List of National Defence Academy alumni

The Indian National Defence Academy (NDA) is the joint services academy of the Indian Armed Forces, where cadets of the three armed forces (the Army, the Navy and the Air Force) train together before beginning pre-commission training at their respective service academies (Indian Military Academy (IMA), Indian Naval Academy (INA), and Air Force Academy (AFA) for army, navy, and air force cadets respectively). Established in 1954 and located in vicinity of Khadakwasla Dam, near Pune, it is the world's first tri-service academy.^[1][2]

The Sudan Block of NDA

NDA is not the only officer training academy in India. Besides NDA, which is tri-service academy, the Indian Army's IMA,^[3] Officers Training Academy (OTA),^[4][5] Army Cadet College (ACC), the Indian Navy's INA,^[6] and the Air Force's AFA are the other officer training academies of India. Besides cadets from NDA, these academies accept cadets separately from several streams. Apart from these, the Indian Army has three establishments for technical stream which include College of Military Engineering (CME),^[7] Military College of Telecommunication Engineering (MCTE),^[8] and Military College of Electronics and Mechanical Engineering (MCEME).^[9] Although cadets are imparted technical training at these three academies, they are commissioned through OTA, Gaya.^[10] Excluding all these establishments, which are meant for combat arms, the Indian Army has other commissioning academies for support services such as the Medical Corps,^[11] and the Judge Advocate General's Department for example.^[12]

Similarly, the Aeronautical Engineers (Electronics) and Aeronautical Engineers (Mechanical) are trained at the Air Force Technical College at Jalahalli, Bengaluru; the Meteorological branch officer cadets get their training at Air Force Administrative College, Coimbatore.

NDA alumni have led and participated in every major conflict in which the Indian Armed Forces have been called into action since the academy was founded.^[1] Alumni include three Param Vir Chakra recipients and twelve Ashoka Chakra recipients.^[13][14] The NDA has produced 36 service chiefs of staff, including the incumbent chiefs of staff of the Army, Navy and Air Force.^[15]

Chiefs of staff

General Vijay Kumar Singh

Admiral Arun Prakash

Admiral Robin Kumar Dhowan

Admiral Sunil Lanba

Air Chief Marshal Pradeep Vasant Naik

Air Chief Marshal Norman Anil Kumar Browne

Air Chief Marshal Arup Raha

As of October 2025^[update], the academy has produced 2 Chiefs of Defence Staff, 15 Chiefs of the Army Staff (COAS), 13 Chiefs of the Naval Staff (CNS) and 11 Chiefs of the Air Staff (CAS). All incumbent service chiefs (Chief of the Army Staff General Upendra Dwivedi, Chief of the Naval Staff Admiral Dinesh Kumar Tripathi and Chief of the Air Staff ACM Amar Preet Singh) are NDA alumni.^[15]

Chief of Defence Staff

S.No	Name	Course Number	Notes
1	General Bipin Rawat PVSM UYSM AVSM YSM SM VSM	53	First CDS
2	General Anil Chauhan PVSM UYSM AVSM SM VSM		Incumbent

Chief of the Army Staff

S.No	Name	Course Number	Notes[15]
1	General Sunith Francis Rodrigues PVSM VSM	1	26th Governor of Punjab.[16][17]
2	General Bipin Chandra Joshi PVSM VSM	5	Died in harness.[18][19]
3	General Shankar Roy Chowdhury PVSM	10	Former Member of Parliament (Rajya Sabha).[20][21][22]
4	General Ved Prakash Malik PVSM AVSM	14	[23][24]
5	General Sundararajan Padmanabhan PVSM AVSM VSM	15	[25]
6	General Nirmal Chander Vij PVSM UYSM AVSM	21	Former National Disaster Management Authority vice-chair; Vivekananda International Foundation director[26][27][28][29]
7	General Joginder Jaswant Singh PVSM AVSM VSM	25	14th Governor of Arunachal Pradesh[30]
8	General Deepak Kapoor PVSM AVSM SM VSM	30	[31]
9	General Vijay Kumar Singh PVSM AVSM YSM	36	Union Minister of State for External Affairs; Union Minister of State for Overseas Indian Affairs; Minister of State for Statistics and Programme Implementation; Former Minister for Development of North Eastern Region; Member of Indian Parliament for Ghaziabad[32][33][34][35]
10	General Bikram Singh PVSM UYSM AVSM SM VSM	40	[36][37]
11	General Dalbir Singh PVSM UYSM AVSM VSM	44	[38][39]
12	General Bipin Rawat PVSM UYSM AVSM YSM SM VSM	53	First CDS, Padma Vibhushan
13	General Manoj Mukund Naravane PVSM AVSM SM VSM	56	[40]
14	General Manoj Pande PVSM AVSM VSM	61
15	General Upendra Dwivedi PVSM AVSM		Current COAS.

Chief of the Naval Staff

S.No	Name	Course Number	Notes[15]
1	Admiral Laxmi Narayan Ramdas PVSM AVSM VrC VSM	1	2004 Ramon Magsaysay Award for Peace and International Understanding[41]
2	Admiral Vijai Singh Shekhawat PVSM AVSM VrC	7	Former Vice Chairman of Outward Bound India;[42] Vivekananda International Foundation advisory board member[43]
3	Admiral Vishnu Bhagwat PVSM AVSM	14	[44]
4	Admiral Sushil Kumar PVSM UYSM AVSM NM	16	[45]
5	Admiral Madhvendra Singh PVSM AVSM	20	[28]
6	Admiral Arun Prakash PVSM AVSM VSM	26	[46]
7	Admiral Sureesh Mehta PVSM AVSM	29	Former High Commissioner to New Zealand.[47][48]
8	Admiral Nirmal Kumar Verma PVSM AVSM	35	24th High Commissioner to Canada.[49][50]
9	Admiral Robin Kumar Dhowan PVSM AVSM YSM	45	[51]
10	Admiral Sunil Lanba PVSM AVSM	51	[52]
11	Admiral Karambir Singh PVSM AVSM	56	[53][54][55]
12	Admiral Radhakrishnan Hari Kumar PVSM AVSM VSM	61
13	Admiral Dinesh Kumar Tripathi PVSM AVSM NM		Current CNS.

Chief of the Air Staff

S.No	Name	Course Number	Notes[15]
1	Air Chief Marshal Nirmal Chandra Suri PVSM AVSM VM	1	[56]
2	Air Chief Marshal Swaroop Krishna Kaul PVSM MVC	5	[57]
3	Air Chief Marshal Satish Kumar Sareen PVSM AVSM VM	12	[58]
4	Air Chief Marshal Anil Yashwant Tipnis PVSM AVSM VM	15	[59]
5	Air Chief Marshal Pradeep Vasant Naik PVSM VSM	33	[60]
6	Air Chief Marshal Norman Anil Kumar Browne PVSM VM	39	Ambassador to Norway[61][62]
7	Air Chief Marshal Arup Raha PVSM AVSM VM	44	[63][15]
8	Air Chief Marshal Birender Singh Dhanoa PVSM AVSM YSM VM	52	[64]
9	Air Chief Marshal Rakesh Kumar Singh Bhadauria PVSM AVSM VM	56	Former CAS[65]
10	Air Chief Marshal Vivek Ram Chaudhari PVSM AVSM VM	61
11	Air Chief Marshal Amar Preet Singh PVSM AVSM		Current CAS.

Gallantry award recipients

Wartime

As of September 2023^[update], 3 Param Vir Chakras, 32 Maha Vir Chakras and 163 Vir Chakras have been awarded to NDA officers.^[66]

Param Vir Chakra

Three officers from NDA have posthumously received the Param Vir Chakra, India's highest wartime gallantry award. All three were from the Army.^[13]

S.No	Name	Course Number	Unit	Year[67]
1	Captain Gurbachan Singh Salaria	9	3/1 Gorkha Rifles	1961[68]
2	Second Lieutenant Arun Khetarpal	38	17 Poona Horse	1971[69]
3	Captain Manoj Kumar Pandey	90	1/11 Gorkha Rifles	1999[70]

Maha Vir Chakra

32 NDA officers have received the Maha Vir Chakra, India's second-highest wartime gallantry award: two from the Air Force, one from the Navy and the remainder from the Army. Ten received the award posthumously. Air Force squadron leader Padmanabha Gautam is the only NDA officer to receive the award twice, in 1965 and 1971 (posthumously).^[71]

S.No	Name[a]	Course Number	Unit	Year[72]
1	Lieutenant Colonel Raj Mohan Vohra	1	Armoured Corps	1971[73]
2	Lieutenant Colonel Hanut Singh	1	Armoured Corps	1971[74]
3	Lieutenant Colonel Kulwant Singh Pannu	1	Infantry	1971[75]
4	Lieutenant Colonel Narinder Singh Sandhu	2	Infantry	1971[76]
5	Wing Commander Padmanabha Gautam	3	Indian Air Force	1965, 1971[b][71]
6	Major Sushil Kumar Mathur	3	Artillery	1965[77][78]
7	Lieutenant Colonel Sukhjit Singh	4	Armoured Corps	1971[79]
8	Second Lieutenant Shamsher Singh	5	Infantry	1971[80]
9	Lieutenant Colonel Raj Kumar Singh	5	Infantry	1971[81]
10	Lieutenant Colonel Harish Chandra Pathak	5	Infantry	1971[82]
11	Wing Commander Swaroop Krishna Kaul	5	Indian Air Force	1971[83][84]
12	Lieutenant Colonel Ved Prakash Ghai	5	Infantry	1971[b][85]
13	Lieutenant Colonel Surinder Kapur	7	Infantry	1971[86]
14	Lieutenant Colonel Ved Prakash Airy	8	Infantry	1972[87]
15	Major Bhaskar Roy	9	Armoured Corps	1965[88]
16	Major Daljit Singh Narang	9	Armoured Corps	1972[b]
17	Lieutenant Commander Santosh Kumar Gupta NM	10	Indian Navy	1971[89]
18	Major Vijay Rattan Choudhry	13	Corps of Engineers	1971
19	Major Vijay Kumar Berry	14	Infantry	1971[90]
20	Brigadier Manjit Singh	19	Infantry	1987[91]
21	Second Lieutenant Bhagwan Dutt Dogra	20	Infantry	1962[92]
22	Major Amarjit Singh Bal	22	Armoured Corps	1971[93]
23	Captain Gautam Mubayi	23	Infantry	1965[b][94]
24	Captain Pradip Kumar Gour	25	Infantry	1971[95]
25	Major Basdev Singh Mankotia	28	Infantry	1971[96]
26	Lieutenant Colonel Inder Bal Singh Bawa	30	Infantry	1971[b][97]
27	Captain Devinder Singh Ahlawat	31	Infantry	1971[b][98]
28	Major Vivek Gupta	80	2 Rajputana	1999[b][99]
29	Captain Anuj Nayyar	90	17 Jat	1999[b]
30	Captain Gurjinder Singh Suri	90	12 Bihar	2001[b][100]
31	Colonel B. Santosh Babu	102	16 Bihar	2021[101]

Vir Chakra

163 NDA alumni have been awarded the Vir Chakra, India's third-highest wartime award. Of these, 96 are from the Army, 13 from the Navy and 54 from the Air Force. Notable recipients include Admirals Laxmi Narayan Ramdas, Vijai Singh Shekhawat, Arun Prakash, Lieutenant General Yogesh Kumar Joshi and Wing Commander Abhinandan Varthaman.^[102]

Peacetime

As of September 2023^[update], 12 Ashok Chakras,^[14] 45 Kirti Chakras,^[103] and 152 Shaurya Chakras,^[104] have been awarded to NDA officers.^[66]

Ashoka Chakra

Twelve NDA officers have received the Ashok Chakra, India's highest peacetime gallantry award. Of them, one is from the Air Force and the remainder are from the Army. Eleven officers received the award posthumously.^[66] Wing commander Rakesh Sharma of the Air Force is the only living NDA Air Force officer to receive the award.^[105][106]

S.No	Name[a]	Course Number	Unit	Notes
1	Second Lieutenant Pollur Mutthuswamy Raman	10	3 Sikh Li	CI Ops Naga Hill-03 Jun 1956
2	Squadron Leader Rakesh Sharma	35	Indian Air Force	Only Indian national to go into space; Hero of the Soviet Union[105][106][107]
3	Colonel Neelakantan Jayachandran Nair KC	38	16 Maratha Light Infantry	1994;[b] Kirti Chakra (1983)[108][109]
4	Major Sudhir Kumar Walia	72	9 Para (SF)	2000;[b] Sena Medal recipient[110][111]
5	Captain Arjun Singh Jasrotia	73	9 Para (SF)	1996;[b] Sena Medal recipient[110][112]
6	Major Rajiv Kumar Joon SC	78	22 Grenadiers	1995;[b] Shaurya Chakra recipient[113][114]
7	Second Lieutenant Rakesh Singh	79	22 Grenadiers	1993[b][115][108]
8	Second Lieutenant Puneet Nath Datt	87	1/11 Gorkha Rifles	1997[b][116]
9	Major Mohit Sharma	95	1 Para (SF)	2010;[b] Sena Medal recipient[117][118]
10	Major Dinesh Raghu Raman	95	Rashtriya Rifles	2008;[b] COAS commendation[119][120]
11	Major Sandeep Unnikrishnan	94	7 Bihar 51 SAG (NSG)	2009,[b] Operation Black Tornado[121][122][123][124]
12	Captain Radhakrishnan Nair Harshan	101	2 Para (SF)	2007[b][125]

Kirti Chakra

Forty five NDA alumni have received the Kirti Chakra, India's second-highest peacetime gallantry award. Notable recipients include Colonel Neelakantan Jayachandran Nair, who is also an Ashok Chakra recipient and Lieutenant colonel Nectar Sanjenbam who is also a Shaurya Chakra recipient.^[109][126]

Shaurya Chakra

A total of 152 NDA alumni have received the Shaurya Chakra, India's third-highest peacetime gallantry award. Notable recipients include Major Rajiv Kumar Joon, who is also an Ashok Chakra recipient.^[127]

Padma Awards

The Padma Awards - Padma Vibhushan, Padma Bhushan, and Padma Shri - are among the highest civilian honours in India.

Padma Vibhushan

General Bipin Rawat (53rd course) served as the first Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) of the Indian Armed Forces from January 2020 until his death in a helicopter crash in December 2021. Prior to taking over as the CDS, he served as the 57th Chairman of the Chiefs of Staff Committee (Chairman COSC) of the Indian Armed Forces as well as 27th Chief of the Army Staff. He was posthumously honoured with the Padma Vibhushan in 2022.

Padma Bhushan

Commodore Arogyaswami Paulraj (25th course), an Emeritus Professor at Stanford University, is noted for pioneering MIMO (Multiple Input, Multiple Output) wireless technology. This transformative innovation is the cornerstone of today's universal 4G/5G mobile and WiFi networks and has earned him numerous global awards.

Commissioned in 1965, he retired pre-maturely from the Indian Navy in 1991 before emigrating to the US. During his Naval service, he led the development of APSOH, the world's leading shallow-water anti-submarine sonar system, contributing significantly to the country's self-reliance. Paulraj also founded three national laboratories for the Indian government: the Center for AI and Robotics, the Center for Development of Advanced Computing, and the Central Research Labs (BEL). He received the Padma Bhushan in 2010 for his contributions to defense technology in India.

Padma Shri

Colonel Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore

Colonel Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore (77th course) won the Silver medal in men's double trap at the 2004 Summer Olympics. He was awarded the Arjuna Award, the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna award and the Padma Shri. He also won 3 gold medals and 1 silver medal in the Commonwealth Games^[c] and 1 silver and 1 bronze medal in the Asian Games.^[d]

He joined politics and was elected as the Member of Parliament from Jaipur, Rajasthan and served as the Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Information & Broadcasting, Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Youth Affairs and Sports the Government of India.^{[128][129][130][131][132][133][134]}

Others

No.	Name	Military awards	Course number	Notes
1	Major General Ian Cardozo AVSM SM	AVSM, SM	12	First NDA cadet to receive both gold and silver medals; First war-disabled officer of the Indian Army to command a battalion and a brigade.[135]