Secretary to the Government of India

The position holder is generally a career civil servant and a government official of high seniority. The civil servants who hold this rank and post are either from All India Services or Central Civil Services. All promotions and appointments to this rank and post are directly made by the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet.

In the functioning of the Government of India, a secretary is the administrative head of a ministry or department, and is equivalent to chief secretaries of state governments and Vice Chief of the Army Staff, General Officers Commanding in Chief of Army Commands, and their equivalents in the Indian Armed Forces, In the Department of Military Affairs, the Chief of Defence Staff is currently designated as Secretary (GoI), similarly in the National Security Council Secretariat, the National Security Advisor is currently designated as Secretary (GoI).

Secretaries (GOI) rank 23rd on Order of Precedence of India.

Special Secretary

A Special Secretary in the Government of India is an officer of Secretary-equivalent rank appointed for a specific, time-bound assignment. The role is focused and task-oriented, with the officer typically handling only the designated responsibility. While often associated with legislative tasks, the role may be created for any priority assignment requiring dedicated attention and expedited execution. A Special Secretary receives salary, allowances, and other benefits broadly equivalent to those of a Secretary to the Government of India.

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History

In mid-1930s, the Central Secretariat contained only twenty-nine secretaries, who were all members of the Indian Civil Service. The salary for a member of this rank and post was fixed at ₹48,000 (equivalent to ₹13 million or US$130,000 in 2026) annum in the 1930s. As per warrant or precedence of 1905, secretaries to the Government of India was listed together with joint secretaries to the Government of India and were ranked above the rank of chief secretaries of provincial governments.

N. Gopalaswami Ayyangar had once suggested "[a] secretary should not be immersed in files and burdened with routine. It is essential that he should have time to grasp the overall picture, size up the problems facing the government in the field allotted to his charge, and think and plan ahead. All these are his proper functions and must be efficiently performed. Failure to make adequate provision in this respect cannot be compensated by a mere increase in the establishment under his control." The Administrative Reforms Commission visualised the role of secretary, primarily as one of a "coordinator, policy guide, reviewer, and evaluator."

Before Partition of India, notable officers who served as Secretary in the Central Government include - Allan Hume, Edward Buck, Thomas Holderness, N. R. Pillai, Y. N. Sukthankar, Charles Ogilvie, Archdale Earle, Charles Todhunter, Jeremy Raisman, Herbert Hope Risley, Robert Carlyle, Henry Smith, C. S. Venkatachar, V. P. Menon.

Tenure and Appointment

A member of All India Services is appointed to this rank and post only on tenure. This tenure is a deputation to the Central Government and does not carry a fixed term. They serve at the pleasure and will of the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet.

A member of Central Civil Services is appointed to this rank and post as per vacancy in their own service cadre and are empanelled.

Powers, responsibilities and postings

A secretary to the Government of India is the administrative head of a ministry or department and is the principal adviser to the minister-in charge on all matters of policy and administration within the ministry or department.

The role of a secretary is as follows:

To act as the administrative head of the ministry or department. The responsibility in this regard is complete and undivided.
To act as the chief adviser to the minister on all aspects of policy and administrative affairs.
To represent the ministry or department before the Public Accounts Committee of the Parliament of India.

The prime minister-led Appointments Committee of the Cabinet is the final authority on posting and transfer of officers of secretary level. Secretaries report to their ministerial cabinet minister and to the prime minister.

Position

In the Indian government, secretaries are the head of the ministries of the government and hold positions such as Finance Secretary, Defence Secretary, Foreign Secretary, Home Secretary, Chairperson of the Railway Board and members of the Railway Board and Telecom Commission.

According to the report of the Seventh Central Pay Commission of India, seventy-one out of ninety-one secretaries to the Government of India are from the Indian Administrative Service.

Emolument, accommodation and prequisites

All secretaries to the Government of India are eligible for a Diplomatic passport or Official passport. Secretaries are allotted either type-VII or type-VIII bungalows in areas like New Moti Bagh and Lutyens' across Delhi by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs' Directorate of Estates.

The salary and emolument in this rank is equivalent to chief secretaries of state governments and to Vice Chief of the Army Staff, General Officers Commanding in Chief of Army Commands, and their equivalents, in the Indian Armed Forces, which is to say Level 17 of the Central Pay Matrix.

International equivalency

The position of Secretary in Government of India is equivalent to Permanent Secretary in His Majesty's Civil Service (UK), Administrative Vice-Ministers in Civil service of Japan, Secretary General in Italian Senior Civil Service, Department secretary in Australian Government, Deputy Minister in Government of Canada and Federal Secretary in Central Superior Services of Pakistan.

List of current secretaries to the Government of India

Reforms and challenges

Media articles and others have argued in favour of lateral entrants being recruited to this rank/post to infuse fresh energy and thinking into an insular, complacent and archaic bureaucracy.

Non-IAS civil services have complained to the Government of India because of lack of empanelment in the rank/post of secretary on numerous occasions.

Lateral entry

From 1998 to 1999, Vijay Kelkar served as Finance Secretary as a lateral entry. During the term of Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Manmohan Singh as Prime Minister of India, Ram Vinay Shahi served as Secretary (GOI) in the Ministry of Power from 2002 to 2007 as a lateral entry.