India’s military leadership is preparing for a significant administrative transition, with the headquarters of the Indian Army and Indian Navy set to move out of the historic South Block in New Delhi. The relocation will bring an end to a decades-old arrangement under which the two service chiefs and several senior military officials operated from the iconic government complex.
Army Chief General Dhiraj Seth is expected to move to the newly constructed Shaurya Bhavan in Delhi Cantonment by the end of November 2026. The relocation will also include the Vice Chief of the Army Staff and seven Principal Staff Officers (PSOs), bringing a substantial part of the Army’s senior leadership together at the new facility. On the naval side, Navy Chief Admiral Krishna Swaminathan, along with the Vice Chief of the Naval Staff and other senior officers, is expected to shift from South Block to Sena Bhavan, located behind the existing government complex.
The planned transition will also involve important operational establishments of the Indian Army. The office of the Director General of Military Operations (DGMO) and the Army War Room are among the facilities expected to move out of South Block. These offices play an important role in military planning, operational coordination and the management of strategic activities. However, the future location of the Navy War Room has not yet been clarified, as relocating the facility requires specialised infrastructure, secure communication networks and advanced technological systems to support naval operations.
The Indian Navy already has an established headquarters presence at Nausena Bhavan in Delhi Cantonment, which was inaugurated in March 2024 to consolidate several naval offices previously operating from different locations across the national capital. The latest relocation is expected to further reorganise the Navy’s senior administrative structure. Meanwhile, officers working under the Department of Military Affairs (DMA), including officials associated with the Defence Intelligence Agency (DG DIA), are also expected to vacate their existing offices at South Block.
The movement of military leadership is taking place alongside the wider restructuring of the Ministry of Defence’s administrative establishments. The Defence Ministry has already shifted temporarily to Kartavya Bhavan 2, where the Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) currently has an office. Once Kartavya Bhavan 6 and 7 are completed, the ministry is expected to move into the new buildings permanently. These complexes are also expected to accommodate additional offices for the service chiefs and other senior defence officials.
Until the next phase of the government complex is ready, the relocation will require senior military officials based in Delhi Cantonment to travel to Kartavya Bhavan 2 for meetings with Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and other senior government functionaries. The Defence Ministry’s transition began in April 2026 when the Defence Minister and his secretariat moved to Kartavya Bhavan 2, followed by the phased relocation of other ministry offices and associated departments.
The departure of the Army and Navy chiefs from South Block represents an important milestone in the reorganisation of India’s defence administration. The shift to dedicated facilities is expected to provide a new administrative arrangement for the armed forces’ senior leadership while supporting the government’s broader efforts to modernise and reorganise its central government infrastructure. Once the relocation is completed, South Block will no longer serve as the shared working headquarters of the Indian Army and Indian Navy chiefs, marking the end of a longstanding chapter in India’s military administrative history.