10 November 1990 |
| 9 | Chandra Shekhar | 10 November 1990 - 21 June 1991 |
| 10 | P. V. Narasimha Rao | 21 June 1991 - 16 May 1996 |
| 11 | Atal Bihari Vajpayee | 16 May 1996 - 1 June 1996
19 March 1998 - 22 May 2004 |
| 12 | H. D. Deve Gowda | 1 June 1996 - 21 April 1997 |
| 13 | Inder Kumar Gujral | 21 April 1997 - 19 March 1998 |
| 14 | Manmohan Singh | 22 May 2004 - 26 May 2014 |
| 15 | Narendra Modi | 26 May 2014 - present |