Chief of Materiel (Indian Navy)

The Chief of Materiel (COM) is a senior Indian Navy appointment in the rank of Vice-Admiral. As a Principal Staff Officer (PSO) at Naval Headquarters (NHQ), the COM is responsible for all aspects of maintenance management and life-cycle support of all engineering, electrical, electronic, weapons, sensors, and IT-related systems for ships and submarines, along with responsibility for the creation of major marine and technical infrastructure. The present COM is Vice-Admiral Kiran Deshmukh, who succeeded Vice-Admiral Sandeep Naithani on 1 January 2024.

Chief of Materiel
Flag of the Vice Admiral
Incumbent Kiran Deshmukh since 1 June 2021
Indian Navy
Type	Principal Staff Officer
Abbreviation	COM
Reports to	Chief of the Naval Staff
Seat	Naval Headquarters, New Delhi

History

In 1949, the Naval headquarters was reorganised and appointment of Chief of Material (COM) was created. The appointment was held by an officer of the rank of Captain. The COM was to look after the material resources of the service. The Director of Naval engineering, Staff Officer (Dockyard), Director Armament Supply and the Director of Electrical Engineering reported into the COM.^[1]

The appointment was filled by the Chief of Administration as an additional charge until the early 1950s. Captain Daya Shankar, DSC was the first Indian to serve as the COM full-time.

Organisation

The COM heads the Materiel Branch at the Naval Headquarters. The following Directors General/Controllers/Assistant Principal Staff Officers report into the COM:^[2]

• Controller of Logistics
  • Assistant Controller of Logistics
• Assistant Chief of Materiel (Nuclear System Maintenance)
• Assistant Chief of Materiel (Information Technology & Systems)
• Assistant Chief of Materiel (Dockyard & Refit)
• Assistant Chief of Materiel (Modernisation)

Appointees

S.No.	Name	Assumed office	Left office	Notes
1	Captain Bhaskar Sadashiv Soman	February 1949	October 1949	While also serving as Chief of Administration.[1][3]
2	Captain S. G. Karmarkar	October 1949	October 1950	While also serving as Chief of Administration.[3][4]
3	Captain G. S. Kapoor	October 1950	1951?	While also serving as Chief of Administration.[5]
4	Captain Albert Henry Fitch Hunt	1951?	1952	Seconded from the Royal Navy.[6]
5	Captain Ian Frederick Montague Newnham	1952?	July 1954	Seconded from the Royal Navy. Last British appointee.[7]
6	Commodore Daya Shankar DSC	July 1954 [n 1]	December 1957	First Indian appointee.[7]
7	Commodore B. N. Lele	December 1957	January 1962	[9]
8	Commodore Sardarilal Mathradas Nanda	February 1962	May 1962	[10]
	Commodore C. L. Bhandari	May 1962	1963	Officiating.[11]
9	Commodore Sourendra Nath Kohli	1963	January 1965	[12]
10	Rear Admiral P. S. Mahindroo	February 1965[n 2]	January 1968	[13][14][15]
11	Rear Admiral Vasudeva Anant Kamath	December 1967	December 1968	[15]
12	Rear Admiral Kamalakar Laxman Kulkarni	December 1968	March 1973	[16][17]
13	Vice Admiral Rajendra Tandon PVSM, AVSM	April 1973 [n 3]	30 June 1976	[18][19]
14	Vice Admiral J. T. G. Pereira PVSM, AVSM	1 July 1976	30 June 1979	[20][21]
15	Vice Admiral A. K. Bhatia PVSM, AVSM, VSM	1 July 1979	31 January 1983	[21][22]
16	Vice Admiral Narendra Bhalla AVSM	1 February 1983		[23]
17	Vice Admiral L.R. Mehta		February 1986	[24]
18	Vice Admiral S.B.N. Singh PVSM, AVSM	1 March 1986	1 April 1988	[25]
19	Vice Admiral I. C. Rao PVSM, AVSM	1 April 1988	31 March 1993	[26]
20	Vice Admiral Mauli Bhushan Ghosh PVSM, AVSM, NM	1 April 1993	31 January 1994	[27][28]
21	Vice Admiral A.V.R. Narayana Rao PVSM, AVSM, VSM	28 March 1994	31 August 1995	[29]
22	Vice Admiral Adolph Britto PVSM, AVSM, VSM	31 August 1995	30 April 1997	[30][31]
23	Vice Admiral A. S. R. Krishnan PVSM, AVSM, VSM	April 1997	2001	[32]
24	Vice Admiral Parvesh Jaitly	July 2001	2006	[33]
25	Vice Admiral D. S. P. Verma AVSM, VSM	2006	1 December 2007	[34]
26	Vice Admiral Birinder Singh Randhawa AVSM, VSM	1 December 2007	30 December 2008	[34]
27	Vice Admiral Dilip Deshpande AVSM, VSM	31 December 2008	31 October 2009	[35]
28	Vice Admiral Ganesh Mahadevan AVSM, VSM	31 October 2009	30 April 2012	[36]
29	Vice Admiral B. Kannan AVSM, VSM	30 April 2012		[37]
30	Vice Admiral N. N. Kumar AVSM, VSM		31 March 2014	[38]
31	Vice Admiral K. R. Nair AVSM, VSM	31 March 2014	2015	[38]
32	Vice Admiral A. V. Subhedar PVSM, AVSM, VSM		31 October 2016
33	Vice Admiral G. S. Pabby PVSM, AVSM, VSM	31 October 2016	1 September 2020	[39]
34	Vice Admiral S. R. Sarma AVSM, VSM	1 September 2020	31 May 2021	[40][41]
35	Vice Admiral Sandeep Naithani AVSM, VSM	1 June 2021	31 December 2023	[41]
36	Vice Admiral Kiran Deshmukh AVSM, VSM	1 January 2024	Present	[42]

Notes

1. Post upgraded to Commodore 2nd Class on 24 September 1956.^[8]
2. Post upgraded to Rear Admiral 17 August 1965.^[13]
3. Post upgraded to Vice-Admiral in March 1973.^[18]