Ranks and Regiments of the Indian Armed Forces List

The Indian Armed Forces are made up of three services, the Indian Army, the Indian Navy and the Indian Air Force, and the President of India is their Supreme Commander under Article 53 of the Constitution. Each service has its own ladder of ranks, and because the three ladders have to work together in joint operations, every rank in one service has an exact equivalent in the other two. Examiners love this neat correspondence. A question may give an Air Force rank and ask for the Army rank of the same standing, or name a regiment and ask for its centre or its motto. This note sets out the full ladders, the five star ranks, the best known regiments and the service days.

Ranks of the Indian Army

The commissioned ranks of the Army, from the highest downwards, are Field Marshal, General, Lieutenant General, Major General, Brigadier, Colonel, Lieutenant Colonel, Major, Captain and Lieutenant. The Chief of the Army Staff holds the rank of General. Below the commissioned officers come the Junior Commissioned Officers, that is Subedar Major, Subedar and Naib Subedar in the infantry, called Risaldar Major, Risaldar and Naib Risaldar in the armoured corps. Below them are the other ranks, Havildar, Naik, Lance Naik and Sepoy, whose cavalry names are Daffadar, Lance Daffadar, Acting Lance Daffadar and Sowar. The insignia are worth memorising: a General wears the national emblem over a five pointed star, a Lieutenant General the national emblem over a crossed sword and baton, a Brigadier the national emblem over three stars, a Colonel the emblem over two stars and a Major the national emblem alone, while a Captain wears three stars and a Lieutenant two.

Ranks of the Navy and the Air Force

The Navy ladder runs Admiral of the Fleet, Admiral, Vice Admiral, Rear Admiral, Commodore, Captain, Commander, Lieutenant Commander, Lieutenant and Sub Lieutenant, with sailors graded as Master Chief Petty Officer, Chief Petty Officer, Petty Officer, Leading Seaman and Seaman. The Air Force ladder runs Marshal of the Indian Air Force, Air Chief Marshal, Air Marshal, Air Vice Marshal, Air Commodore, Group Captain, Wing Commander, Squadron Leader, Flight Lieutenant and Flying Officer, with airmen graded as Master Warrant Officer, Warrant Officer, Junior Warrant Officer, Sergeant, Corporal and Aircraftman. Note the trap in the word Captain: in the Army it is a junior officer, but in the Navy a Captain is the equal of an Army Colonel.

The five star ranks

Field Marshal, Admiral of the Fleet and Marshal of the Indian Air Force are the five star ranks. They are ceremonial, conferred rarely as an honour, and the holder never retires but remains an officer of the service for life. Only two Field Marshals have been appointed in India, Sam Manekshaw in 1973 and K. M. Cariappa in 1986. Arjan Singh was made Marshal of the Indian Air Force in 2002, the only officer of the Air Force to hold that rank. No officer has ever been appointed Admiral of the Fleet in the Indian Navy, which is a favourite one line question.

Famous regiments, their centres and mottoes

• The Madras Regiment, raised in 1758, is the oldest infantry regiment of the Indian Army; its centre is at Wellington in the Nilgiris and its motto is Swadharme Nidhanam Shreyah.
• The Garhwal Rifles has its centre at Lansdowne in Uttarakhand and the motto Yudhaya Krit Nishchay, while the Kumaon Regiment is centred at Ranikhet with the motto Parakramo Vijayate.
• The Sikh Regiment and the Punjab Regiment have their centres at Ramgarh in Jharkhand; the Sikh Regiment motto is Nischay Kar Apni Jeet Karon.
• The Rajput Regiment is centred at Fatehgarh with the motto Sarvatra Vijay, the Rajputana Rifles carries Veer Bhogya Vasundhara, and the Grenadiers carry Sarvada Shaktishali.
• The Jat Regiment is centred at Bareilly, the Bihar Regiment at Danapur with the motto Karam Hi Dharam, the Assam Regiment at Shillong, the Maratha Light Infantry at Belagavi, the Mechanised Infantry at Ahmednagar and the Parachute Regiment at Bengaluru.
• The Gorkha regiments carry the famous saying Kayar hunu bhanda marnu ramro, it is better to die than to be a coward, and the Brigade of the Guards carries Pahla Hamesha Pahla.

Academies, mottoes and service days

Officers are trained at the National Defence Academy at Khadakwasla near Pune, the Indian Military Academy at Dehradun, the Officers Training Academy at Chennai, the Indian Naval Academy at Ezhimala in Kerala and the Air Force Academy at Dundigal near Hyderabad. The motto of the Indian Army is Service Before Self, of the Indian Navy Sam No Varunah, may the Lord of the Waters be auspicious unto us, and of the Indian Air Force Nabha Sparsham Deeptam, touch the sky with glory. Army Day is observed on 15 January, marking the day in 1949 when K. M. Cariappa became the first Indian Commander in Chief; Navy Day falls on 4 December, Air Force Day on 8 October and Armed Forces Flag Day on 7 December. The highest wartime gallantry award is the Param Vir Chakra, followed by the Maha Vir Chakra and the Vir Chakra, while the highest peacetime gallantry award is the Ashoka Chakra, followed by the Kirti Chakra and the Shaurya Chakra.