Minister of External Affairs (India)

Not to be confused with the Foreign Secretary of India.

Minister of External Affairs of the Republic of India
Videś Mantrī
Emblem of India
Flag of India
Incumbent S. 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 the Republic 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	Minister of State for External Affairs

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 the government of India in the international community and advance its interests on the global stage. As such, the minister plays an important role in shaping and directing the country's foreign policy. Typically, the minister is assisted by one or more junior ministers, known as Ministers of State (MoS) for External Affairs.

India's first prime minister, Jawaharlal Nehru, simultaneously held the post of External Affairs Minister throughout his 17-year premiership and remains the longest-serving External Affairs Minister, followed by S. Jaishankar, the currently serving External Affairs Minister. Several other Prime Ministers have since held the additional charge as 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 Natwar Singh (2004–2005) who served as India's ambassador to Poland and as high commissioner to Pakistan, and the current minister S. 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 S. Jaishankar, who succeeded Sushma Swaraj of the Bharatiya Janata Party on 30 May 2019.

Cabinet Ministers

Portrait		Minister (Birth-Death) Constituency	Term of office			Political party	Ministry	Prime Minister
			From	To	Period
Minister of External Affairs and Commonwealth Relations
		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
		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
		Gulzarilal Nanda (1898–1998) MP for Sabarkantha (Prime Minister)	27 May 1964	9 June 1964	13 days		Nanda I		Self
		Lal Bahadur Shastri (1904–1966) MP for Allahabad (Prime Minister)	9 June 1964	17 July 1964	38 days		Shastri		Lal Bahadur Shastri
		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
		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
		Indira Gandhi (1917–1984) MP for Rae Bareli (Prime Minister)	6 September 1967	13 February 1969	1 year, 160 days
		Dinesh Singh (1925–1995) MP for Pratapgarh	14 February 1969	27 June 1970	1 year, 133 days	Indian National Congress (R)
		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
		Yashwantrao Chavan (1913–1984) MP for Satara	10 October 1974	24 March 1977	2 years, 165 days
		Atal Bihari Vajpayee (1924–2018) MP for New Delhi	26 March 1977	28 July 1979	2 years, 124 days	Janata Party	Desai		Morarji Desai
		Shyam Nandan Prasad Mishra (1920–2004) MP for Begusarai	28 July 1979	14 January 1980	170 days	Janata Party (Secular)	Charan		Charan Singh
		P. V. Narasimha Rao (1921–2004) MP for Hanamkonda	14 January 1980	19 July 1984	4 years, 187 days	Indian National Congress	Indira IV		Indira Gandhi
		Indira Gandhi (1917–1984) MP for Medak (Prime Minister)	19 July 1984	31 October 1984†	104 days
		Shankarrao Chavan (1920–2004) MP for Nanded (Minister without portfolio assisting the Prime Minister)	19 July 1984	2 August 1984	14 days
		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
		Bali Ram Bhagat (1922–2011) MP for Arrah	24 September 1985	12 May 1986	230 days
		P. Shiv Shankar (1929–2017) Rajya Sabha MP for Gujarat	12 May 1986	22 October 1986	163 days
		N. D. Tiwari (1925–2018) Rajya Sabha MP for Uttar Pradesh	22 October 1986	25 July 1987	276 days
		Rajiv Gandhi (1944–1991) MP for Amethi (Prime Minister)	25 July 1987	25 June 1988	336 days
		P. V. Narasimha Rao (1921–2004) MP for Ramtek	25 June 1988	2 December 1989	1 year, 160 days
		V. P. Singh (1931–2008) MP for Fatehpur (Prime Minister)	2 December 1989	5 December 1989	3 days	Janata Dal	Vishwanath		V. P. Singh
		Inder Kumar Gujral (1919–2012) MP for Jalandhar	5 December 1989	10 November 1990	340 days
		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
		Vidya Charan Shukla (1929–2013) MP for Mahasamund	21 November 1990	20 February 1991	91 days
		Chandra Shekhar (1927–2007) MP for Ballia (Prime Minister)	20 February 1991	21 June 1991	121 days
		Madhavsinh Solanki (1927–2021) Rajya Sabha MP for Gujarat	21 June 1991	31 March 1992	284 days	Indian National Congress	Rao		P. V. Narasimha Rao
		P. V. Narasimha Rao (1921–2004) MP for Nandyal (Prime Minister)	31 March 1992	18 January 1993	293 days
		Dinesh Singh (1925–1995) Rajya Sabha MP for Uttar Pradesh	18 January 1993	10 February 1995	2 years, 23 days
		Pranab Mukherjee (1935–2020) Rajya MP for West Bengal	10 February 1995	16 May 1996	1 year, 96 days
		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
		Sikander Bakht (1918–2004) Rajya Sabha MP for Madhya Pradesh	21 May 1996	1 June 1996	11 days
		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	19 March 1998			Gujral		Self
		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
		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
		Yashwant Sinha (born 1937) MP for Hazaribagh	1 July 2002	22 May 2004	1 year, 326 days
		Natwar Singh (1931–2024) Rajya Sabha MP for Rajasthan	23 May 2004	6 November 2005	1 year, 167 days	Indian National Congress	Manmohan I		Manmohan Singh
		Manmohan Singh (1932–2024) Rajya Sabha MP for Assam (Prime Minister)	6 November 2005	24 October 2006	352 days
		Pranab Mukherjee (1935–2020) MP for Jangipur	24 October 2006	22 May 2009	2 years, 210 days
		S. M. Krishna (1932–2024) Rajya Sabha MP for Karnataka	23 May 2009	28 October 2012	3 years, 158 days		Manmohan II
		Salman Khurshid (born 1953) MP for Farrukhabad	28 October 2012	26 May 2014	1 year, 210 days
		Sushma Swaraj (1952–2019) MP for Vidisha	26 May 2014	30 May 2019	5 years, 4 days	Bharatiya Janata Party	Modi I		Narendra Modi
		S. Jaishankar (born 1955) Rajya Sabha MP for Gujarat	31 May 2019	Incumbent	6 years, 128 days		Modi II
							Modi III

Ministers of state

Portrait		Minister (Birth-Death) Constituency	Term of office			Political party	Ministry	Prime Minister
			From	To	Period
		Charu Chandra Biswas (1888–1960)	13 May 1950	13 May 1952	2 years, 0 days	Indian National Congress	Nehru I		Jawaharlal Nehru
		Syed Mahmud (1889–1971) MP for Gopalganj	7 December 1954	17 April 1957	2 years, 131 days		Nehru II
		Lakshmi N. Menon (1899–1994) Rajya Sabha MP for Bihar	16 April 1962	24 January 1966	3 years, 283 days		Nehru IV
							Nanda I		Gulzarilal Nanda
							Shastri		Lal Bahadur Shastri
							Nanda II		Gulzarilal Nanda
		Dinesh Singh (1925–1995) Rajya Sabha MP for Uttar Pradesh	24 January 1966	13 March 1967	1 year, 48 days		Indira I		Indira Gandhi
		Bali Ram Bhagat (1922–2011) MP for Arrah	14 November 1967	14 February 1969	1 year, 92 days		Indira II
		Surendra Pal Singh (1917–2009) MP for Bulandshahr	5 February 1973	10 October 1974	1 year, 247 days	Indian National Congress (R)	Indira III
		Samarendra Kundu (1930–1993) MP for Balasore	14 August 1977	28 July 1979	1 year, 348 days	Janata Party	Desai		Morarji Desai
		Bedabrata Barua (born 1928) MP for Kaliabor	4 August 1979	14 January 1980	163 days	Indian National Congress (Urs)	Charan		Charan Singh
		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
		Ram Niwas Mirdha (1924–2010) Rajya Sabha MP for Rajasthan	2 August 1984	31 October 1984	90 days
		A. A. Rahim (1920–1995) MP for Chirayinkil	4 November 1984	31 December 1984	57 days		Rajiv I		Rajiv Gandhi
		Ram Niwas Mirdha (1924–2010) Rajya Sabha MP for Rajasthan
		Khurshed Alam Khan (1919–2013) MP for Farrukhabad	31 December 1984	25 September 1985	268 days		Rajiv II
		K. R. Narayanan (1921–2005) MP for Ottapalam	25 September 1985	22 October 1986	1 year, 27 days
		Eduardo Faleiro (born 1940) MP for Mormugao	12 May 1986	14 February 1988	1 year, 278 days
		Natwar Singh (1929–2024) MP for Bharatpur	22 October 1986	2 December 1989	3 years, 41 days
		Kamla Kant Tiwari MP for Buxar	25 June 1988	22 April 1989	301 days
		Hari Kishore Singh (1934–2013) MP for Sheohar	23 April 1990	10 November 1990	201 days	Indian People's Front	Vishwanath		Vishwanath Pratap Singh
		Eduardo Faleiro (born 1940) MP for Mormugao	21 June 1991	18 January 1993	1 year, 211 days	Indian National Congress	Rao		P. V. Narasimha Rao
		R. L. Bhatia (1920–2021) MP for Amritsar	2 July 1992	16 May 1993	318 days
		Salman Khurshid (born 1953) MP for Farrukhabad	18 January 1993	16 May 1996	3 years, 119 days
		Saleem Iqbal Shervani (born 1953) MP for Badaun	9 June 1997	19 March 1998	332 days	Samajwadi Party	Gujral		Inder Kumar Gujral
		Kamala Sinha (1932–2014) Rajya Sabha MP for Bihar				Janata Dal
		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
		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
		Krishnam Raju (1940–2022) MP for Narasapuram	30 September 2000	22 July 2001	295 days	Bharatiya Janata Party
		Omar Abdullah (born 1970) MP for Srinagar	22 July 2001	23 December 2002	1 year, 154 days	Jammu and Kashmir National Conference
		Digvijay Singh (1955–2010) MP for Banka	1 July 2002	22 May 2004	1 year, 326 days	Janata Dal (United)
		Vinod Khanna (1946–2017) MP for Gurdaspur	29 January 2003	22 May 2004	1 year, 114 days	Bharatiya Janata Party
		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
		Rao Inderjit Singh (born 1951) MP for Mahendragarh	23 May 2004	29 January 2006	1 year, 251 days	Indian National Congress
		Anand Sharma (born 1953) Rajya Sabha MP for Himachal Pradesh	29 January 2006	22 May 2009	3 years, 113 days
		Preneet Kaur (born 1944) MP for Patiala	28 May 2009	26 May 2014	4 years, 363 days		Manmohan II
		Shashi Tharoor (born 1956) MP for Thiruvananthapuram	28 May 2009	19 April 2010	326 days
		E. Ahamed (1938–2017) MP for Malappuram	19 January 2011	26 May 2014	3 years, 127 days	Indian Union Muslim League
		General V. K. Singh (Retd.) PVSM AVSM YSM ADC (born 1950) MP for Ghaziabad	27 May 2014	30 May 2019	5 years, 3 days	Bharatiya Janata Party	Modi I		Narendra Modi
		M. J. Akbar (born 1951) Rajya Sabha MP for Madhya Pradesh	5 July 2016	17 October 2018	2 years, 104 days
		V. Muraleedharan (born 1958) Rajya Sabha MP for Maharashtra	31 May 2019	9 June 2024	5 years, 9 days		Modi II
		Meenakshi Lekhi (born 1967) MP for New Delhi	7 July 2021	9 June 2024	2 years, 338 days
		Rajkumar Ranjan Singh (born 1952) MP for Inner Manipur	7 July 2021	9 June 2024	2 years, 338 days
		Kirti Vardhan Singh (born 1966) MP for Gonda	10 June 2024	Incumbent	1 year, 118 days		Modi III
		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

External links

• Official Website of Ministry of External Affairs
• MEA Library