The Vice Chief of the Army Staff (VCOAS) is a statutory position in the Indian Armed Forces usually held by a three star Lieutenant General. As the second highest ranking officer in the Indian Army, the VCOAS serves as the deputy professional head of the Indian Army and the senior most Principal Staff Officer (PSO) to the Chief of the Army Staff. The VCOAS serves as the senior adviser to the Minister of Defence. The office holder is usually the second most senior army officer unless the Chief of Defence is an army officer.

The current VCOAS is Lieutenant General Sandeep Jain who assumed the office on 1 July 2026.

History Following India's independence and the partition of the British Indian Army on 15 August 1947, the Indian Army underwent rapid reorganization to establish sovereign command structures. The hierarchy featured a Commander-in-Chief at the apex, assisted by the Chief of General Staff (CGS) as the principal staff officer responsible for operational planning and administration.

The CGS remained the number two officer in the Indian Army below the Commander-in-Chief, India and later the Chief of Army Staff. In January 1959, the post of Deputy Chief of the Army Staff (DCOAS) was created to replace the CGS at the Army HQ. The DCOAS became the second-in-command and was equivalent to an Army Commander (GOC-in-C).

On 15 January 1965, the CGS designation was redesignated as the Vice Chief of the Army Staff (VCOAS), with the DCOAS becoming a PSO appointment. On 15 January 1965, Lieutenant General Paramasiva Prabhakar Kumaramangalam took over as the first Vice Chief of the Army Staff.

Order of Precedence The VCOAS ranks at No. 23 on the Indian order of precedence, along with the Vice Chiefs of Staff of the Indian Navy and Indian Air Force and the Army Commanders (GOC-in-C), Naval Commanders (FOC-in-C) and Air Commanders (AOC-in-C).

The VCOAS is at the Apex Pay grade (Grade 17), with a monthly pay of ₹225,000 (US$3,200).

Appointment The Vice Chief of Army staff is appointed by the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet, chaired by the Prime Minister, from among the senior general officers of the Army. Since the appointment is of Commander-in-Chief grade, the appointees are usually one of the Army Commanders of the seven commands.

Unlike the Chief of Army Staff, there is no fixed term nor term limit to the position of the VCOAS, although most of those appointed to the office have typically served for two or three year tenures and serve until the age of 60.

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

S.No.Portrait NameAssumed officeLeft office Unit of Commission COAS Ref1Lieutenant General Paramsiva Prabhakar Kumaramangalam, 15 January 19657 June 1966Regiment of ArtilleryGen. J. N. Chaudhuri2Lieutenant General Kashmir Singh Katoch, 8 June 196622 November 1970East Surrey RegimentGen. KumaramangalamField Marshal Manekshaw3Lieutenant General Har Prasad, 23 November 197031 October 19733rd CavalryGen. Bewoor4Lieutenant General Mohan Lal Thapan, 1 November 197331 July 1974Jat Regiment5Lieutenant General Naveen Chand Rawlley, 1 August 197431 December 197512th Frontier ForceGen. Raina6Lieutenant General Abhi Manyu Vohra, 1 January 197619 January 19773rd Gorkha Rifles7Lieutenant General Om Prakash Malhotra, 20 January 197731 May 1978Regiment of Artillery8Lieutenant General Stanley Leslie Menezes, 1 July 197831 January 1980The GrenadiersGen. Malhotra9Lieutenant General Jaswant Singh, 1 February 19806 July 1980Punjab Regiment10Lieutenant General Adi Meherji Sethna, 7 July 198031 December 19826th Rajputana RiflesGen. Krishna Rao11Lieutenant General Srinivas Kumar Sinha, 1 January 19831 June 1983Jat Regiment12Lieutenant General Gajendra Singh Rawat, 5 August 198331 December 19845th Gorkha Rifles (FF)Gen. Vaidya13Lieutenant General Krishnaswamy Sundarji, 13 February 198531 January 19862 Mahar Regiment14Lieutenant General K. K. Hazari, 1 February 198631 May 1987Regiment of ArtilleryGen. Sundarji15Lieutenant General J. K. Puri, 1 June 198731 August 1987Regiment of Artillery16Lieutenant General Sunith Francis Rodrigues, 1 November 198720 April 1989Regiment of ArtilleryGen. Sharma17Lieutenant General V. K. Sood, 15 May 198929 February 1992Dogra RegimentGen. Rodrigues18Lieutenant General Vijai Singh, 1 March 199230 June 19938th Light Cavalry19Lieutenant General Surinder Nath, 1 July 199330 June 1995Regiment of ArtilleryGen. JoshiGen. S. R. Chowdhary20Lieutenant General M. L. Dar, 1 July 199531 July 199617th Horse (Poona Horse)21Lieutenant General Ved Prakash Malik, 1 August 199630 September 1997Sikh Light Infantry22Lieutenant General Chandra Shekhar, 1 October 199730 September 20004th Gorkha RiflesGen. Malik23Lieutenant General Vijay Oberoi, 1 October 200030 September 2001Maratha Light InfantryGen. Padmanabhan24Lieutenant General Nirmal Chand Vij, 1 October 200131 December 2002Dogra Regiment25Lieutenant General Shantonu Choudhry, 1 January 200331 December 2004Regiment of ArtilleryGen. Vij26Lieutenant General Bhupinder Singh Thakur, 15 January 200530 September 2005Central India HorseGen. J. J. Singh27Lieutenant General S. Pattabhiraman, 1 October 200531 December 2006Bombay Sappers28Lieutenant General Deepak Kapoor, 1 January 200730 September 2007Regiment of Artillery29Lieutenant General Milan Lalitkumar Naidu, 1 October 200731 December 2008Rajput RegimentGen. Kapoor30Lieutenant General Noble Thamburaj, 1 January 200830 September 2009Bombay Sappers31Lieutenant General Prabodh Chandra Bhardwaj, 1 October 200930 November 2010Parachute RegimentGen. V. K. Singh32Lieutenant General Arvinder Singh Lamba, 6 December 201030 September 2011Regiment of Artillery33Lieutenant General Sri Krishna Singh, 1 October 201131 December 20138th Gorkha RiflesGen. Bikram Singh34Lieutenant General Dalbir Singh Suhag, 1 January 201431 July 20145th Gorkha Rifles (FF)35Lieutenant General Philip Campose, 1 August 201431 July 20159th Gorkha RiflesGen. Dalbir Singh36Lieutenant General Man Mohan Singh Rai, 1 August 201531 July 2016Bombay Sappers37Lieutenant General Bipin Rawat, 1 September 201631 December 201611th Gorkha Rifles38Lieutenant General Sarath Chand, 13 January 201731 May 2018Garhwal RiflesGen. Rawat39Lieutenant General Devraj Anbu, 1 June 201831 August 2019Sikh Light Infantry40Lieutenant General Manoj Mukund Naravane, 1 September 201930 December 2019Sikh Light Infantry41Lieutenant General Satinder Kumar Saini, 25 January 202031 January 2021Jat RegimentGen. Naravane42Lieutenant General Chandi Prasad Mohanty, 1 February 202131 January 2022Rajput Regiment43Lieutenant General Manoj Pande, 1 February 202230 April 2022Bombay Sappers44Lieutenant General Baggavalli Somashekar Raju 1 May 202228 February 2023Jat Regiment Gen. Pande45Lieutenant General M. V. Suchindra Kumar, 1 March 202318 February 2024Assam Regiment 46Lieutenant General Upendra Dwivedi, 19 February 202430 June 2024Jammu and Kashmir RIfles47Lieutenant General N. S. Raja Subramani, 1 July 202431 July 2025Garhwal RiflesGen. Dwivedi 48Lieutenant General Pushpendra Pal Singh, 1 August 202531 March 2026Parachute Regiment49Lieutenant General Dhiraj Seth, 1 April 202630 June 20262nd Lancers (Gardner's Horse)50Lieutenant General Sandeep Jain, 1 July 2026IncumbentMahar RegimentGen. Seth

See also Chief of the Army Staff Vice Chief of the Naval Staff Vice Chief of the Air Staff

Notes 1.Later promoted to the rank of General.

References