List of governors of Nagaland

This is a list of the governors of Nagaland, a state in Northeast India. R. N. Ravi has been appointed as the next governor of the state.

Governor of Nagaland
Incumbent Ajay Kumar Bhalla since 16 August 2025
Style	His Excellency
Residence	Raj Bhavan; Kohima
Appointer	President of India
Term length	At the pleasure of the president
Inaugural holder	Vishnu Sahay, ICS (Retd.)
Formation	1 December 1963; 61 years ago (1963-12-01)
Website	rajbhavan.nagaland.gov.in

List

Legend

• ^† Died in office
• ^§ Transferred
• ^‡ Resigned/removed

Color key

•    indicates acting/additional charge

#	Portrait	Name (born – died)	Home state	Tenure in office			Appointer (President)
				From	To	Time in office
1		Vishnu Sahay ICS (Retd) (1901–1989)	Uttar Pradesh	1 December 1963[lower-greek 1]	16 April 1968	4 years, 137 days	Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan
2		Braj Kumar Nehru ICS (Retd) (1909–2001)	Uttar Pradesh	17 April 1968[lower-greek 2]	18 September 1973	5 years, 154 days	Zakir Husain
3		Lallan Prasad Singh ICS (Retd) (1912–1998)	Bihar	19 September 1973[lower-greek 3]	9 August 1981	7 years, 324 days	V. V. Giri
4		S. M. H. Burney IAS (Retd) (1924–2014)	Uttar Pradesh	10 August 1981[lower-greek 4]	12 June 1984[§][lower-greek 5]	2 years, 307 days	Neelam Sanjiva Reddy
5		General K. V. Krishna Rao (Retd) Lua error: expandTemplate: template "post-nominals/IND" does not exist. (1923–2016)	Andhra Pradesh	13 June 1984[lower-greek 4]	19 July 1989[§][lower-greek 6]	5 years, 36 days	Zail Singh
6		Gopal Singh (1917–1990)	Punjab	20 July 1989	3 May 1990[‡]	287 days	Ramaswamy Venkataraman
7		M. M. Thomas (1916–1996)	Kerala	9 May 1990	12 April 1992[‡]	1 year, 339 days
–		Lokanath Misra (1921–2009) Governor of Assam (Additional Charge)	Orissa	13 April 1992	1 October 1993	1 year, 171 days
–		Lieutenant General V. K. Nayar (Retd) Lua error: expandTemplate: template "post-nominals/IND" does not exist. (d. 2015) Governor of Manipur (Additional Charge)	–	2 October 1993	4 August 1994	306 days	Shankar Dayal Sharma
8		Oudh Narayan Shrivastava IPS (Retd) (born 1935)	Madhya Pradesh	23 December 1994	11 November 1996[§][lower-greek 7]	4 years, 343 days
9		Om Prakash Sharma IPS (Retd)	Punjab	12 November 1996	27 January 2002	5 years, 76 days
10		Shyamal Datta IPS (Retd) (born 1941)	West Bengal	28 January 2002	2 February 2007	5 years, 5 days	K. R. Narayanan
11		Kateekal Sankaranarayanan (1932–2022)	Kerala	3 February 2007	28 July 2009[§][lower-greek 8]	2 years, 175 days	A. P. J. Abdul Kalam
–		Gurbachan Jagat IPS (Retd) (born 1942) Governor of Manipur (Additional Charge)	Chandigarh	28 July 2009	14 Oct 2009	78 days	Pratibha Patil
12		Nikhil Kumar IPS (Retd) (born 1941)	Bihar	15 October 2009	20 March 2013[§][lower-greek 9]	3 years, 156 days
13		Ashwani Kumar IPS (Retd) (1950–2020)	Himachal Pradesh	21 March 2013	1 July 2014[‡]	1 year, 102 days	Pranab Mukherjee
–		Krishan Kant Paul IPS (Retd) (born 1948) Governor of Meghalaya (Additional Charge)	Chandigarh	2 July 2014	19 July 2014	17 days
14		Padmanabha Balakrishna Acharya (1931–2023)	Karnataka	19 July 2014	31 July 2019	5 years, 12 days
15		R. N. Ravi IPS (Retd) (born 1952)	Bihar	1 August 2019	17 September 2021[§][lower-greek 10]	2 years, 16 days	Ram Nath Kovind
–		Jagdish Mukhi (born 1942) Governor of Assam (Additional Charge)	Delhi	17 September 2021	19 February 2023	1 year, 155 days
16		La. Ganesan (1945–2025)	Tamil Nadu	20 February 2023	15 August 2025[†]	2 years, 176 days	Droupadi Murmu
–		Ajay Kumar Bhalla IAS (Retd) (born 1960) Governor of Manipur (Additional Charge)	Punjab	16 August 2025

1. Concurrently also served as the Governor of Assam
2. Concurrently also served as the Governor of Assam (1968–1973); and as the Governor of Meghalaya, Manipur, and Tripura (1972–1973)
3. Concurrently also served as the Assam, Meghalaya, Manipur, and Tripura
4. Concurrently also served as the Governor of Manipur and Tripura
5. Transferred as the Governor of Haryana
6. Transferred as the Governor of Jammu and Kashmir
7. Transferred as the Governor of Manipur
8. Transferred as the Governor of Jharkhand
9. Transferred as the Governor of Kerala
10. Transferred as the Governor of Tamil Nadu