Prime minister list

# Portrait Name Time in office Electoral mandates Political party Lok Sabha Council of Ministers Refs
1st Jawaharlal Nehru
MP for Phulpur 15 August 1947
27 May 19641 1951, 1957, 1962 Indian National Congress 1st
2nd
3rd 1st
2nd
3rd [1]
Indo-Pakistani War of 1947; created Planning commission of India and initiated Five-year plan to increase government investment in agriculture and industry; launched programmes to build irrigation canals, dams and spread the use of fertilizers to increase agricultural production; oversaw widespread poverty and unemployment, even with improvements in agriculture and infrastructure; oversaw establishment of All India Institute of Medical Sciences, Indian Institutes of Technology and Indian Institutes of Management; criminalized caste discrimination and increased the legal rights and social freedoms of women; pioneered the policy of non-alignment and co-founded the Non-Aligned Movement; Sino-Indian War; signed the Indus Waters Treaty; granted asylum to the Dalai Lama; oversaw liberation of Goa.
2nd Gulzarilal Nanda
MP for Sabarkantha 27 May 1964
9 June 1964* - Indian National Congress 3rd - [2]
was a caretaker prime minister until Lal Bahadur Shastri was elected as a new leader.
3rd Lal Bahadur Shastri
MP for Allahabad 9 June 1964
11 January 19661 - Indian National Congress 3rd 4th [3]
Indo-Pakistani War of 1965; pushed for Green Revolution in India and Operation Flood; The National Dairy Development Board was formed; died from a heart attack at a summit in Tashkent.
2nd Gulzarilal Nanda
MP for Sabarkantha 11 January 1966
24 January 1966* - Indian National Congress 3rd - [2]
was in office as caretaker prime minister once again, until Indira Gandhi was chosen as the new leader.
4th Indira Gandhi
MP for Rae Bareli 24 January 1966
24 March 1977 1967, 1971 Indian National Congress 3rd
4th
5th 5th
6th [4]
nationalized banks; won the Indo-Pakistani War of 1971, which resulted in the formation of Bangladesh; signed the Shimla Agreement; tested the first nuclear weapon with Smiling Buddha; initiated Green Revolution in India; established state of emergency from 1975-1977.
5th Morarji Desai
MP for Surat 24 March 1977
28 July 19794 1977 Janata Party 6th 7th [5]
ended the state of emergency initiated by Indira Gandhi; improved relations with Pakistan, China and the United States; softened its relationship with the Soviet Union; launched Sixth Five-Year Plan, aiming to boost agricultural production and rural industries; the plan proved unsuccessful leading to resurging inflation, fuel shortages, unemployment and poverty; lost many MPs from Janata Party, including his rival Charan Singh, which led to his resignation.
6th Charan Singh
MP for Baghpat 28 July 1979
14 January 19803 - Janata Party 6th 8th [6]
initiated high level diplomatic relations with Israel; lost support of Congress, which led to his resignation without even a single session of Lok Sabha.
4th Indira Gandhi
MP for Rae Bareli 14 January 19802
31 October 1984 1980 Indian National Congress (Indira) 7th 9th [7]
Operation Bluestar, which subsequently led to her assassination; 1984 anti-Sikh riots.
7th Rajiv Gandhi
MP for Amethi 31 October 1984
2 December 1989 1984 Indian National Congress 8th 10th [8]
significantly reduced License Raj; expanded telecommunications in India; signed the Indo-Sri Lanka Peace Accord; Bofors scandal; nullified the Supreme Court's judgement on Shah Bano case.
8th Vishwanath Pratap Singh
MP for Fatehpur 2 December 1989
10 November 19903 1989 Janata Dal 9th 11th [9]
negotiated terrorist kidnapping of Mufti Mohammad Sayeed's daughter; visited Golden Temple to ask for forgiveness for Operation Bluestar; withdrew IPKF from Sri Lanka; initiated fixed quota/reservation for all public sector jobs as per recommendation from Mandal Commission; Ram Janmabhoomi agitation and subsequent loss of vote of no confidence because of it.
9th Chandra Shekhar Singh
MP for Ballia 10 November 1990
21 June 1991 - Samajwadi Janata Party 9th 12th [10]
resigned due to accusations of spying on former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi, and subsequent withdrawal of Congress' support; Assassination of Rajiv Gandhi.
10th P. V. Narasimha Rao
MP for Nandyal 21 June 1991
16 May 1996 1991 Indian National Congress 10th 13th [11]
initiated Economic liberalization in India; SEBI Act 1992; formation of National Stock Exchange of India; 1993 Bombay bombings; introduced TADA; Demolition of Babri Masjid.
11th Atal Bihari Vajpayee
MP for Lucknow 16 May 1996
1 June 19963 1996 Bharatiya Janata Party 11th 14th [12]
Was in power for only 13 days, after BJP could not gather enough support from other parties to form a majority.
12th H. D. Deve Gowda
MP for Karnataka 1 June 1996
21 April 19973 1996 Janata Dal 11th 15th [12]
Chinese President Jiang Zemin begins the first visit by a Chinese head of state to India; initiates controversial president's rule in Gujarat.
13th Inder Kumar Gujral
MP for Bihar 21 April 1997
19 March 1998 - Janata Dal 11th 16th [13]
Fodder scam; Jain Commission.
11th Atal Bihari Vajpayee
MP for Lucknow 19 March 19982
22 May 2004 1998, 1999 Bharatiya Janata Party 12th
13th 17th
18th [14]
Pokhran nuclear tests; Kargil War; National Highway Development Project; Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana; Barak Missile Deal Scandal;POTA; Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan; 2001 Gujarat earthquake; 2002 Gujarat violence.
14th Dr. Manmohan Singh
MP for Assam 22 May 2004
Incumbent 2004, 2009 Indian National Congress 14th
15th 19th
20th [15]
Indo-US civilian nuclear agreement; won the 2008 Lok Sabha vote of confidence; Iran-Pakistan-India gas pipeline; expanding ties with Israel; Economic crisis of 2008; National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA); Right to Information Act; revoking of POTA; 2008 Mumbai attacks and the implementation of Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act; National Intelligence Agency;