1950
Born in Vadnagar
The third of six children in a family of modest means. As a boy he helped his father sell tea near the local railway station.
Narendra Modi
Prime Minister of India since May 2014, now in his third term. Before that, he led the state of Gujarat for almost thirteen years. This page sets out the record in plain language.
- Born
- 17 September 1950
- Birthplace
- Vadnagar, Gujarat
- Party
- Bharatiya Janata Party
- Constituency
- Varanasi, since 2014
Who he is
Narendra Damodardas Modi is the 14th Prime Minister of India and the first since independence to be born after 1947.
He grew up in a small town in north Gujarat, joined the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sang as a young man and rose through the Bharatiya Janata Party as an organiser before he ever held public office.
His first election to any post came in 2002, a few months after he was appointed Chief Minister of Gujarat.
- Full name
- Narendra Damodardas Modi
- Office
- Prime Minister of India
- In office since
- 26 May 2014
- Re-elected
- 2019 and 2024 general elections
- Chief Minister of Gujarat
- October 2001 to May 2014
- Lok Sabha seat
- Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh
- Party
- Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)
- Alliance
- National Democratic Alliance (NDA)
- Languages
- Gujarati, Hindi, English
From Vadnagar to Gandhinagar
The years before national office, from a railway town in north Gujarat to the state capital.
Scroll sideways
1971
Full-time with the RSS
After years of travel around India, he becomes a full-time worker (pracharak) of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sang in Gujarat.
1985
Moves to the BJP
The RSS assigns him to the Bharatiya Janata Party, where he works on party organisation and election campaigns in Gujarat.
1998
National general secretary
Promoted to general secretary of the BJP, responsible for organisation, and based in Delhi.
2001
Chief Minister of Gujarat
Appointed in October 2001. He goes on to win state elections in 2002, 2007 and 2012.
2014
Leaves for Delhi
Named the BJP's candidate for Prime Minister in 2013. He resigns as Chief Minister in May 2014 after the general election.
Three terms in office
Each general election since 2014 has returned him as Prime Minister. The first two gave the BJP a majority of its own; the third made it the largest party in a coalition.
2014First term, 2014 to 2019
A majority of its own
The BJP won 282 of 543 seats, the first time in thirty years that a single party had a majority in the Lok Sabha.
- Jan Dhan bank accounts and the Swachh Bharat cleanliness mission launched in 2014.
- High-value banknotes withdrawn in November 2016.
- Goods and Services Tax introduced in July 2017.
2019Second term, 2019 to 2024
A larger mandate
The BJP increased its tally to 303 seats.
- Special status of Jammu and Kashmir under Article 370 revoked in August 2019.
- National response to the Covid-19 pandemic and a mass vaccination programme from January 2021.
- India held the G20 presidency in 2023; Chandrayaan-3 landed near the Moon's south pole that August.
2024Third term, from June 2024
Governing in coalition
The BJP won 240 seats and formed the government with its partners in the National Democratic Alliance. He was sworn in for a third consecutive term on 9 June 2024, the first Prime Minister to do so since Jawaharlal Nehru.
Programmes he is known for
Open any programme for a short summary of what it set out to do.
Jan Dhan YojanaBank accounts, 2014
A drive to open a basic bank account for every household, with no minimum balance. It became the base for paying government benefits straight into people's accounts.
Swachh Bharat MissionSanitation, 2014
Launched on Gandhi Jayanti, 2 October 2014, to end open defecation and improve waste management, largely by funding household toilets in villages.
Make in IndiaManufacturing, 2014
A campaign to draw investment into manufacturing. It was later joined by production-linked incentives for sectors such as electronics and mobile phones.
Digital IndiaPublic technology, 2015
An umbrella for putting government services online and extending internet access. Systems built in this period include the UPI payments network, now used for most of India's digital payments.
Ayushman BharatHealth cover, 2018
A publicly funded hospital insurance scheme for low-income families, together with a network of local health and wellness centres.
Mann Ki BaatMonthly radio address, 2014
A monthly programme on All India Radio in which the Prime Minister speaks directly to listeners, broadcast since October 2014.
India and the world
Foreign policy under Modi has stressed personal diplomacy and frequent travel. His government recast the earlier "Look East" approach as "Act East", focusing on South-East Asia, Japan and Australia.
India joined the Quad with the United States, Japan and Australia when the grouping was revived in 2017, while keeping long-standing ties with Russia. In September 2023 New Delhi hosted the G20 summit, where the African Union became a permanent member.
He also proposed an International Day of Yoga. The United Nations adopted it in December 2014, and it has been marked every 21 June since.
The UN General Assembly backed the idea of a world yoga day within three months of his first speech there.
Resolution 69/131, December 2014
About this page
This is an independent information page. It is not run by the Government of India, the Prime Minister's Office or any political party.
Facts are drawn from public records: Election Commission of India results, official government announcements and United Nations documents. For official statements, see the Prime Minister's Office website.