| Year | Chief Guest | Country | Designation | Host |
| 1950 | Sukarno | Indonesia | President | Rajendra Prasad |
| 1951 | Tribhuvan Bir Bikram Shah | Nepal | King | Rajendra Prasad |
| 1952 | No invitation | – | – | – |
| 1953 | No invitation | – | – | – |
| 1954 | Jigme Dorji Wangchuck | Bhutan | King | Rajendra Prasad |
| 1955 | Malik Ghulam Muhammad | Pakistan | Governor-General | Rajendra Prasad |
| 1955 | Rab Butler | United Kingdom | Chancellor of the Exchequer | Rajendra Prasad |
| 1956 | Kōtarō Tanaka | Japan | Chief Justice | Rajendra Prasad |
| 1957 | Georgy Zhukov | Soviet Union | Minister of Defence | Rajendra Prasad |
| 1958 | Ye Jianying | China | Marshal of the People’s Liberation Army | Rajendra Prasad |
| 1959 | Prince Philip | United Kingdom | Duke of Edinburgh | Rajendra Prasad |
| 1960 | Kliment Voroshilov | Soviet Union | Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet | Rajendra Prasad |
| 1961 | Queen Elizabeth II | United Kingdom | Queen | Rajendra Prasad |
| 1962 | Viggo Kampmann | Denmark | Prime Minister | Rajendra Prasad |
| 1963 | Norodom Sihanouk | Cambodia | King | Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan |
| 1964 | Lord Louis Mountbatten | United Kingdom | Chief of the Defence Staff | Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan |
| 1965 | Rana Abdul Hamid | Pakistan | Minister of Food and Agriculture | Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan |
| 1966 | No invitation | – | – | – |
| 1967 | Mohammed Zahir Shah | Afghanistan | King | Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan |
| 1968 | Alexei Kosygin | Soviet Union | Prime Minister | Zakir Husain |
| 1968 | Josip Broz Tito | Yugoslavia | President | Zakir Husain |
| 1969 | Todor Zhivkov | Bulgaria | Prime Minister | Zakir Husain |
| 1970 | Baudouin | Belgium | King | V. V. Giri |
| 1971 | Julius Nyerere | Tanzania | President | V. V. Giri |
| 1972 | Seewoosagur Ramgoolam | Mauritius | Prime Minister | V. V. Giri |
| 1973 | Mobutu Sese Seko | Zaire | President | V. V. Giri |
| 1974 | Josip Broz Tito | Yugoslavia | President | V. V. Giri |
| 1974 | Sirimavo Bandaranaike | Sri Lanka | Prime Minister | V. V. Giri |
| 1975 | Kenneth Kaunda | Zambia | President | Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed |
| 1976 | Jacques Chirac | France | Prime Minister | Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed |
| 1977 | Edward Gierek | Poland | First Secretary of the Polish United Workers’ Party | Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed |
| 1978 | Patrick Hillery | Ireland | President | Neelam Sanjiva Reddy |
| 1979 | Malcolm Fraser | Australia | Prime Minister | Neelam Sanjiva Reddy |
| 1980 | Valéry Giscard d’Estaing | France | President | Neelam Sanjiva Reddy |
| 1981 | José López Portillo | Mexico | President | Neelam Sanjiva Reddy |
| 1982 | Juan Carlos I | Spain | King | Neelam Sanjiva Reddy |
| 1983 | Shehu Shagari | Nigeria | President | Zail Singh |
| 1984 | Jigme Singye Wangchuck | Bhutan | King | Zail Singh |
| 1985 | Raúl Alfonsín | Argentina | President | Zail Singh |
| 1986 | Andreas Papandreou | Greece | Prime Minister | Zail Singh |
| 1987 | Alan García | Peru | President | Zail Singh |
| 1988 | J. R. Jayewardene | Sri Lanka | President | Ramaswamy Venkataraman |
| 1989 | Nguyễn Văn Linh | Vietnam | General Secretary of the Communist Party | Ramaswamy Venkataraman |
| 1990 | Anerood Jugnauth | Mauritius | Prime Minister | Ramaswamy Venkataraman |
| 1991 | Maumoon Abdul Gayoom | Maldives | President | Ramaswamy Venkataraman |
| 1992 | Mário Soares | Portugal | President | Ramaswamy Venkataraman |
| 1993 | John Major | United Kingdom | Prime Minister | Shankar Dayal Sharma |
| 1994 | Goh Chok Tong | Singapore | Prime Minister | Shankar Dayal Sharma |
| 1995 | Nelson Mandela | South Africa | President | Shankar Dayal Sharma |
| 1996 | Fernando Henrique Cardoso | Brazil | President | Shankar Dayal Sharma |
| 1997 | Basdeo Panday | Trinidad and Tobago | Prime Minister | Shankar Dayal Sharma |
| 1998 | Jacques Chirac | France | President | K. R. Narayanan |
| 1999 | Birendra Bir Bikram Shah Dev | Nepal | King | K. R. Narayanan |
| 2000 | Olusegun Obasanjo | Nigeria | President | K. R. Narayanan |
| 2001 | Abdelaziz Bouteflika | Algeria | President | K. R. Narayanan |
| 2002 | Cassam Uteem | Mauritius | President | K. R. Narayanan |
| 2003 | Mohammed Khatami | Iran | President | A. P. J. Abdul Kalam |
| 2004 | Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva | Brazil | President | A. P. J. Abdul Kalam |
| 2005 | Jigme Singye Wangchuck | Bhutan | King | A. P. J. Abdul Kalam |
| 2006 | Abdullah bin Abdulaziz al-Saud | Saudi Arabia | King | A. P. J. Abdul Kalam |
| 2007 | Vladimir Putin | Russia | President | A. P. J. Abdul Kalam |
| 2008 | Nicolas Sarkozy | France | President | Pratibha Patil |
| 2009 | Nursultan Nazarbayev | Kazakhstan | President | Pratibha Patil |
| 2010 | Lee Myung-bak | South Korea | President | Pratibha Patil |
| 2011 | Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono | Indonesia | President | Pratibha Patil |
| 2012 | Yingluck Shinawatra | Thailand | Prime Minister | Pratibha Patil |
| 2013 | Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck | Bhutan | King | Pranab Mukherjee |
| 2014 | Shinzō Abe | Japan | Prime Minister | Pranab Mukherjee |
| 2015 | Barack Obama | United States | President | Pranab Mukherjee |
| 2016 | François Hollande | France | President | Pranab Mukherjee |
| 2017 | Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan | United Arab Emirates | Crown Prince | Pranab Mukherjee |
| 2018 | ASEAN Leaders (10) | Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam | – | Ram Nath Kovind |
| 2019 | Cyril Ramaphosa | South Africa | President | Ram Nath Kovind |
| 2020 | Jair Bolsonaro | Brazil | President | Ram Nath Kovind |
| 2021 | No chief guest present | – | – | Ram Nath Kovind |
| 2022 | No invitation | – | – | Ram Nath Kovind |
| 2023 | Abdel Fattah al-Sisi | Egypt | President | Droupadi Murmu |
| 2024 | Emmanuel Macron | France | President | Droupadi Murmu |
| 2025 | Prabowo Subianto | Indonesia | President | Droupadi Murmu |
