List of Foreign Minister of India from 1947 to 2023

The list of Foreign Ministers of India is a long and illustrious one, with many notable personalities having held the position over the years. Some of the most prominent names include Jawaharlal Nehru, Indira Gandhi, Atal Bihari Vajpayee, and Sushma Swaraj, among others. Each of these individuals has left their own unique mark on India’s foreign policy, and their contributions are still remembered and celebrated today.

India has seen many foreign ministers since of independence of India in 1947 and each foreign minister has their own importance in building India’s foreign policy. Here we bring you the complete Foreign Ministers of India list along with their basic details such as term of office, tenure and political party name with which they were associated.

Jawahar Lal Nehru became the 1st Foreign Minister of India & served for more than 16 years. Famous personalities like Indira Gandhi, Rajiv Gandhi, I.K Gujral, Chandra Shekhar, Jaswant Singh, Manmohan Singh, Pranab Mukherjee, Sushma Swaraj, S. Jaishankar also served as the foreign minister of India. In this article, we will describe some of the most interesting information about our foreign ministers.

List of Foreign Ministers of India

Here is the complete list of foreign ministers in India from the year 1947 to 2022:-

Name	Term of Office	Tenure	Party Name
Jawaharlal Nehru	15 August 1947 to 27 May 1964	16 years, 286 days	Indian National Congress
Gulzarilal Nanda	27 May 1964 to 9 June 1964	13 days	Indian National Congress
Lal Bahadur Shastri	9 June 1964 to 17 July 1964	38 days	Indian National Congress
Swaran Singh	18 July 1964 to 14 November 1966	2 years, 119 days	Indian National Congress
M. C. Chagla	14 November 1966 to 5 September 1967	295 days	Indian National Congress
Indira Gandhi	6 September 1967 to 13 February 1969	1 year, 160 days	Indian National Congress
Dinesh Singh	14 February 1969 to 27 June 1970	1 year, 133 days	Indian National Congress
Swaran Singh	27 June 1970 to 10 October 1974	4 years, 105 days	Indian National Congress
Yashwantrao Chavan	10 October 1974 to 24 March 1977	2 years, 165 days	Indian National Congress
Atal Bihari Vajpayee	26 March 1977 to 28 July 1979	2 years, 124 days	Janata Party
Shyam Nandan Prasad Mishra	28 July 1979 to 14 January 1980	170 days	Janata Party (Secular)
P. V. Narasimha Rao	14 January 1980 to 19 July 1984	4 years, 187 days	Indian National Congress
Indira Gandhi	19 July 1984 to 31 October 1984	104 days	Indian National Congress
Rajiv Gandhi	31 October 1984 to 24 September 1985	328 days	Indian National Congress
Bali Ram Bhagat	25 September 1985 to 12 May 1986	230 days	Indian National Congress
P. Shiv Shankar	12 May 1986 to 22 October 1986	163 days	Indian National Congress
N. D. Tiwari	22 October 1986 to 25 July 1987	276 days	Indian National Congress
Rajiv Gandhi	25 July 1987 to 25 June 1988	336 days	Indian National Congress
P. V. Narasimha Rao	25 June 1988 to 2 December 1989	1 year, 160 days	Indian National Congress
V. P. Singh	2 December 1989 to 5 December 1989	3 days	Janata Dal
I. K. Gujral	5 December 1989 to 10 November 1990	340 days	Janata Dal
Chandra Shekhar	10 November 1990 to 21 November 1990	11 days	Samajwadi Janata Party (Rashtriya)
Vidya Charan Shukla	21 November 1990 to 20 February 1991	91 days	Samajwadi Janata Party (Rashtriya)
Chandra Shekhar	20 February 1991 to 21 June 1991	121 days	Samajwadi Janata Party (Rashtriya)
Madhavsinh Solanki	21 June 1991 to 31 March 1992	284 days	Indian National Congress
P. V. Narasimha Rao	31 March 1992 to 18 January 1993	293 days	Indian National Congress
Dinesh Singh	18 January 1993 to 10 February 1995	2 years, 23 days	Indian National Congress
Pranab Mukherjee	10 February 1995 to 16 May 1996	1 year, 96 days	Indian National Congress
Sikander Bakht	21 May 1996 to 1 June 1996	11 days	Bharatiya Janata Party
I. K. Gujral	1 June 1996 to 18 March 1998	1 year, 291 days	Janata Dal
Atal Bihari Vajpayee	19 March 1998 to 5 December 1998	261 days	Bharatiya Janata Party
Jaswant Singh	5 December 1998 to 1 July 2002	3 years, 208 days	Bharatiya Janata Party
Yashwant Sinha	1 July 2002 to 22 May 2004	1 year, 326 days	Bharatiya Janata Party
Natwar Singh	22 May 2004 to 6 November 2005	1 year, 168 days	Indian National Congress
Manmohan Singh	6 November 2005 to 24 October 2006	352 days	Indian National Congress
Pranab Mukherjee	24 October 2006 to 22 May 2009	2 years, 210 days	Indian National Congress
S. M. Krishna	22 May 2009 to 26 October 2012	3 years, 157 days	Indian National Congress
Salman Khurshid	28 October 2012 to 26 May 2014	1 year, 210 days	Indian National Congress
Sushma Swaraj	26 May 2014 to 30 May 2019	5 years, 4 days	Bharatiya Janata Party
Subrahmanyam Jaishankar	30 May 2019-Incumbent	3 years, 28 days	Bharatiya Janata Party

Foreign Ministers of India – FAQ’s

Who was the first foreign minister of India

Jawahar Lal Nehru was the first foreign minister of independent India.

What was the tenure of Sushma Swaraj as Foreign Minister

Sushma Swaraj became the foreign minister from 26 May 2014 to 30 May 2019 and her tenure in office was 5 years 4 days.

Who is the longest serving foreign minister of India

Jawahar Lal Nehru from 15 August 1947 to 27 May 1964 (16 years, 286 days).

Who is the shortest serving foreign minister of India

V.P. Singh from 2 December 1989 to 5 December 1989 (3 days).

Official Website for Ministry of External Affairs – https://www.mea.gov.in/