List of Indian Presidents

This list is numbered based on Presidents elected after winning an Indian Presidential election. The terms of Varahagiri Venkata Giri, Muhammad Hidayatullah, and Basappa Danappa Jatti, who have functioned as acting presidents, are therefore not numbered. The President of India does not represent any political party. The colours used in the table indicate the following:

• The symbol (*) with a light brown background indicates an Acting President of India.

#	Name	Portrait	Took office	Left office	Vice President	Notes
1	Dr. Rajendra Prasad (1884–1963)		26 January 1950	12 May 1962	Dr. Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan	1952 election & 1957 election Prasad, from Bihar, was the first President of independent India.[8][9] He was also a freedom fighter during theIndian independence movement.[10] Prasad was the only president to serve two terms in office.[4]
2	Dr. Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan (1888–1975)		13 May 1962	13 May 1967	Dr. Zakir Hussain	1962 election Radhakrishnan was a prominent philosopher, writer, a Knight of the Realm and also held the position of vice chancellor of the Andhra University and Banaras Hindu University.[11] He was also made a Knight of the Golden Army of Angels by Pope Paul VI. He received Bharat Ratna award in 1954 before becoming the President.[12]
3	Dr. Zakir Hussain (1897–1969)		13 May 1967	3 May 1969	Varahagiri Venkata Giri	1967 election Hussain was vice chancellor of the Aligarh Muslim University and a recipient of Padma Vibhushan and Bharat Ratna.[13] He died in office.
	Varahagiri Venkata Giri * (1894–1980)		3 May 1969	20 July 1969		Giri was appointed as Acting President of India following the death of Hussain.[14] He resigned in a few months to take part in the presidential elections.[5]
	Mohammad Hidayatullah * (1905–1992)		20 July 1969	24 August 1969		Hidayatullah served as the Chief Justice of India, and was a recipient of the Order of the British Empire.[15] He served as Acting President of India until the election of Giri as the President of India.
4	Varahagiri Venkata Giri (1894–1980)		24 August 1969	24 August 1974	Gopal Swarup Pathak	1969 election Giri is the only person to have served as both an acting president and president of India. He was a recipient of the Bharat Ratna, and has functioned as Indian Minister of Labour and High Commissioner to Ceylon (Sri Lanka).[16]
5	Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed (1905–1977)		24 August 1974	11 February 1977	Basappa Danappa Jatti	1974 election Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed served as a Minister before being elected as president. He died in 1977 before his term of office ended, and was the second Indian president to die in office.[17]
	Basappa Danappa Jatti* (1912–2002)		11 February 1977	25 July 1977		Jatti was the vice president of India during Ahmed's term of office, and was sworn in as Acting President of Indiaupon Ahmed's death. He earlier functioned as the Chief Minister for the State of Mysore.[17][18]
6	Neelam Sanjiva Reddy (1913–1996)		25 July 1977	25 July 1982	Muhammad Hidayatullah	1977 election N.S.Reddy was the first Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh State. Reddy was the only Member of Parliament from the Janata Party to get elected from Andhra Pradesh.[19] He was unanimously elected Speaker of the Lok Sabhaon 26 March 1977 and relinquished this office on 13 July 1977 to become the 6th President of India.
7	Giani Zail Singh (1916–1994)		25 July 1982	25 July 1987	Ramaswamy Venkataraman	1982 election In March 1972, Singh assumed the position of chief Minister of Punjab, and in 1980, he became Union Home Minister.[20]
8	Ramaswamy Venkataraman (1910–2009)		25 July 1987	25 July 1992	Shankar Dayal Sharma	1987 election In 1942, Venkataraman was jailed by the British for his involvement in the Indian independence movement.[21]After his release, he was elected to independent India’s Provisional Parliament as a member of the Congress Party in 1950 and eventually joined the central government, where he first served as Minister of Finance and Industry and later as Minister of Defence.[22]
9	Shankar Dayal Sharma (1918–1999)		25 July 1992	25 July 1997	Kocheril Raman Narayanan	1992 election Sharma was Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh, and the Indian Minister for Communications. He has also served as the governor of Andhra Pradesh, Punjab and Maharashtra.[23]
10	Kocheril Raman Narayanan (1920–2005)		25 July 1997	25 July 2002	Krishan Kant	1997 election Narayanan served as India's ambassador to Thailand, Turkey, China and United States of America. He received doctorates in Science and Law and was also a chancellor in several universities.[24] He was also the vice-chancellor of Jawaharlal Nehru University.[25]
11	Dr. A. P. J. Abdul Kalam (b. 1931)		25 July 2002	25 July 2007	Bhairon Singh Shekhawat	2002 election Kalam is a scientist who played a leading role in the development of India's ballistic missile and nuclear weapons programs.[26] He also received the Bharat Ratna. Kalam was affectionately known as the People's President.[27][28][29]
12	Pratibha Patil (b. 1934)		25 July 2007	25 July 2012	Mohammad Hamid Ansari	2007 election Patil is the first woman to become the President of India. She was also the first female Governor of Rajasthan.[30][31]
13	Pranab Mukherjee (b. 1935)		25 July 2012	Incumbent	Mohammad Hamid Ansari	2012 election Mukherjee held various posts in the cabinet ministry for the Government of India such as Finance Minister,Foreign Minister, Defence Minister and Deputy Chairman of the Planning Commission.[6]