General Dheeraj Seth will take over as the new Indian Army Chief of Staff on Tuesday, succeeding General Upendra Dwivedi, who is retiring after more than four decades of military service. Seth’s appointment represents a shift in leadership as the Army moves forward with modernization, capability development and restructuring initiatives to increase its combat readiness.
He will be the first Armored Corps officer to lead the service in nearly three decades. Seth, who was serving as Deputy Commander of the Army until now, will hold his position till August 31, 2028. General S Roy Chowdhury was the last Armored Corps officer to hold this top post between 1994 and 1997.
Other changes in the army hierarchy include Lieutenant General Sandeep Jain taking over as Deputy Chief of Army Staff, and Lieutenant General Mohit Malhotra and Rajesh Pushkar taking charge of the Jaipur-based South Western Command and Pune-based Southern Command, respectively.
Seth, an alumnus of the National Defense Academy (NDA), Khadakwasla, and the Indian Military Academy (IMA), Dehradun, was commissioned into the 2nd Lancers on 20 December 1986. Known for his professionalism and military acumen, Seth attended the Defense Services Command and General Staff Course at the Military College in Paris, the International Defense Procurement Management Course at the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, California, the Senior Leadership Course at Mhow, and the National Defense College in New Delhi.
He commanded the Skinner Horse Armored Regiment, an armored brigade, a counter-insurgency force in Jammu and Kashmir, an Assault Corps on the Western Front, the South-Western Command and the Southern Command.
Seth’s appointment comes at a pivotal moment as the armed forces advance theater, a long-awaited reform aimed at integrating the military’s resources into future conflicts. The model includes establishing a China-centric Northern Theater Command in Lucknow, a Pakistan-centric Western Theater Command in Jaipur, and a Naval Theater Command in Thiruvananthapuram.
