Prime Ministers of India
All fifteen people who have held the office since Independence — every term, every tenure, and the records that separate them.
Every Prime Minister
In order of first taking office. Cumulative tenure sums every term, including the ones with years in between.
Jawaharlal Nehru
15 Aug 1947 – 27 May 1964
16 years, 9 months
India's first Prime Minister, in office continuously from Independence until his death — still the longest single tenure of anyone on this list.
Gulzarilal Nanda
27 May 1964 – 24 Jan 1966
26 days · 2 terms
Twice acting Prime Minister for exactly thirteen days each time, bridging the gap after Nehru’s and Shastri’s deaths in office.
Lal Bahadur Shastri
9 Jun 1964 – 11 Jan 1966
1 year, 7 months
Coined "Jai Jawan Jai Kisan" during the 1965 war with Pakistan; died in Tashkent hours after signing the declaration that ended it.
Indira Gandhi
24 Jan 1966 – 31 Oct 1984
15 years, 11 months · 2 terms
India's only woman Prime Minister to date, and the second-longest serving overall across two spells; assassinated by her own bodyguards in office.
Morarji Desai
24 Mar 1977 – 28 Jul 1979
2 years, 4 months
First person to lead a non-Congress government at the Centre, and the oldest to take office, sworn in at 81.
Charan Singh
28 Jul 1979 – 14 Jan 1980
5 months
The only Prime Minister who never faced Parliament even once — his government fell before the Lok Sabha could convene.
Rajiv Gandhi
31 Oct 1984 – 2 Dec 1989
5 years, 1 month
Youngest to take office, sworn in at 40 the day after his mother’s assassination; assassinated himself in 1991, two years after leaving office.
V. P. Singh
2 Dec 1989 – 10 Nov 1990
11 months
Implemented the Mandal Commission’s caste-based reservation quotas, the defining and most contested act of his short government.
Chandra Shekhar
10 Nov 1990 – 21 Jun 1991
7 months
Led a minority government kept alive by outside Congress support, which was withdrawn after seven months.
P. V. Narasimha Rao
21 Jun 1991 – 16 May 1996
4 years, 10 months
Opened India’s economy in 1991 as finance minister Manmohan Singh’s prime minister — the first from South India to hold the office.
Atal Bihari Vajpayee
16 May 1996 – 22 May 2004
6 years, 2 months · 3 terms
The only Prime Minister to serve three separate terms, including the shortest tenure of anyone on this list — thirteen days in 1996.
H. D. Deve Gowda
1 Jun 1996 – 21 Apr 1997
10 months
Karnataka’s former chief minister, chosen as a consensus candidate to lead the United Front coalition.
Inder Kumar Gujral
21 Apr 1997 – 19 Mar 1998
10 months
Set out the "Gujral Doctrine" of unilateral goodwill toward South Asian neighbours during his eleven months in office.
Manmohan Singh
22 May 2004 – 26 May 2014
10 years · 2 terms
First Sikh Prime Minister, and the first since Nehru to return for a second consecutive full term.
Narendra Modi
26 May 2014 – present
12 years, 3 months · 3 terms
First Prime Minister born after Independence, and only the third to win three consecutive terms, after Nehru and Vajpayee.
Records & milestones
What separates fifteen people who held the same office.
Longest serving, single tenure
Jawaharlal Nehru, 16 years, 9 months without a break — from Independence until his death in office. No one since has held the post continuously for as long.
Longest serving, cumulative
Jawaharlal Nehru, 16 years, 9 months total across 1 separate term.
Shortest term
Atal Bihari Vajpayee's 1st term, 16 days from 16 May 1996 to 1 Jun 1996 — he resigned on the floor of the House after 13 days, short of a majority, and stayed on as caretaker until his successor was sworn in. Gulzarilal Nanda's two acting spells were shorter still, at thirteen days each, but as caretaker rather than a government formed in its own right.
Only woman to hold the office
Indira Gandhi, across two spells totalling nearly 16 years — also the only Prime Minister assassinated while in office, on 31 October 1984.
Youngest to take office
Rajiv Gandhi, sworn in at age 40 on 31 Oct 1984, the day after his mother's assassination.
Oldest to take office
Morarji Desai, sworn in at age 81 on 24 Mar 1977 — also independent India's first non-Congress Prime Minister.
Never faced Parliament
Charan Singh's government fell before the Lok Sabha could convene even once during his term — the only Prime Minister of whom that is true.
Twice, briefly
Gulzarilal Nanda served as acting Prime Minister twice — after Nehru's death in 1964 and Shastri's in 1966 — thirteen days each time, bridging the gap until a successor was chosen.
Three terms
Only three people have won three or more terms: Jawaharlal Nehru, Atal Bihari Vajpayee, and Narendra Modi, the only one since Nehru to do it consecutively.
One family, three Prime Ministers
Jawaharlal Nehru, his daughter Indira Gandhi, and her son Rajiv Gandhi together held the office for more than 37 years combined.
Term dates are the day a government was sworn in to the day the next one was, which for a few short-lived governments spans a caretaker period after a resignation — noted individually where it applies. Photographs are sourced from Wikimedia Commons.