Vice Chief of the Naval Staff (India)

The Vice Chief of the Naval Staff (VCNS) is a statutory position in the Indian Armed Forces, that is usually held by a three star vice admiral. The Vice Chief is the deputy of the Chief of the Naval Staff and is usually the second highest ranking officer of the Indian Navy. The current VCNS is Vice Admiral Sanjay Vatsayan who took over from Vice Admiral Krishna Swaminathan on 1 August 2025.

Vice Chief of the Naval Staff
Flag of the Vice Admiral
Incumbent Vice Admiral Sanjay Vatsayan since 1 August 2025
Indian Navy
Type	Principal Staff Officer
Status	Vice Chief
Abbreviation	VCNS
Reports to	Chief of the Naval Staff
Seat	Naval Headquarters, New Delhi
Formation	11 May 1967
First holder	Sourendra Nath Kohli

History

At the time of independence of India on 15 August 1947, the Chief of Staff to the Commander-in-Chief, Royal Indian Navy was the de facto Second-in-command. The appointment was held by an officer of the rank of Commodore. In 1949, the Chief of Staff was also made Deputy Commander-in-Chief RIN.^[1] In 1955, the post was re-designated Deputy Chief of the Naval Staff.^[2] In 1959, the post was upgraded to Two-star rank.^[3]

On 11 May 1967, the office was re-designated to Vice Chief of the Naval Staff, in line with the Indian Army and Indian Air Force. It was first held by Sourendra Nath Kohli. The appointment was then in the two-star rank of rear admiral.^[4] On 12 December 1967, Nilakanta Krishnan succeeded Kohli as VCNS, with the office being raised to the three-star rank of Vice-Admiral in March 1969.^[5]

Organisation

The VCNS heads the Staff Branch-I at the Naval Headquarters. The following Directors General/Controllers/Assistant Principal Staff Officers report into the VCNS.^[6]

• Chief Hydrographer
• Inspector General Nuclear Safety (IGNS)
• Controller Warship Production & Acquisition (CWP&A)
• Director General Project Seabird
• Assistant Chief of the Naval Staff (Policy & Plans)
• Assistant Chief of the Naval Staff (Staff Requirements)
• Principal Director Naval Plans (PDNP)
• Integrated Financial Advisor (Navy)
• Director General of Naval Armament (DGONA)
• Director General Naval Armament Inspectorate (DGNAI)
• Scientific Adviser to the Chief of the Naval Staff (SA to CNS)

Order of precedence

The VCNS ranks at No. 23 on the Indian order of precedence, along with the Vice Chiefs of Staff of the Indian Army and Indian Air Force and the Army Commanders (GOC-in-C), Naval Commanders (FOC-in-C) and Air Commanders (AOC-in-C).^[7] The VCNS is at the Apex Pay grade (Grade 17), with a monthly pay of ₹225,000 (US$3,200).^[8]

Appointees

The following table chronicles the appointees to the office of the Vice Chief of the Naval Staff.

S.No.	Photo	Name	Assumed office	Left office	Notes
1		Rear Admiral Sourendra Nath Kohli	11 May 1967	11 December 1967	Later Chief of the Naval Staff.[4]
2		Vice Admiral Nilakanta Krishnan PVSM, DSC	12 December 1967 [n 1]	20 February 1970	Flag Officer Commanding-in-Chief Eastern Naval Command during the Indo-Pakistani War of 1971.[9][10]
3		Vice Admiral Jal Cursetji PVSM	20 February 1970	26 February 1973	Later Chief of the Naval Staff.[11]
4		Vice Admiral V. A. Kamath PVSM	31 March 1973	31 March 1977	Later Director General of the Indian Coast Guard.[12]
5		Vice Admiral Ronald Lynsdale Pereira AVSM	5 April 1977	28 February 1979	Later Chief of the Naval Staff.[13]
6		Vice Admiral Swaraj Parkash PVSM, MVC, AVSM	1 March 1979	31 March 1980	Later Director General of the Indian Coast Guard.[14]
7		Vice Admiral M. R. Schunker PVSM, AVSM	1 April 1980	1 March 1982	Later Director General of the Indian Coast Guard.[15]
8		Vice Admiral Sardari Lal Sethi AVSM, NM	1 March 1982	30 May 1983	[16][17]
9		Vice Admiral Subimal Mookerjee AVSM	31 May 1983	29 April 1984	[18]
10		Vice Admiral Radhakrishna Hariram Tahiliani PVSM, AVSM	2 May 1984	27 November 1984	Later Chief of the Naval Staff.[19]
11		Vice Admiral K. K. Nayyar PVSM, AVSM	28 November 1984	28 February 1986	[20]
12		Vice Admiral Jayant Ganpat Nadkarni PVSM, AVSM, NM, VSM	28 February 1986	30 November 1987	Later Chief of the Naval Staff.[21][22]
13		Vice Admiral Gulab Mohanlal Hiranandani PVSM, AVSM, NM	8 December 1987	28 February 1989	[23]
14		Vice Admiral S. C. Chopra PVSM, AVSM, NM	28 February 1989	30 June 1990	Later Flag Officer Commanding-in-Chief Eastern Naval Command.[24]
15		Vice Admiral H. Johnson PVSM, VSM	30 June 1990	31 December 1990	[25][26]
16		Vice Admiral Suren P. Govil PVSM, AVSM	31 December 1990	31 October 1992	[27]
17		Vice Admiral Vijai Singh Shekhawat PVSM, AVSM, VrC	31 October 1992	30 September 1993	Later Chief of the Naval Staff.[28]
18		Vice Admiral S. K. Chand PVSM, AVSM	15 October 1993	30 November 1995	[29]
19		Vice Admiral Kailash K. Kohli AVSM	30 November 1995	19 October 1996	Later Director General of the Indian Coast Guard.[30]
20		Vice Admiral Sushil Kumar PVSM, UYSM, AVSM, NM	19 October 1996	31 March 1998	Later Chief of the Naval Staff.[31]
21		Vice Admiral P. J. Jacob AVSM, VSM	31 March 1998	28 February 2001	[32]
22		Vice Admiral Madhvendra Singh PVSM, AVSM	1 March 2001	1 January 2002	Later Chief of the Naval Staff.[32]
23		Vice Admiral John Colin De Silva PVSM, AVSM	1 January 2002	30 September 2003	[33]
24		Vice Admiral Arun Prakash PVSM, AVSM, VrC, VSM	17 October 2003	30 July 2004	Later Chief of the Naval Staff.[34]
25		Vice Admiral Yashwant Prasad PVSM, AVSM, VSM	30 July 2004	31 October 2005	[35]
26		Vice Admiral Venkat Bharathan PVSM, AVSM, VSM	31 October 2005	30 November 2006	[36]
27		Vice Admiral Nirmal Kumar Verma PVSM, AVSM	30 November 2006	1 April 2008	Later Chief of the Naval Staff.[37]
28		Vice Admiral R. P. Suthan	30 April 2008	30 July 2009	Later Flag Officer Commanding-in-Chief Eastern Naval Command.[38]
29		Vice Admiral D. K. Dewan	1 September 2009	30 August 2011	[39]
30		Vice Admiral Robin K. Dhowan PVSM, AVSM, YSM	31 August 2011	16 April 2014	Later Chief of the Naval Staff.[40][41]
31		Vice Admiral Sunil Lanba PVSM, AVSM	2 June 2014	30 March 2015	Later Chief of the Naval Staff.[42][43]
32		Vice Admiral Parasurama Naidu Murugesan AVSM, VSM	31 March 2015	30 May 2016	[44][45]
33		Vice Admiral Karambir Singh PVSM, AVSM	31 May 2016	30 October 2017	Later Chief of the Naval Staff.[46]
34		Vice Admiral Ajit Kumar P PVSM, AVSM, VSM	30 October 2017	30 January 2019	Later Flag Officer Commanding-in-Chief Western Naval Command.[47]
35		Vice Admiral G. Ashok Kumar PVSM, AVSM, VSM	30 January 2019	31 July 2021	[48]
36		Vice Admiral Satish Namdeo Ghormade PVSM, AVSM, NM, ADC	31 July 2021	31 March 2023	[49]
37		Vice Admiral Sanjay Jasjit Singh AVSM, NM	1 April 2023	31 December 2023	Later Flag Officer Commanding-in-Chief Western Naval Command[50]
38		Vice Admiral Dinesh K Tripathi AVSM, NM	4 January 2024	30 April 2024	Present Chief of the Naval Staff.[51]
39		Vice Admiral Krishna Swaminathan AVSM, VSM	1 May 2024	31 July 2025	Current Flag Officer Commanding-in-Chief Western Naval Command.[52]
40		Vice Admiral Sanjay Vatsayan AVSM, NM	1 August 2025	Present	[53]

See also

• Chief of the Naval Staff
• Vice Chief of the Air Staff
• Vice Chief of the Army Staff
• Deputy Chief of the Naval Staff

Notes

1. Appointed as rear admiral, appointment raised to the rank of vice-admiral 26 March 1969.^[5]

** Went on to become Chief of the Naval Staff.