The government on Friday appointed Lieutenant General N.S. Raja Subramani as India’s next Chief of Defence Staff (CDS), succeeding General Anil Chauhan, whose tenure ends on May 30.
Lt Gen Subramani will also serve as Secretary, Department of Military Affairs, from the date he assumes office and until further orders.
He is currently serving as Military Adviser at the National Security Council Secretariat, a position he has held since September 2025.
A highly experienced officer, he earlier served as Vice Chief of the Army Staff between July 2024 and July 2025. Before that, he was the General Officer Commanding-in-Chief (GOC-in-C) of the Army’s Central Command from March 2023 to June 2024.
Lt Gen Subramani was commissioned into the Garhwal Rifles in December 1985. Early in his career, he attended the Joint Services Command and Staff College in Bracknell, United Kingdom, and on returning to India, served as Brigade Major of a mountain brigade.
Over his more than 35-year-long career, Lt Gen Subramani has held several key positions, including serving as Defence Attaché at the Embassy of India in Astana, Kazakhstan.
Meanwhile, in a separate notification, the government also appointed Vice Admiral Krishna Swaminathan as the next Chief of the Naval Staff.
Currently serving as the Flag Officer Commanding-in-Chief of the Western Naval Command in Mumbai, Vice Admiral Swaminathan will assume office on May 31. His tenure will continue until December 31, 2028.
He is an alumnus of the National Defence Academy (NDA), Khadakwasla; the Joint Services Command and Staff College, Shrivenham in the United Kingdom; the College of Naval Warfare, Karanja; and the United States Naval War College in Newport, Rhode Island.
