The President of India is the head of state and first citizen of India. The President is also the Commander-in-Chief of the armed forces of India. Although the president is vested such powers by the constitution of India, the position is largely a ceremonial role and the executive powers are de facto exercised by the Cabinet Ministers and Prime Minister. The post of President is known in Hindi as Rashtrapati, a Sanskrit neologism meaning "lord of the realm". The President is elected by an electoral college composed of elected members of the parliament houses, Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha, and also members of the Vidhan Sabha, the state legislative assemblies.
There have been 12 Presidents of India since the introduction of the post in 1950. The post was established when India was declared as a republic with the adoption of the Indian constitution. Apart from these twelve, three acting presidents have also been in office for short periods of time. Varahagiri Venkata Giri became Acting President of India in 1969 following the death of Zakir Hussain, who died in office. Giri was elected President a few months later. He remains the only person to have held office both as a president and acting president. The President may remain in office for a tenure of five years, as stated by article 56, part V, of the constitution of India. In the case where a president's term of office is terminated early or during the absence of the president, the vice president assumes office. By article 70 of part V, the parliament may decide how to discharge the functions of the president where this is not possible, or in any other unexpected contingency. Rajendra Prasad, the first President of India, is the only person to have held office for two terms.

Seven presidents have been members of a political party before being elected. Six of these were active party members of the Indian National Congress. The Janata Party has had one member, Neelam Sanjiva Reddy, who later became president. Two presidents, Zakir Hussain and Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed, have died in office. Their vice-presidents functioned as acting president until a new president was elected. Following Hussain's death, two acting presidents held office until the new president, Varahagiri Venkata Giri, was elected. Varahagiri Venkata Giri himself, Hussain's vice president, was the first acting president. When Giri resigned to take part in the presidential elections, he was superseded by Muhammad Hidayatullah as acting president. The current President is Pranab Mukherjee elected on 25th July 2012. Mukherjee held various posts in the cabinet ministry for the Government of India such as Finance Minister, Foreign Minister, Defence Minister and Deputy Chairperson of the Planning Commission. He originally comes from West Bengal.The ex- president, Pratibha Patil, who was in office till 25th July 2012, was elected as the 12th President of India in 2007. She is also the first woman to serve as President of India.

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, and the Political party column below indicates the party (if any) that the president was a member of before being elected. :

	First
Name		Rajendra Prasad (1884–1963)
Took Office on		26 January 1950
Left Office on		13 May 1962
Vice President		Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan
Brief Notes		1952 election page & 1957 election page Prasad was the first President of independent India from Bihar. He was also an independence activist of the Indian. Independence Movement. Prasad was the only president to serve for two terms in office.
	SECOND
Name		Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan (1888–1975)
Took Office on		13 May 1962
Left Office on		13 May 1967
Vice President		Zakir Hussain
Brief Notes		1962 election page 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. He was also made a Knight of the Golden Army of Angels by Pope Paul VI.
	THIRD
Name		Dr. Zakir Hussain (1897–1969)
Took Office on		13 May 1967
Left Office on		3 May 1969
Vice President		Varahagiri Venkata Giri
Brief Notes		1967 election page Hussain was vice chancellor of the Aligarh Muslim University and a recipient of Padma Vibhushan and Bharat Ratna. He died before his term of office was ended.
	Acting President
Name		Varahagiri Venkata Giri * (1894–1980)
Took Office on		3 May 1969
Left Office on		20 July 1969
Vice President
Brief Notes		Giri was appointed as Acting President of India following the death of Hussain. He resigned in a few months to take part in the presidential elections.
	Acting President
Name		Muhammad Hidayatullah * (1905–1992)
Took Office on		20 July 1969
Left Office on		24 August 1969
Vice President
Brief Notes		Hidayatullah served as the Chief Justice of India, and was a recipient of the Order of the British Empire. He served as Acting President of India until the election of Giri as the President of India.
	FOURTH
Name		Varahagiri Venkata Giri (1894–1980)
Took Office on		24 August 1969
Left Office on		24 August 1974
Vice President		Gopal Swarup Pathak
Brief Notes		1969 election page 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).
	FIFTH
Name		Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed (1905–1977)
Took Office on		24 August 1974
Left Office on		11 February 1977
Vice President		Basappa Danappa Jatti
Brief Notes		1974 election page 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 have died during a term of office.
	Acting President
Name		Basappa Danappa Jatti * (1912–2002)
Took Office on		11 February 1977
Left Office on		25 July 1977
Vice President
Brief Notes		Jatti was the vice president of India during Ahmed's term of office, and was sworn in as Acting President of India upon Ahmed's death. He earlier functioned as the Chief Minister for the State of Mysore.
	SIXTH
Name		Neelam Sanjiva Reddy (1913–1996)
Took Office on		25 July 1977
Left Office on		25 July 1982
Vice President		Muhammad Hidayatullah
Brief Notes		1977 election page 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. He was unanimously elected Speaker of the Lok Sabha on 26 March 1977 and relinquished this office on 13 July 1977 to become the 6th President of India.
	SEVENTH
Name		Giani Zail Singh (1916–1994)
Took Office on		25 July 1982
Left Office on		25 July 1987
Vice President		Ramaswamy Venkataraman
Brief Notes		1982 election page In March 1972, Singh assumed the position of chief Minister of Punjab, and in 1980, he became Union Home Minister.
	EIGHT
Name		Ramaswamy Venkataraman (1910–2009)
Took Office on		25 July 1987
Left Office on		25 July 1992
Vice President		Shankar Dayal Sharma
Brief Notes		1987 election page In 1942, Venkataraman was jailed by the British for his involvement in the India's independence movement. 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.
	NINTH
Name		Shankar Dayal Sharma (1918–1999)
Took Office on		25 July 1992
Left Office on		25 July 1997
Vice President		Kocheril Raman Narayanan
Brief Notes		1992 election page 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.
	TENTH
Name		Kocheril Raman Narayanan (1920–2005)
Took Office on		25 July 1997
Left Office on		25 July 2002
Vice President		Krishan Kant
Brief Notes		1997 election page 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. He was also the vice-chancellor of Jawaharlal Nehru University.
	ELEVENTH
Name		A. P. J. Abdul Kalam (1931– )
Took Office on		25 July 2002
Left Office on		25 July 2007
Vice President		Bhairon Singh Shekhawat
Brief Notes		2002 election page Kalam, is a scientist who played a leading role in the development of India's ballistic missile and nuclear weapons programs. He also received the Bharat Ratna. Kalam was affectionately known as the People's President.
	TWELTH
Name		Pratibha Patil (1934– )
Took Office on		25 July 2007
Left Office on		25 July 2012
Vice President		Mohammad Hamid Ansari
Brief Notes		2007 election page Patil is the first woman to become the President of India. She was also the first female Governor of Rajasthan.
	THIRTEENTH
Name		Pranab Mukherjee (1935– )
Took Office on		25 July 2012
Left Office on		Elect
Vice President		Mohammad Hamid Ansari
Brief Notes		2012 election page Mukherjee held various posts in the cabinet ministry for the Government of India such as Finance Minister, Foreign Minister, Defence Minister and Deputy Chairperson of the Planning Commission.