Since 1950, India has been hosting head of state or government of another country as the state guest of honor for Republic Day celebrations in New Delhi. During 1950–1954, Republic Day celebrations were organized at different venues (like Irwin Amphitheatre, Kingsway, Red Fort and Ramlila Maidan). It was only starting 1955 when the Republic Day parade in its present form was organized at Rajpath. The guest country is chosen after a deliberation of strategic, economic and political interests. During 1950s–1970s, a number of Non-Aligned Movement and Eastern Bloc countries were hosted by India. In 1968 and 1974, India played host to two countries on the same Republic Day.
List of chief guests + Year Portrait Chief Guest Country Designation Note Host 1950 Sukarno President of IndonesiaRajendra Prasad 1951 Tribhuvan King of Nepal 1952 1953 1954 Jigme Dorji Wangchuck King of BhutanRajendra Prasad 1955 Malik Ghulam Muhammad Governor-General of Pakistan 1956 Rab Butler Chancellor of the Exchequer Two guests Kōtarō Tanaka Chief Justice of Japan 1957 Georgy Zhukov Minister of Defence 1958 Ye Jianying Marshal of the People's Republic of China 1959 Philip Royal consort of British monarch 2nd invitation 1960 Kliment Voroshilov Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet 2nd invitation 1961 Elizabeth II Queen of the United Kingdom and the other Commonwealth realms 3rd invitation 1962 Viggo Kampmann Prime Minister of Denmark 1963 Norodom Sihanouk King of CambodiaSarvepalli Radhakrishnan 1964 Louis Mountbatten Chief of the Defence Staff 4th invitation 1965 Rana Abdul Hamid Minister of Food and Agriculture 2nd invitation 1966 1967 Mohammed Zahir Shah King of Afghanistan Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan 1968 Alexei Kosygin Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the Soviet Union 3rd invitation Two guestsZakir Husain Josip Broz Tito President of Yugoslavia 1969 Todor Zhivkov Prime Minister of Bulgaria 1970 Baudouin King of Belgium V. V. Giri 1971 Julius Nyerere President of Tanzania 1972 Seewoosagur Ramgoolam Prime Minister of Mauritius 1973 Mobutu Sese Seko President of Zaire 1974 Josip Broz Tito President of Yugoslavia 2nd invitation Two guests Sirimavo Bandaranaike Prime Minister of Sri Lanka 1975 Kenneth Kaunda President of ZambiaFakhruddin Ali Ahmed 1976 Jacques Chirac Prime Minister of France 1977 Edward Gierek First Secretary of the Polish United Workers' Party 1978 Patrick Hillery President of IrelandNeelam Sanjiva Reddy 1979 Malcolm Fraser Prime Minister of Australia 1980 Valéry Giscard d'Estaing President of France2nd invitation 1981 Jose Lopez Portillo President of Mexico 1982 Juan Carlos I King of Spain 1983 Shehu Shagari President of NigeriaZail Singh 1984 Jigme Singye Wangchuck King of Bhutan 2nd invitation 1985 Raúl Alfonsín President of Argentina 1986 Andreas Papandreou Prime Minister of Greece 1987 Alan Garcia President of Peru 1988 J. R. Jayewardene President of Sri Lanka 2nd invitationRamaswamy Venkataraman 1989 Nguyễn Văn Linh General Secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam 1990 Anerood Jugnauth Prime Minister of Mauritius 2nd invitation 1991 Maumoon Abdul Gayoom President of the Maldives 1992 Mário Soares President of Portugal 1993 John Major Prime Minister of United Kingdom 5th invitationShankar Dayal Sharma 1994 Goh Chok Tong Prime Minister of Singapore 1995 Nelson Mandela"General South African History timeline" sahistory.org.za Accessed on 13 June 2008. President of South Africa 1996 Fernando Henrique Cardoso President of Brazil 1997 Basdeo Panday Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago 1998 Jacques Chirac President of France 3rd invitationK. R. Narayanan 1999 Birendra King of Nepal 2nd invitation 2000 Olusegun Obasanjo President of Nigeria 2nd invitation 2001 Abdelaziz Bouteflika President of Algeria 2002 Cassam Uteem President of Mauritius 3rd invitation 2003 Mohammed Khatami President of IranA. P. J. Abdul Kalam 2004 Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva President of Brazil 2nd invitation 2005 Jigme Singye Wangchuck King of Bhutan 3rd invitation 2006 Abdullah King of Saudi Arabia 2007 Vladimir Putin President of Russia 4th invitation 2008 Nicolas Sarkozy President of France 4th invitationPratibha Patil 2009 Nursultan Nazarbayev President of Kazakhstan 2010 Lee Myung Bak President of South Korea 2011 Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono President of Indonesia 2nd invitation 2012 Yingluck Shinawatra Prime Minister of Thailand 2013 Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck King of Bhutan 4th invitationPranab Mukherjee 2014 Shinzo Abe Prime Minister of Japan 2nd invitation 2015 Barack Obama President of the United States 2016 François Hollande President of France 5th invitation 2017 Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi 2018 Hassanal Bolkiah Sultan of Brunei Ten guestsRam Nath Kovind Hun Sen Prime Minister of Cambodia 2nd invitation Joko Widodo President of Indonesia 3rd invitation Thongloun Sisoulith Prime Minister of Laos Najib Razak Prime Minister of Malaysia Aung San Suu Kyi State Counsellor of Myanmar Rodrigo Duterte President of the Philippines Lee Hsien Loong Prime Minister of Singapore 2nd invitation Prayut Chan-o-cha Prime Minister of Thailand 2nd invitation Nguyễn Xuân Phúc Prime Minister of Vietnam 2nd invitation 2019 Cyril Ramaphosa President of South Africa 2nd invitation 2020 Jair Bolsonaro President of Brazil 3rd invitation 2021 2022 2023 Abdel Fattah el-Sisi President of Egypt Droupadi Murmu 2024 Emmanuel Macron President of France6th invitation 2025 Prabowo Subianto President of Indonesia4th invitation2026 Ursula von der Leyen President of the European CommissionTwo guests António Costa President of the European Council
Summary by continent and region
By continent and geographic region, the invitations break up as follows: Continent Region Invitations Countries Asia (37) Southeast Asia 17 Brunei, Cambodia (twice), Indonesia (4 times), Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore (twice), Thailand (twice), Vietnam (twice) South Asia 12 Afghanistan, Bhutan (4 times), Maldives, Nepal (twice), Pakistan (twice), Sri Lanka (twice) East Asia 4 China, Japan (twice), South Korea West Asia 3 Iran, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates Central Asia 1 Kazakhstan Europe (26) Western Europe 13 Belgium, France (6 times), Ireland, United Kingdom (5 times) Eastern Europe 8 Bulgaria, Poland, Soviet Union/Russia (4 times), Yugoslavia (twice) Southern Europe 3 Greece, Portugal, Spain Northern Europe 1 Denmark European Union 1 European Union Africa (12) Southern Africa 6 Mauritius (thrice), South Africa (twice), Zambia North Africa 2 Algeria, Egypt West Africa 2 Nigeria (twice) East Africa 1 Tanzania Central Africa 1 Zaire America (8) South America 5 Argentina, Brazil (thrice), Peru North America 2 Mexico, United States Caribbean 1 Trinidad and Tobago Oceania (1) Australasia 1 Australia
See also List of diplomatic visits to India
Notes
References