| Jawaharlal Nehru | August 15, 1947 to May 27, 1964 |
| Gulzarilal Nanda | May 27, 1964 to June 9, 1964 |
| Lal Bahadur Shastri | June 9, 1964 to January 11, 1966 |
| Gulzarilal Nanda | January 11, 1966 to January 24, 1966 |
| Indira Gandhi | January 24, 1966 to March 24, 1977 |
| Morarji Desai | March 24, 1977 to July 28, 1979 |
| Choudhary Charan Singh | July 28, 1979 to January 14, 1980 |
| Indira Gandhi | January 14, 1980 to October 31, 1984 |
| Rajiv Gandhi | October 31, 1984 to December 2, 1989 |
| Vishwanath Pratap Singh | December 2, 1989 to November 10, 1990 |
| Chandra Shekhar | November 10, 1990 to June 21, 1991 |
| P. V. Narasimha Rao | June 21, 1991 to May 16, 1996 |
| Atal Behari Vajpayee | May 16, 1996 to June 1, 1996 |
| H. D. Deve Gowda | June 1, 1996 to April 21, 1997 |
| Inder Kumar Gujral | April 21, 1997 to March 19, 1998 |
| Atal Behari Vajpayee | March 19, 1998 to May 22, 2004 |
| Dr. Manmohan Singh | May 22, 2004 to till date |