List of All Prime Minister of India (1947-2023)
In India, the Prime Minister is the head of government and is appointed by the President of the country. A prime minister leads the whole functioning of the country’s ruling government. Since the country got her independence, there have been 15 different prime minister serving India. Jawaharlal Nehru was the first prime ministers of India and Narendra Modi is the current PM of the country. Get complete details of all Prime Ministers of India (1947-2023) here from this article.
All Prime Minister of India from 1947-2023
The table below presents the list of all Prime Ministers of India from 1947 to 2023 along with their tenure in office.
Prime Ministers | Tenure |
Jawaharlal Nehru | 15 August 1947 to 27 May 1964 |
Gulzarilal Nanda | 27 May 1964 to 9 June 1964 |
Lal Bahadur Shastri | 9 June 1964 to 11 January 1966 |
Gulzarilal Nanda | 11 January 1966 to 24 January 1966 |
Indira Gandhi | 24 January 1966 to 24 March 1977 |
Morarji Desai | 24 March 1977 to 28 July 1979 |
Charan Singh | 28 July 1979 to 14 January 1980 |
Indira Gandhi | 14 January 1980 to 31 October 1984 |
Rajiv Gandhi | 31 October 1984 to 2 December 1989 |
Vishwanath Pratap Singh | 2 December 1989 to 10 November 1990 |
Chandra Shekhar | 10 November 1990 to 21 June 1991 |
P. V. Narasimha Rao | 21 June 1991 to 16 May 1996 |
Atal Bihari Vajpayee | 16 May 1996 to 1 June 1996 |
H. D. Deve Gowda | 1 June 1996 to 21 April 1997 |
Inder Kumar Gujral | 21 April 1997 to 19 March 1998 |
Atal Bihari Vajpayee | 19 March 1998 to 22 May 2004 |
Manmohan Singh | 22 May 2004 to 26 May 2014 |
Narendra Modi | 26 May 2014 to present |
List of Prime Ministers of India from 1947 to 2023
Also Check List of President of India
1. Jawaharlal Nehru
Jawaharlal Nehru became the first Prime Minister of independent India after she got independent in 1947. Before this, Nehru was a principal leader of the Indian nationalist movement. He is the longest-serving prime minister of India (16 years, 286 days). Nehru died of a heart attack while he was still in office.
2. Gulzarilal Nanda
Gulzarilal Nanda served as the Interim Prime Minister of India for two 13-day tenures following the deaths of Jawaharlal Nehru in 1964 and Lal Bahadur Shastri in 1966. His terms as a PM ended after the ruling party elected a new prime minister.
3. Lal Bahadur Shastri
Lal Bahadur Shastri was the second Prime Minister of India who held the office from 1964 to 1966. Before this, he served as Home Minister of India from 1961 to 1963 and also led the country during the Indo-Pakistan War of 1965. He is the creatorofthe famous slogan “Jai Jawan, Jai Kisan”.
4. Indira Gandhi
Indira Gandhi was elected the prime minister of India in 1966 and was the first and only female prime minister of India. The daughter of the first prime minister, Jawaharlal Nehru, she was also the second longest-serving prime minister. Gandhi served as prime minister until she was assassinated in 1984.
5. Morarji Desai
Morarji Desai served as the Prime Minister of India between 1977 to 1979. This was the first time that a member from non-Congress party was elected a prime minister. Desai thusbecame the first non-Congress Prime Minister of India. He was awarded Bharat Ratna, India’s highest civilian honor.
6. Charan Singh
Known as the ‘champion of India’s peasants’, Chaudhary Charan Singh was the Prime Minister of India from 28 July 1979 to 14 January 1980. Charan Singh belonged to a rural peasant Hindu Jat family who entered politics as part of the Indian Independence Movement motivated by Mahatma Gandhi.
7. Rajiv Gandhi
Rajiv Gandhi assumed office after the assassination of his mother Indira Gandhi. Indira was assassinated while serving as the PMwhich led Rajiv to become the youngest Prime minister at the age of 40. he too was assassinated by a suicide bomber from the LTTE while campaigning for elections.
8. Vishwanath Pratap Singh
Vishwanath Pratap Singh (popularly known by his initials V. P. Singh) was the 7th Prime Minister of India and also the 41st Raja Bahadur of Manda and the country’s only prime minister to have been former royalty. Singh died in 2008 from complications of multiple myeloma and kidney failure.
9. Chandra Shekhar
When Chandra Shekhar became the Prime Minister of India he became the first person to do sowithout having any prior government office. His government was mostly seen as a lame duck government that could not pass the budget and went further down.
10. P. V. Narasimha Rao
Pamulaparthi Venkata Narasimha Rao was a lawyer, statesman and politician from India who served as the ninth prime minister. Rao is known for his various liberal reforms to India’s economy and played a major role in steering India through the 1991 economic crisis.
11. Atal Bihari Vajpayee
Atal Bihari Vajpayee was the first non-Congress prime Minister of India who served a full term in office from 1999 to 2004. prior to this, he also served for a term of 13 days in 1996 and again for a period of 13 months from 1998 to 1999.
12. H. D. Deve Gowda
Haradanahalli Doddegowda Deve Gowda served as the 11th prime minister of India and was also the 14th Chief Minister of Karnataka. Currently, he is a Member of Parliament in the Rajya Sabha representing Karnataka and also the National President of the Janata Dal (Secular) party.
13. Inder Kumar Gujral
Inder Kumar Gujral was a diplomat and freedom activist who was the prime minister of India from April 1997 to March 1998. Gujral took part in the freedom movement and was imprisoned for taking part in the Quit India movement. He became a member of Indian National Congress party in 1964.
14. Manmohan Singh
Manmohan Singh was the third longest-serving prime minister after Jawaharlal Nehru and Indira Gandhi. He was also the first prime minister after Jawaharlal Nehru to be re-elected after completing a full term in the office. In addition to this, Singh was also the first Sikh prime minister of the country.
15. Narendra Modi
Narendra Modi is the incumbent Prime Minister of India serving in the office since 2014. He is the first prime Minister born after the country’s independence. Before becoming the PM, Modi was the Chief Minister of Gujarat from 2001 to 2014.
Frequently Asked Questions
Indira Gandhi
Jawaharlal Nehru
Gulzarilal Nanda (13 days)