President Bestows 105 Distinguished Service Decorations at 2026 Defence Investiture Ceremony
On June 29, 2026, President Droupadi Murmu presented 105 Distinguished Service Decorations to members of the Indian Army, Navy, Air Force, and Coast Guard during the Defence Investiture Ceremony 2026 (Phase-II) at Rashtrapati Bhavan.
The awards distributed included 07 Sarvottam Yudh Seva Medals (SYSM), 30 Param Vishisht Seva Medals (PVSM), 12 Uttam Yudh Seva Medals (UYSM), and 56 Ati Vishisht Seva Medals (AVSM), which recognized exceptional service and distinguished contributions.
Sarvottam Yudh Seva Medal (07)
The Sarvottam Yudh Seva Medal, the highest wartime distinguished service award in the Armed Forces, was awarded to:
- Lt Gen Pratik Sharma
- Air Marshal Nagesh Kapoor
- Lt Gen Rajiv Ghai
- Air Marshal Awadhesh Kumar Bharti
- Vice Admiral Sanjay Jasjit Singh (Retd.)
- Air Marshal Narmdeshwar Tiwari (Retd.)
- Air Marshal Jeetendra Mishra (Retd.)
Param Vishisht Seva Medal (30)
The following individuals received the Param Vishisht Seva Medal:
- Admiral Krishna Swaminathan
- Lt Gen Manjinder Singh
- Vice Admiral Sanjay Vatsayan
- Vice Admiral Ajay Kochhar
- Air Marshal Ashutosh Dixit
- Air Marshal Tejinder Singh
- Air Marshal S. Shrinivas
- Lt Gen Viresh Pratap Singh Kaushik
- Lt Gen Michael Anthony Jude Fernandez
- Lt Gen Navneet Singh Sarna
- Lt Gen Rashim Bali
- Lt Gen Manish Mohan Erry
- Lt Gen Harjeet Singh Sahi
- Lt Gen Dheerendra Singh Kushwah
- Lt Gen Sumer Ivan D'Cunha
- Lt Gen Prit Pal Singh
- Surgeon Vice Admiral Arti Sarin
- Vice Admiral Atul Anand
- Air Marshal Vijay Kumar Garg (Retd.)
- Air Marshal Surat Singh (Retd.)
- Lt Gen Arvind Walia (Retd.)
- Lt Gen Rakesh Kapoor (Retd.)
- Lt Gen Gajendra Joshi (Retd.)
- Lt Gen Jagmohan Singh Sidana (Retd.)
- Lt Gen K. Vinod Kumar (Retd.)
- Air Marshal Sunil Kashinath Vidhate (Retd.)
- Maj Gen Gurpreet Singh
- Maj Gen Pankaj Malhotra
- Maj Gen Charnjit Singh Mann
- Maj Gen Roopesh Mehta
Uttam Yudh Seva Medal (12)
The Uttam Yudh Seva Medal was awarded to:
- Lt Gen Dhiraj Seth
- Air Marshal Manish Khanna
- Lt Gen Prashant Srivastava
- Lt Gen Rajan Sharawat
- Lt Gen Abhijit S. Pendharkar
- Lt Gen Gambhir Singh
- Lt Gen Prasanna Kishore Mishra
- Vice Admiral Tarun Sobti
- Air Marshal Praveen Keshav Vohra
- Air Commodore Ajay Kumar Chaudhary
- Air Commodore Prabhat Malik
- Group Captain Kamran Nazeer
Ati Vishisht Seva Medal (56)
The Ati Vishisht Seva Medal was conferred upon:
- Air Marshal Tarun Chaudhry
- Lt Gen Neeraj Varshney
- Lt Gen Vikas Rohella
- Lt Gen Harbinder Singh Vandra
- Lt Gen Mohinder Pal Singh
- Lt Gen Ranjeet Singh
- Lt Gen Ajay Kumar
- Lt Gen Shamsher Singh Virk
- Lt Gen Aditya Vikram Singh Rathee
- Lt Gen Harpal Singh
- Lt Gen Chiyyarath Gopalan Muralidharan
- Lt Gen Puneet Ahuja
- Vice Admiral Anand Y. Sardesai
- Vice Admiral Rajat Kapoor
- Vice Admiral Srinivas Kudaravalli
- Vice Admiral Susheel Menon
- Vice Admiral Anil Jaggi
- Surgeon Vice Admiral Vivek Hande
- Air Marshal Mehtab Singh Deswal
- Air Marshal K. A. Ahamed Sanjeeb
- Air Marshal S. Srinivasa Rao
- Additional Director General Donny Michael (Indian Coast Guard)
- Surgeon Vice Admiral Kavita Sahai (Retd.)
- Maj Gen Sudhir Kumar Sharma
- Maj Gen Sujeet Shivaji Patil
- Maj Gen Gurpreet Singh Choudhry
- Maj Gen Ashish Shah
- Maj Gen Amar Ramdasani
- Maj Gen Vikas Choudhary
- Maj Gen Tarun Agrawal
- Maj Gen Voodev Parida
- Maj Gen Sumit Mehta
- Maj Gen Vikrant Suresh Deshpande
- Maj Gen Kuleshwar Singh Dhadwal
- Maj Gen Vivek Narang
- Maj Gen Paranvir Singh Punia
- Maj Gen Kolankara Mohan Nair
- Maj Gen Arindam Saha
- Maj Gen Mahipal Singh Rathore
- Maj Gen Awinder Pal Singh Bal
- Maj Gen Dhananjay Joshi
- Maj Gen Mandeep Singh
- Rear Admiral Nirbhay Bapna
- Air Vice Marshal Kaushik Chatterjee
- Air Vice Marshal Sanjeev Vashishth
- Air Vice Marshal Vadapalli Ravi Satyanarayan Raju
- Air Vice Marshal Sanjeev Kumar Taliyan
- Air Vice Marshal Manmeet Singh
- Air Vice Marshal Manu Midha
- Maj Gen Rajesh Arun Moghe (Retd.)
- Maj Gen Sandeep Kumar (Retd.)
- Maj Gen Parag Anant Deshmukh (Retd.)
- Air Vice Marshal Satish Kumar Mathur (Retd.)
- Air Vice Marshal Nand Kumar Nair (Retd.)
- Brigadier Pawan Dhull
- Subedar H. Hokato Sema
The Defence Investiture Ceremony served to honor the outstanding professionalism, operational excellence, and invaluable service of the personnel from the Indian Armed Forces and the Indian Coast Guard, acknowledging their significant role in ensuring national security.
