Secretary to the Government of India

Indian government official

Union Secretary
State Emblem of India
Flag of India
Government of India
Member of	Committee of Secretaries on Administration
Reports to	Parliament of India President of India Union Council of Ministers Prime Minister of India
Seat	Union Ministries of India, New Delhi
Appointer	Appointments Committee of the Cabinet
Term length	No term length[dead link][1][2] Term extendable
Formation	1st November 1858; 167 years ago (1st November 1858)[a]
Succession	23rd (on the Indian order of precedence.)
Salary	₹225,000 (US$2,700) monthly[3][4]

Secretary to the Government of India, often abbreviated as Secretary, GoI, or simply as Secretary, is a post and a rank under the Central Staffing Scheme of the Government of India.^[5] The authority for the creation of this post solely rests with the Union Council of Ministers.^[6]

The position holder is generally a career civil servant^[7][8][9] and a government official of high seniority. The civil servants who hold this rank and post are either from All India Services or Central Civil Services. All promotions and appointments to this rank and post are directly made by the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet.

In the functioning of the Government of India,^[10][11][12] a secretary is the administrative head of a ministry or department,^[13][14] and is equivalent to chief secretaries of state governments and Vice Chief of the Army Staff, General Officers Commanding in Chief of Army Commands, and their equivalents in the Indian Armed Forces,^[15] In the Department of Military Affairs, the Chief of Defence Staff is currently designated as Secretary (GoI), similarly in the National Security Council Secretariat, the National Security Advisor is currently designated as Secretary (GoI).^[16]

Secretaries (GOI) rank 23rd on Order of Precedence of India.^[17][18]

History

C. H. Bhabha with a Secretary and a few Joint Secretaries to the Government of India in 1947.

In mid-1930s, the Central Secretariat contained only twenty-nine secretaries,^[19] who were all members of the Indian Civil Service. The salary for a member of this rank and post was fixed at ₹48,000 (equivalent to ₹12 million or US$140,000 in 2023) annum in the 1930s.^[19] As per warrant or precedence of 1905,^[20] secretaries to the Government of India was listed together with joint secretaries to the Government of India and were ranked above the rank of chief secretaries of provincial governments.^[20]

N. Gopalaswami Ayyangar had once suggested "[a] secretary should not be immersed in files and burdened with routine. It is essential that he should have time to grasp the overall picture, size up the problems facing the government in the field allotted to his charge, and think and plan ahead. All these are his proper functions and must be efficiently performed. Failure to make adequate provision in this respect cannot be compensated by a mere increase in the establishment under his control."^[21] The Administrative Reforms Commission visualised the role of secretary, primarily as one of a "coordinator, policy guide, reviewer, and evaluator."^[21]

Before Partition of India, notable officers who served as Secretary in the Central Government include - Allan Hume, Edward Buck, Thomas Holderness, N. R. Pillai, Y. N. Sukthankar, Charles Ogilvie, Archdale Earle, Charles Todhunter, Jeremy Raisman, Herbert Hope Risley, Robert Carlyle, Henry Smith, C. S. Venkatachar, V. P. Menon.

Tenure and Appointment

A member of All India Services is appointed to this rank and post only on tenure. This tenure is a deputation to the Central Government and does not carry a fixed term. They serve at the pleasure and will of the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet.

A member of Central Civil Services is appointed to this rank and post as per vacancy in their own service cadre and are empanelled.

Powers, responsibilities and postings

The organizational structure of a department of the Government of India.

A secretary to the Government of India is the administrative head of a ministry or department and is the principal adviser to the minister-in charge on all matters of policy and administration within the ministry or department.^[14]

The role of a secretary is as follows:

• To act as the administrative head of the ministry or department. The responsibility in this regard is complete and undivided.^[13]
• To act as the chief adviser to the minister on all aspects of policy and administrative affairs.^[13]
• To represent the ministry or department before the Public Accounts Committee of the Parliament of India.^[13]

The prime minister-led Appointments Committee of the Cabinet is the final authority on posting and transfer of officers of secretary level.^[22] Secretaries report to their ministerial cabinet minister and to the prime minister.^{[citation needed]}

Position

In the Indian government, secretaries are the head of the ministries of the government and hold positions such as Finance Secretary, Defence Secretary, Foreign Secretary, Home Secretary, Chairperson of the Railway Board and members of the Railway Board and Telecom Commission.

According to the report of the Seventh Central Pay Commission of India, seventy-one out of ninety-one secretaries to the Government of India are from the Indian Administrative Service.^[3]

Emolument, accommodation and prequisites

An Indian diplomatic passport and an official generally issued to Secretaries to the Government of India.

All secretaries to the Government of India are eligible for a Diplomatic passport or Official passport. Secretaries are allotted either type-VII or type-VIII bungalows in areas like New Moti Bagh and Lutyens' across Delhi by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs' Directorate of Estates.^[23][24][25]

The salary and emolument in this rank is equivalent^[15] to chief secretaries of state governments and to Vice Chief of the Army Staff, General Officers Commanding in Chief of Army Commands, and their equivalents, in the Indian Armed Forces, which is to say Level 17 of the Central Pay Matrix.^[15]

Secretary to the Government of India monthly pay and allowances

Base salary as per the Seventh Pay Commission	Pay matrix level	Sources
₹225,000 (US$2,700) per month	Pay level 17	[3][4]

International equivalency

The position of Secretary in Government of India is equivalent to Permanent Secretary in His Majesty's Civil Service (UK), Administrative Vice-Ministers in Civil service of Japan, Secretary General in Italian Senior Civil Service, Department secretary in Australian Government, Deputy Minister in Government of Canada and Federal Secretary in Central Superior Services of Pakistan.

List of current secretaries to the Government of India

Secretaries to the Government of India^[26]

Office or Ministry	Designation	Name of secretary	Background	Batch
President's Secretariat	Secretary to the President	Deepti Umashankar	IAS	1993
Vice President's Secretariat	Secretary to the Vice President	Amit Khare		1985[b]
Prime Minister's Office	Principal Secretary to the Prime Minister	P.K. Mishra		1972[b]
		Shaktikanta Das		1980[b]
Supreme Court Registry Office	Secretary General of Supreme Court of India	Bharat Parashar	Legal Service	—
Parliament's Secretariat	Secretary General of the Rajya Sabha	Pramod Chandra Mody	IRS (IT)	1982[b]
	Secretary General of the Lok Sabha	Utpal Kumar Singh	IAS	1986[b]
Cabinet Secretariat	Cabinet Secretary[c]	T. V. Somanathan		1987
	Secretary (Coordination)	Manoj Govil		1991
	Secretary (Security)	Parag Jain[d]	IPS	1989
	Secretary (Research)
Agriculture and Farmers Welfare	Secretary (Agriculture and Farmers Welfare)	Devesh Chaturvedi	IAS	1989
	Secretary (Agricultural Research and Education)	Mangi Lal Jat	Scientist	—
Atomic Energy	Secretary (Atomic Energy) and Chairperson, Atomic Energy Commission	Ajit Kumar Mohanty[27]	Scientist	—
AYUSH	Secretary (AYUSH)	Rajesh Kotecha
Chemicals and Fertilizers	Secretary (Chemicals and Petrochemicals)	Nivedita Shukla Verma	IAS	1991
	Secretary (Fertilizers)	Rajat Kumar Mishra		1992
	Secretary (Pharmaceuticals)	Manoj Joshi		1989
Civil Aviation	Secretary (Civil Aviation)	Samir Kumar Sinha		1994
Coal	Secretary (Coal)	Vikram Dev Dutt		1993
Commerce and Industry	Secretary (Commerce)	Rajesh Agarwal		1994
	Secretary (Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade)	Amardeep Singh Bhatia		1993
Communications	Secretary (Posts)	Vandita Kaul	IPoS	1989
	Secretary (Telecommunications) and ex officio Chairperson, Digital Communication Commission	Amit Agrawal	IAS	1993
Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution	Secretary (Consumer Affairs)	Nidhi Khare		1992
	Secretary (Food and Public Distribution)	Sanjeev Chopra		1990
Co-operation	Secretary (Co-operation)	Ashish Kumar Bhutani		1992
Corporate Affairs	Secretary (Corporate Affairs)	Deepti Gaur Mukerjee		1993
Culture	Secretary (Culture)	Vivek Aggarwal		1994
Defence	Defence Secretary	Rajesh Kumar Singh [28]		1989
	Secretary (Defence Production)	Sanjeev Kumar		1993
	Secretary (Defence Research and Development) and Chairperson, DRDO	Samir V. Kamath	Scientist	—
	Secretary (Ex-Servicemen Welfare)	Sukriti Likhi	IAS	1993
	Secretary (Department of Military Affairs) and Chief of Defence Staff	General Anil Chauhan	Indian Armed Forces	—
Development of North Eastern Region	Secretary (Development of North Eastern Region)	Chanchal Kumar[29]	IAS	1992
Earth Sciences	Secretary (Earth Sciences) and Chairperson, Earth Commission	M. Ravichandran	Scientist	—
Education	Secretary (Higher Education)	Vineet Joshi	IAS	1992
	Secretary (School Education and Literacy)	Sanjay Kumar		1990
Electronics and Information Technology	Secretary (Electronics and Information Technology)	S. Krishnan[30]		1989
Environment, Forest and Climate Change	Secretary (Environment, Forest and Climate Change)	Tanmay Kumar		1993
External Affairs	Foreign Secretary	Vikram Misri	IFS	1989
	Secretary (East)	Periasamy Kumaran		1992
	Secretary (West)	Sibi George		1993
	Secretary (CPV & OIA)	Sripriya Ranganathan		1994
	Secretary (Economic Relations)	Sudhakar Dalela		1993
	Secretary (South)	Dr. Neena Malhotra		1992
Finance	Secretary (Expenditure)	Vumlunmang Vualnam	IAS	1992
	Secretary (Economic Affairs)	Anuradha Thakur		1994
	Secretary (Public Enterprises)	K Moses Chalai		1990
	Secretary (Revenue Secretary)	Arvind Shrivastava		1994
	Finance Secretary Secretary (Investment and Public Asset Management)	Arunish Chawla		1992
	Secretary (Financial Services)	Nagaraju Maddirala		1993
Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying	Secretary (Animal Husbandry and Dairying)	Naresh Pal Gangwar		1994
	Secretary (Fisheries)	Dr. Abhilaksh Likhi		1991
Food Processing Industries	Secretary (Food Processing Industries)	Avinash Purushottam Das Joshi		1994
Health and Family Welfare	Secretary (Health and Family Welfare)	Punya Salila Srivastava		1993
	Secretary (Health Research) and ex officio Director General, ICMR	Dr. Rajiv Bahl	Scientist	—
Heavy Industries	Secretary (Heavy Industry)	Kamran Rizvi	IAS	1991
Home Affairs	Home Secretary	Govind Mohan		1989
	Secretary (Official Language)	Ansuli Arya		1989
	Secretary (Border Management)	Rajendra Kumar		1992
	Secretary (Inter-State Council Secretariat)	Ashish Srivastava	IAS	1992
Housing and Urban Affairs	Secretary (Housing and Urban Affairs)	Katikithala Srinivas	IAS	1989
Information and Broadcasting	Secretary (Information and Broadcasting)	Sanjay Jaju		1992
Jal Shakti	Secretary (Drinking Water and Sanitation)	Ashok Kumar Kaluaram Meena		1993
	Secretary (Water Resources, River Development & Ganga Rejuvenation)	VL Kantha Rao		1992
Labour and Employment	Secretary (Labour and Employment)	Vandana Gurnani		1991
Law and Justice	Secretary (Justice)	Niraj Verma		1994
	Secretary (Legal Affairs)	Anju Rathi Rana	Legal Service	—
	Secretary (Legislative)	Dr. Rajiv Mani	Legal Service	—
Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises	Secretary (Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises)	Subhas Chandra Lal Das	IAS	1992
Mines	Secretary (Mines)	Piyush Goyal		1994
Minority Affairs	Secretary (Minority Affairs)	Chandra Sekhar Kumar		1992
New and Renewable Energy	Secretary (New and Renewable Energy)	Santosh Kumar Sarangi		1994
NITI Aayog ( previously Planning Commission)	Chief Executive Officer and ex officio Secretary	BVR Subrahmanyam		1987[b]
Panchayati Raj	Secretary (Panchayati Raj)	Vivek Bhardwaj		1990
Parliamentary Affairs	Secretary (Parliamentary Affairs)	Nikunja Bihari Dhal		1993
Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions	Secretary (Personnel and Training)	Rachna Shah[31]		1991
	Secretary (Administrative Reforms and Public Grievances)
	Secretary (Pension and Pensioners’ Welfare)
Petroleum and Natural Gas	Secretary (Petroleum and Natural Gas)	Neeraj Mittal		1992
Ports, Shipping and Waterways	Secretary (Ports, Shipping and Waterways)	Vijay Kumar		1992
Power	Secretary (Power)	Pankaj Agarwal		1992
Ministry of Railway (Railway Board)	Chairperson, Railway Board and ex officio Principal Secretary	Satish Kumar	IRSME	1986
Road Transport and Highways	Secretary (Road Transport and Highways)	V Umashankar	IAS	1989
Rural Development	Secretary (Land Resources)	Manoj Joshi		1989
	Secretary (Rural Development)	Shailesh Kumar Singh		1991
Science and Technology	Secretary (Biotechnology)	Rajesh Sudhir Gokhale	Scientist	—
	Secretary (Science and Technology)	Abhay Karandikar[32]
	Secretary (Scientific and Industrial Research) and ex officio Director General, CSIR	N. Kalaiselvi
Skill Development and Entrepreneurship	Secretary (Skill Development and Entrepreneurship)	Debashree Mukherjee	IAS	1991
Social Justice and Empowerment	Secretary (Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities)	V Vidyavathi		1991
	Secretary (Social Justice and Empowerment)	Sudhansh Pant		1991
Statistics and Programme Implementation	Secretary (Statistics and Programme Implementation)	Saurabh Garg	IAS	1991
Space	Secretary (Space) and ex officio Chairperson of ISRO and Space Commission	V. Narayanan	Scientist	—
Steel	Secretary (Steel)	Sandeep Pondrik	IAS	1993
Textiles	Secretary (Textiles)	Neelam Shammi Rao		1992
Tourism	Secretary (Tourism)	Srivatsa Krishna		1994
Tribal Affairs	Secretary (Tribal Affairs)	Ranjana Chopra		1994
Women and Child Development	Secretary (Women and Child Development)	Anil Malik		1991
Youth Affairs and Sports	Secretary (Sports)	Hari Ranjan Rao		1994
	Secretary (Youth Affairs)	Pallavi Jain Govil		1994
Notes
On 1 Nov 1858, British Crown assumes rule; Queen's Proclamation issued; departments reorganized under Viceroy and Executive Council. Secretaries to the Government of India appointed for key departments like Home, Finance, Revenue, etc. During 1860s–1900s, The title “Secretary to the Government of India” is in regular use in India Office Records and gazettes (e.g., “H. H. Risley, Secretary to the Government of India in the Home Department”). Retired Cabinet Secretary is not a secretary rank position but the highest level of empanelment in the Government of India is at the secretary rank. Currently holding the additional charge of the Secretary (Security) since 12 November 2025.

Reforms and challenges

Media articles and others have argued in favour of lateral entrants being recruited to this rank/post to infuse fresh energy and thinking into an insular, complacent and archaic bureaucracy.^[33][34][35]

Non-IAS civil services have complained to the Government of India because of lack of empanelment in the rank/post of secretary on numerous occasions.^[36][37][9]

Lateral entry

From 1998 to 1999, Vijay Kelkar served as Finance Secretary as a lateral entry. During the term of Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Manmohan Singh as Prime Minister of India, Ram Vinay Shahi served as Secretary (GOI) in the Ministry of Power from 2002 to 2007 as a lateral entry.^[38]

See also

• Federal Secretary
• Chief secretary (India)

References

1. "Fixed tenure for defence, home secretaries". Rediff.com. 22 September 2005. Retrieved 10 January 2017.
2. "Fixed tenure for Defence, Home Secretaries". Outlook. 22 September 2005.
3. "Report of the 7th Central Pay Commission of India" (PDF). Seventh Central Pay Commission, Government of India. Archived from the original (PDF) on 20 November 2015. Retrieved 13 August 2017.
4. Biswas, Shreya, ed. (29 June 2016). "7th Pay Commission cleared: What is the Pay Commission? How does it affect salaries?". India Today. Retrieved 24 September 2017.
5. "The Central Staffing Scheme" (PDF). Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions. January 1996. Retrieved 13 April 2016.
6. "Only Cabinet can create Joint Secretary, above level posts". Press Trust of India. Archived from the original on 22 June 2017. Retrieved 18 April 2017.
7. Tikku, Aloke (15 January 2016). "Parity between IAS and non-IAS? The IAS will get to decide". Hindustan Times. Retrieved 13 August 2017.
8. "Non-IAS bureaucrats now eligible for secretary-level posts". The Asian Age. 18 January 2016. Retrieved 13 August 2017.
9. Dastidar, Avishek G (14 January 2017). "Alleging bias, non-IAS officers petition PM Modi". The Indian Express. Retrieved 13 August 2017.
10. "Part I of the Constitution of India- The Union and its territory - Article 1" (PDF). Ministry of Law and Justice, Government of India. Archived from the original (PDF) on 10 October 2017. Retrieved 15 January 2018.
11. "Part XIV of the Constitution of India- Finance, Property, Contracts and Suits - Article 300" (PDF). Ministry of Law and Justice, Government of India. Archived from the original (PDF) on 3 December 2011. Retrieved 6 October 2017.
12. "Part XIV of the Constitution of India- Services under the Union and the States - Article 312(2)" (PDF). Ministry of Law and Justice, Government of India. Archived from the original (PDF) on 3 December 2011. Retrieved 16 August 2017.
13. Laxmikanth, M. (2014). Governance in India (2nd ed.). Noida: McGraw Hill Education. pp. 3.1 – 3.10. ISBN 978-9339204785.
14. "Central Secretariat Manual of Office Procedure - 14th Edition (2015)" (PDF). Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pension. p. 6. Retrieved 15 November 2016.
15. "TGC Entry Advert, 2022" (PDF). Ministry of Defence, Government of India. 24 January 2022. Retrieved 17 April 2022.
16. "Who's Who: Department of Military Affairs". Ministry of Defence (India). Retrieved 18 July 2024.
17. "Table of Precedence". Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India. President's Secretariat. Archived from the original on 28 April 2014. Retrieved 24 September 2017.
18. Maheshwari, S.R. (2000). Indian Administration (6th ed.). New Delhi: Orient Blackswan Private Ltd. ISBN 9788125019886.
19. Kirk-Greene, A. (2000). Britain's Imperial Administrators, 1858-1966. New York City: Springer. ISBN 9780230286320.
20. As per published records and book named "The India List and India Office List 1905" as published by India Office and India Office Records.
21. Singh, Hoshiar; Singh, Pankaj (2011). Indian Administration (1st ed.). Delhi: Pearson Education India. pp. 104–126. ISBN 978-8131761199.
22. "PM to oversee cadre allocation of bureaucrats, postings of joint secretaries and above". The Times of India. 21 August 2014. Retrieved 17 September 2017.
23. "Compendium (RTI Act) – Government Residence (General Pool in Delhi) Rules" (PDF). Directorate of Estates, Ministry of Urban Development They are also eligible for Y+ security i.e of 4 Para commando and 18 Armed Forces. January 2013. Archived from the original (PDF) on 13 November 2014. Retrieved 21 July 2014.
24. Gupta, Geeta (21 July 2011). "New homes for govt staff changing New Delhi". Indian Express. Retrieved 6 October 2017.
25. Singh, Vijaita (16 September 2015). "Home Secretary gives the miss to fortified bungalow". The Hindu. Retrieved 6 October 2017.
26. "Secretaries to the Government of India (as on 2 July 2025)" (PDF). Department of Personnel and Training. Government of India. Retrieved 26 July 2025.
27. "Ajit Kumar Mohanty pointed As Atomic Energy Commission Chief". Times of India.com. Retrieved 1 May 2023.
28. "Govt appoints Rajesh Kumar Singh as Defence Secretary". Business Today. 16 August 2024. Retrieved 17 August 2024.
29. "Big Reshuffle at Centre, Modi Govt Shifts 16 IAS Officers, 3 IAS Elevated to Rank of Secy". Retrieved 24 September 2023.
30. "S Krishnan is new Meity secy, Neeraj Mittal to lead telecom dept in reshuffle". Hindustan Times. 1 September 2023. Retrieved 24 September 2023.
31. "Government reshuffles senior IAS officers; Key changes in finance, textiles, education - CNBC TV18". CNBCTV18. 25 December 2024. Retrieved 26 December 2024.
32. www.ETTelecom.com. "Government appoints Abhay Karandikar as Department of Science & Technology Secretary - ET Telecom". ETTelecom.com. Retrieved 8 October 2023.
33. Natarajan, Gulzar (13 April 2015). "Lateral entry, blind alley". The Indian Express. Retrieved 13 August 2017.
34. Chandra, Shailaja (15 July 2017). "Should the government allow lateral entry into the civil services?". Hindustan Times. Retrieved 13 August 2017.
35. Natarajan, Gulzar; Subbarao, Duvvuri (9 August 2017). "The case for lateral entry". The Indian Express. Retrieved 13 August 2017.
36. Tripathi, Shishir (8 December 2015). "IAS: Emperor among the kings?". Governance Now. Retrieved 13 August 2017.
37. "Need Pay Parity With IAS Officers, Say Officials Of 20 Civil Services". NDTV. 30 June 2016. Retrieved 13 August 2017.
38. "Even Manmohan Singh was a lateral entry, says PMO". India Today. Retrieved 20 July 2024.

Bibliography

• Laxmikanth, M. (2014). Governance in India (2nd ed.). Noida: McGraw Hill Education. ISBN 978-9339204785.
• Maheshwari, S.R. (2000). Indian Administration (6th ed.). New Delhi: Orient Blackswan Private Ltd. ISBN 9788125019886.
• Kirk-Greene, A. (2000). Britain's Imperial Administrators, 1858-1966. New York City: Springer. ISBN 9780230286320.
• Singh, Hoshiar; Singh, Pankaj (2011). Indian Administration (1st ed.). Delhi: Pearson Education India. ISBN 978-8131761199.
• Verma, K.B. (1987). Readings In Indian Railway Finance. New Delhi: Mittal Publications. ISBN 978-8171881215.

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