Lieutenant General Lieutenant general (Lt Gen, LTG and similar) is a military rank used in many countries. The rank traces its origins to the Middle Ages, where the title of lieutenant general was held by the second-in-command on the battlefield, who was norma ...

M. V. Suchindra Kumar,

PVSM Param Vishisht Seva Medal (PVSM) (International Alphabet of Sanskrit Transliteration, IAST: , ) is a Military awards and decorations, military award of India. It is the highest peacetime medal of the Indian Armed Forces, and is awarded for "dist ...

AVSM Ati Vishisht Seva Medal (AVSM, ) is a military award of India given to recognize "distinguished service of an exceptional order" to all ranks of the armed forces. The award is a peacetime equivalent of Uttam Yuddh Seva Medal, which is a Wartime ...

, YSM**, VSM is a retired

general officer A general officer is an Officer (armed forces), officer of high rank in the army, armies, and in some nations' air force, air and space forces, marines or naval infantry. In some usages, the term "general officer" refers to a rank above colone ...

of the

Indian Army The Indian Army (IA) (ISO 15919, ISO: ) is the Land warfare, land-based branch and largest component of the Indian Armed Forces. The President of India is the Commander-in-Chief, Supreme Commander of the Indian Army, and its professional head ...

. He last served as the General Officer Commanding-in-Chief Northern Command. He previously served as the 45th Vice Chief of the Army Staff, prior to that he was Deputy Chief of the Army Staff (Strategy). He also served as the Director General Military Intelligence and as the General Officer Commanding XVI Corps. He is also the Colonel of the

Assam Regiment The Assam Regiment is an infantry regiment of the Indian Army. The regiment consists of 25 battalions: 15 regular battalions, 3 Rashtriya Rifles battalions, 5 Territorial Army battalions (including 2 ecological battalions) and 2 Arunachal Scouts ...

& the

Arunachal Scouts The Arunachal Scouts is a mountain infantry regiment of the Indian army based in Arunachal Pradesh. This unit specializes in cold-weather warfare and mountain warfare, counterinsurgency, jungle warfare, long-range penetration, maneuver warfare, r ...

Early life and education

He was born in a Lingayat family completed his schooling from the Sainik School, Bijapur. He then attended the

National Defence Academy The National Defence Academy (NDA) is the joint defence service training institute of the Indian Armed Forces. Here, cadets of the Indian Army, Indian Navy, and Indian Air Force train together before they go on to their respective service a ...

and the

Indian Military Academy The Indian Military Academy (IMA) is one of the oldest military academies in India, and trains officers for the Indian Army. Located in Dehradun, Uttarakhand, it was established in 1932 following a recommendation by a military committee set up ...

. He also attended the

Defence Services Staff College The Defence Services Staff College (DSSC) is a defence service training institution of the Ministry of Defence, Government of India. It trains officers of all three services of the Indian Armed Forces – (Indian Army, Indian Navy, Indian Air ...

, Wellington, Higher Command Course, Mhow and the National Defence College,

New Delhi New Delhi (; ) is the Capital city, capital of India and a part of the Delhi, National Capital Territory of Delhi (NCT). New Delhi is the seat of all three branches of the Government of India, hosting the Rashtrapati Bhavan, New Parliament ...

. He has also attended courses on Cooperative Security in South Asia in

Sri Lanka Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, also known historically as Ceylon, is an island country in South Asia. It lies in the Indian Ocean, southwest of the Bay of Bengal, separated from the Indian subcontinent, ...

and United Nations Senior Mission Leaders Course in

Egypt Egypt ( , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a country spanning the Northeast Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to northe ...

Military career

The general officer was commissioned into the 1st battalion, The

(1 ASSAM) in June 1985. He attended the

Wellington Wellington is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the third-largest city in New Zealand (second largest in the North Island ...

. He served as an instructor at the Infantry School, Mhow. As part of the

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is the Earth, global intergovernmental organization established by the signing of the Charter of the United Nations, UN Charter on 26 June 1945 with the stated purpose of maintaining international peace and internationa ...

, he served as the Sector Senior Operations Officer in the Transitional Authority in Cambodia and in the Indian Army Training team in Lesotho. At Army headquarters, he served in the Military Secretary Branch. He commanded the 59 battalion, The

Rashtriya Rifles The Rashtriya Rifles (RR; ) is a counter-insurgency force in India, formed in 1990, to deal with internal security in the Jammu and Kashmir (region), Jammu and Kashmir region. They maintain public order by drawing powers from the Armed Forces ...

(Assam). The RR battalions are deployed in a

counter-insurgency Counterinsurgency (COIN, or NATO spelling counter-insurgency) is "the totality of actions aimed at defeating irregular forces". The Oxford English Dictionary defines counterinsurgency as any "military or political action taken against the ac ...

role in

Jammu and Kashmir Jammu and Kashmir may refer to: * Jammu and Kashmir (union territory), a region administered by India as a union territory since 2019 * Jammu and Kashmir (state), a region administered by India as a state from 1952 to 2019 * Jammu and Kashmir (prin ...

. Promoted to the rank of

Brigadier Brigadier ( ) is a military rank, the seniority of which depends on the country. In some countries, it is a senior rank above colonel, equivalent to a brigadier general or commodore (rank), commodore, typically commanding a brigade of several t ...

, he commanded the 120 Infantry Brigade. For this stint, he was awarded the

Yudh Seva Medal The Yudh Seva Medal () is one of India's military decorations for distinguished service during wartime. It is awarded for a high degree of distinguished service in an operational context, which includes times of war, conflict, or hostilities and ma ...

on 26 January 2014. He was then selected to attend the National Defence College in

, as part of the 54th course. After completing the course, he was appointed Brigadier General Staff (BGS) of a corps in the Eastern theatre. On 26 January 2018, he was awarded the

Vishisht Seva Medal The Vishisht Seva Medal (VSM, ) is a decoration of the Indian Armed Forces. It is awarded to recognize "distinguished service of a high order" to all ranks of the Indian Armed Forces. From 1980, the Yudh Seva Medal was introduced to recognize ex ...

General officer

He was promoted to the rank of Major General and appointed

General officer commanding General officer commanding (GOC) is the usual title given in the armies of the United Kingdom and the Commonwealth (and some other nations, such as Ireland) to a general officer who holds a command appointment. Thus, a general might be the GOC ...

of an infantry division on the

line of control The Line of Control (LoC) is a military control line between the Indian and Pakistanicontrolled parts of the former princely state of Jammu and Kashmir—a line which does not constitute a legally recognized international boundary, but ser ...

. In the 2019 Republic Day honours, he was awarded a bar to the Yudh Seva Medal. He subsequently served in the Military Intelligence directorate as the Additional Director General Military Intelligence (ADGMI). On 28 January 2020, he was promoted to the rank of

and was appointed the

General Officer Commanding General officer commanding (GOC) is the usual title given in the armies of the United Kingdom and the Commonwealth (and some other nations, such as Ireland) to a general officer who holds a command appointment. Thus, a general might be the GOC ...

of XVI Corps succeeding

Harsha Gupta. For his tenure as GOC XVI Corps, he was awarded the

Ati Vishisht Seva Medal Ati Vishisht Seva Medal (AVSM, ) is a military award of India given to recognize "distinguished service of an exceptional order" to all ranks of the armed forces. The award is a peacetime equivalent of Uttam Yuddh Seva Medal, which is a Wartime D ...

on 26 January 2022. After a year-long stint, he moved to Army HQ as the Director General Military Intelligence (DGMI). After a short stint as DGMI, on 1 July 2022 he assumed the appointment of Deputy Chief of Army Staff (Strategy). On 1 March 2023,

M. V. Suchindra Kumar took over as the 45th Vice Chief of the Army Staff succeeding

B. S. Raju who moved to South Western Command as Army Commander. On 19 February 2024, he took over as the

General Officer Commanding-in-Chief General officer commanding (GOC) is the usual title given in the armies of the United Kingdom and the Commonwealth (and some other nations, such as Ireland) to a general officer who holds a command appointment. Thus, a general might be the GOC ...

of the Northern Command succeeding

General A general officer is an Officer (armed forces), officer of high rank in the army, armies, and in some nations' air force, air and space forces, marines or naval infantry. In some usages, the term "general officer" refers to a rank above colone ...

(then

)

Upendra Dwivedi General (India), General Upendra Dwivedi, (born 1 July 1964) is a serving four-star general officer of the Indian Army. He is the current and 30th Chief of the Army Staff (India), Chief of the Army Staff. He took over as the 30th COAS succeedin ...

who moved to the Army Headquarters as the Vice Chief of the Army Staff. On 30th April 2025, Lt Gen

Pratik Sharma Lieutenant general (India), Lieutenant General Pratik Sharma, Param Vishisht Seva Medal, PVSM, Ati Vishisht Seva Medal, AVSM, Sena Medal, SM is a serving general officer of the Indian Army. He is currently serving as the Northern Command (India) ...

replaced General Kumar as the General Officer Commanding-in Chief of the Northern Command, Kumar having reached the superannuation age.

Personal life

He is married to Asha Suchindra, an educationalist. The couple has two children. Gen Kumar is an amateur half marathon runner, golf enthusiast and yoga practitioner. An avid reader, his military papers have been published in a number of professional journals.

Awards and decorations

The General officer was awarded the

in 2014, the

in 2018, a bar to the

in 2019, the

in 2022 and the

Param Vishisht Seva Medal Param Vishisht Seva Medal (PVSM) (International Alphabet of Sanskrit Transliteration, IAST: , ) is a Military awards and decorations, military award of India. It is the highest peacetime medal of the Indian Armed Forces, and is awarded for "dist ...

in 2024.

Dates of rank

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kumar, M V Suchindra Living people Indian generals Indian Army officers Recipients of the Ati Vishisht Seva Medal Recipients of the Yudh Seva Medal Recipients of the Vishisht Seva Medal National Defence Academy (India) alumni Army War College, Mhow alumni National Defence College, India alumni Defence Services Staff College alumni Year of birth missing (living people) Deputy chiefs of Army Staff (India)