| Name | Term of office | Political party(Alliance) | Prime Minister | |
| R. K. Shanmukham Chetty | 15-Aug-47 | 1949 | Indian National Congress | Jawaharlal Nehru |
| John Mathai | 1949 | 1950 | Indian National Congress | Jawaharlal Nehru |
| C. D. Deshmukh | 1950 | 1957 | Indian National Congress | Jawaharlal Nehru |
| T. T. Krishnamachari | 1957 | 13-Feb-58 | Indian National Congress | Jawaharlal Nehru |
| Jawaharlal Nehru | 13-Feb-58 | 13-Mar-58 | Indian National Congress | Jawaharlal Nehru |
| Morarji Desai | 13-Mar-58 | 29-Aug-63 | Indian National Congress | Jawaharlal Nehru |
| T. T. Krishnamachari | 29-Aug-63 | 1965 | Indian National Congress | Jawaharlal Nehru/ Lal Bahadur Shastri |
| Sachindra Chaudhuri | 1965 | 13-Mar-67 | Indian National Congress | Lal Bahadur Shastri/ Indira Gandhi |
| Morarji Desai | 13-Mar-67 | 16-Jul-69 | Indian National Congress | Indira Gandhi |
| Indira Gandhi | 1970 | 1971 | Indian National Congress | Indira Gandhi |
| Yashwantrao Chavan | 1971 | 1975 | Indian National Congress | Indira Gandhi |
| Chidambaram Subramaniam | 1975 | 1977 | Indian National Congress | Indira Gandhi |
| Haribhai M. Patel | 24-Mar-77 | 24-Jan-79 | Janata Party | Morarji Desai |
| Charan Singh | 24-Jan-79 | 28-Jul-79 | Janata Party | Morarji Desai |
| Hemvati Nandan Bahuguna | 28-Jul-79 | 14-Jan-80 | Janata Party (Secular) | Charan Singh |
| R. Venkataraman | 14-Jan-80 | 15-Jan-82 | Indian National Congress | Indira Gandhi |
| Pranab Mukherjee | 15-Jan-82 | 31-Dec-84 | Indian National Congress | Indira Gandhi |
| V. P. Singh | 31-Dec-84 | 24-Jan-87 | Indian National Congress | Rajiv Gandhi |
| Rajiv Gandhi | 24-Jan-87 | 25-Jul-87 | Indian National Congress | Rajiv Gandhi |
| N. D. Tiwari | 25-Jul-87 | 25-Jun-88 | Indian National Congress | Rajiv Gandhi |
| Shankarrao Chavan | 25-Jun-88 | 2-Dec-89 | Indian National Congress | Rajiv Gandhi |
| Madhu Dandavate | 2-Dec-89 | 10-Nov-90 | Janata Dal (National Front) | V. P. Singh |
| Yashwant Sinha | 10-Nov-90 | 21-Jun-91 | Samajwadi Janata Party (National Front) | Chandra Shekhar |
| Manmohan Singh | 21-Jun-91 | 16-May-96 | Indian National Congress | P. V. Narasimha Rao |
| Jaswant Singh | 16-May-96 | 1-Jun-96 | Bharatiya Janata Party | Atal Bihari Vajpayee |
| P. Chidambaram | 1-Jun-96 | 21-Apr-97 | Tamil Maanila Congress (United Front) | H. D. Deve Gowda |
| I. K. Gujral | 21-Apr-97 | 1-May-97 | Janata Dal (United Front) | I. K. Gujral |
| P. Chidambaram | 1-May-97 | 19-Mar-98 | Tamil Maanila Congress (United Front) | I. K. Gujral |
| Yashwant Sinha | 19-Mar-98 | 1-Jul-02 | Bharatiya Janata Party (NDA) | Atal Bihari Vajpayee |
| Jaswant Singh | 1-Jul-02 | 22-May-04 | Bharatiya Janata Party (NDA) | Atal Bihari Vajpayee |
| P. Chidambaram | 22-May-04 | 30-Nov-08 | Indian National Congress (UPA) | Manmohan Singh |
| Manmohan Singh | 30-Nov-08 | 24-Jan-09 | Indian National Congress (UPA) | Manmohan Singh |
| Pranab Mukherjee | 24-Jan-09 | 26-Jun-12 | Indian National Congress (UPA) | Manmohan Singh |
| Manmohan Singh | 26-Jun-12 | 31-Jul-12 | Indian National Congress (UPA) | Manmohan Singh |
| P. Chidambaram | 31-Jul-12 | Incumbent | Indian National Congress (UPA) | Manmohan Singh |
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