South Western Command (India)
Indian army command
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The South Western Command of the Indian Army was established on 15 April 2005 and became fully operational on 15 August 2005. It was established in response to the emerging threats and opportunities on the Western Indo-Pak border and is headquartered at Jaipur, Rajasthan.[1]
| South Western Command | |
|---|---|
Insignia of the South Western Command | |
| Active | 15 April 2005 - Present |
| Country |  India |
| Branch |  Indian Army |
| Type | Command |
| Garrison/HQ | Jaipur, Rajasthan |
| Nickname | Sapta Shakti Command |
| Mottos | Sarvada Vijayee Bhava transl. 'Forever Victorious' |
| Commanders | |
| GOC-in-C | Lt Gen Mohit Malhotra, AVSM SM |
| Notable commanders | General Dhiraj Seth |
| Insignia | |
| Flag |  |
Lieutenant General Mohit Malhotra is the present South Western Army Commander who took over on 1 July 2026.[2]
History and Role
The South Western Command of the Indian Army was formally raised on 15 April 2005 as the seventh operational command, with its headquarters established at Jaipur Military Station in Rajasthan with Lieutenant General Krishnamurthy Nagaraj taking over as the first General Officer Commanding-in-Chief. This creation involved carving out sectors from the existing Western Command to enhance dedicated oversight of the arid western frontier, responding to evolving security dynamics along the Indo-Pak border.[3] The South Western Command is operationally responsible for the defence of Southern Punjab and Northern Rajasthan.[4]
Structure
Currently, the South Western Command has been assigned operational units under:- X Corps and 42nd Artillery Division. The command in total has following units under its belt:- 3 infantry divisions (1 for Mountain warfare), 1 armoured division, 1 artillery division, 2 Reorganised Army Plains Infantry Division (RAPID), 1 armoured brigade, 1 Air-defence brigade, and 1 engineering brigade.
In 2021, except the 33 Armoured Division all the units of I Corps was transferred to Northern Command to focus on the Sino-Indian border at Ladakh.
| Structure of South-Western Command | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Insignia | Corp | Corp HQ | General Officer Commanding | Assigned Units | Unit HQ |
 |
X Corps
(Chetak Corps) |
Bathinda, Punjab | Lt Gen Shamsher Singh Virk | 16 Infantry Division | Sri Ganganagar, Rajasthan |
| 18 RAPID Division | Kota, Rajasthan | ||||
| 24 RAPID Division | Bikaner, Rajasthan | ||||
| 6 (Independent) Armoured Brigade | Bhatinda, Punjab | ||||
| 615 Air-defence Brigade | Agra, Uttar Pradesh | ||||
| 471 Engineering Brigade | N/A | ||||
| N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | 42 Artillery Division | Jaipur, Rajasthan |
| N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | 33 Armoured Division | Hisar, Haryana |
