Lieutenant General Dhiraj Seth will be the new Army Chief, the government said on Saturday. On June 30, he will take over from Gen Upendra Dwivedi, who is poised to retire from the service the same day.
Lt General Seth was appointed by the President in the substantive rank of General in a statement issued by the Ministry of Defence. He is set to serve as Army chief till 31 August 2028.
In April 2026, Lt General Seth took over from General Dalto from the Vice Chief of the Army Staff position. He is a graduate of the National Defence Academy and was commissioned into the Armoured Corps on 01 December 1986 and has had a wide variety of operational and Leadership experiences in the military profession spanning nearly 40 years.
His command experience has been in desert sector with an Armoured Regiment, western theatre with an Armoured Brigade and Counter-Insurgency Force in Jammu and Kashmir. He also commands one of the major strike corps of the Indian Army – Sudarshan Chakra Corps.
Furthermore, Lt Gen Seth has also had an experience of being the General Officer Commanding of the Delhi Area and later both the South Western Command and the Southern Command. He is one of the rare officers to have served as commander of two operational Army Commands at the same time to run strategic affairs in major theatres for over two years, the military officials said.
The appointment is timely as the Indian Army is engaged in modernization, operational preparedness and addressing new challenges and threats on various fronts.
Lt General Seth will bring a wealth of experience to his operational, strategic, and capability development positions, and is anticipated to spearhead the Army’s next phase of change and modernization.