What is the Structure of The Indian Army? || Formation of the Indian Army

India – the 7^th Largest County in size with its land borders shared with a large number of countries, comprising of 1197 islands and having a coastline of 7516 kilometers with a vast Exclusive Economic Zone. This year, India will complete its 75 spectacular years of independence, and we cannot deny the role that our Armed forces have played in maintaining, preserving, and furthering India’s freedom. The Largest Volunteer Army in the world – The Indian Army comprises more than 80% of the country’s active defense force. It has almost 1.3 million active troops and almost a million troops in reserve – making it the largest standing army in the world. So how such a huge army consisting of over a million active troops are organized and formed for effective overall functioning? Let’s understand as to what is the structure of the Indian Army and the formation of the Indian Army.

You might be surprised to know that there is a provision for military conscription (compulsory enrolment of persons especially for military service) in the Indian constitution, but conscription has never been imposed by the government.

Table of Contents

• The Overview
• Field Formations of the Indian Army
  • Section
  • Platoon
  • Rifle Company
  • Battalion or Regiment
  • Brigade
  • Division
  • Corps
  • Commands
• The Indian Army Commands and Its Insignia

The Overview

The President of India is the leader or the Supreme Commander of the Indian Armed Forces. The governing control of the armed forces is done sequentially through the Union Cabinet, the Defence Minister, the Chiefs of Staff Committee (COSC), and the Chiefs of Army, Naval, and Airforce.

For Management & Operational purpose, the army operates into six operational commands and one training command. These commands are formed geographically. These commands can also be called Theatre.

Each command directly reports to the Chief of Army at Army HQ in New Delhi. Apart from these, there are tri-service commands such as Strategic Forces Command and Andaman and Nicobar Command. The command is further divided into Corps and corps into Division. This division goes down till a Section – which is the smallest form of the Indian Army. Let’s know all these formations in detail.

The Indian Army Ranks & their Equivalent in Navy and Airforce

Field Formations of the Indian Army

The structure of the Indian Army is as below starting from Section.

Section

• Section is the smallest or basic formation unit of Indian Army.
• Number of Personnel – 10
• Commanded by – Non-Commissioned Officer – Havaldar

Platoon

• Platoon is a bigger formation than Section. A group of 3 Section combine and form a Platoon
• Number of Personnel – 3 Section or Approx. 30-32
• Commanded by – Junior Commissioned Officer (JCO) – Naib Subedar, Subedar or Subedar Major.

Rifle Company

• Rifle Company or more commonly known as Company is formed by combining 3 Platoon.
• Number of Personnel – 3 Platoon or Approx. 120
• Commanded by – Company Commander or person of the Rank of Lieutenant or Major rank.

Battalion or Regiment

• Battalion or more frequently called as Regiment is the main fighting unit of the Infantry.
• Number of Personnel – 4 Rifle company or Approx. 900
• Commanded by – Battalion Officer, i.e. Commanding Offier or person of the Rank of Lt, Colonel or Colonel

Brigade

• Brigade is one of the complete fighting unit of the army which also consist of supporting Elements.
• An Infantry Brigade usually consist of three Infantry Battalions assisted with Support Arms & Services.
• There are some additional brigades from the regular ones which are independent Brigades such as Artillery Brigades, Armored Brigades, Air Defence Brigades, Parachute Brigade and Engineer Brigades.
• Number of Personnel – 3 Battalion or Approx. 3000
• Commanded by – Brigade Commander or person of the Rank of Brigadier

Division

• Division is the second largest field formations formation of the Indian Army.
• Currently, In the Indian Army there are approx. 41 Divisions, which include some RAPID (Re-organised Army Plains Infantry Divisions) Action Divisions, Mountain Divisions, Infantry Divisions, Artillery Divisions and Armored Divisions.
• Division is formed by combining 3-4 Brigades
• Commanded by – General Officer Commanding (GOC) or person of the Rank of Major General, who is a 2-star Rank of the Indian Army

Corps

• The Indian Infantry has three types of corps depending upon their nature – Strike, Holding and Mixed. The Corps Head Quarter is the highest field formation of the army.
• Number of Personnel – comprises of 3-4 Divisions
• Commanded by – Corps Commander, i.e. general officer commanding (GOC) or person of the Rank of Lieutenant General. Lieutenant General is a 3 star rank of the Indian Army.

Commands

• Indian Army Command is region wise division of Indian Army. There are 6 operational command and 1 training command.
• All these commands directly reports to the Army Head Quarter located in New Delhi.

Army Headquarters

• The Army Headquarters is the Office of the Chief of the Army Staff where every – General by Rank and is a 4-star office.
• The Army Headquarters is located in the Capital of the country – New Delhi.
• The present Chief of the Army Staff is General Manoj Mukund Naravane PVSM, AVSM, SM, VSM, ADC since 31 December 2019.

The Indian Army Commands and Its Insignia

This is how the largest standing army in the world is formed and managed.

Hope this article would have given you a clear picture of the structure of the Indian Army. For any questions/doubts or if you need any further clarification/explanation, do mention it in the comment segment or you can mail directly at [email protected].

Jai Hind.

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