Vice Admiral Sanjay Vatsayan, AVSM, NM assumed charge as the 47th Vice Chief of the Naval Staff (VCNS) on 01 Aug 2025. On assuming charge, the Flag Officer paid solemn homage to the Bravehearts who made the supreme sacrifice in service of the nation, by laying a floral wreath at the National War Memorial, New Delhi.
An alumnus of the 71st course National Defence Academy, Pune, Vice Admiral Sanjay Vatsayan was commissioned into the Indian Navy on 01 Jan 1988. A specialist in Gunnery and Missile Systems, he has held a wide range of command, operational and staff assignments over his distinguished naval career spanning more than three decades.
At sea, the Flag Officer has served onboard various frontline warships, including as the Commissioning crew of the Guided Missile Destroyer INS Mysore, INS Nishank and pre-Commissioning crew of Coast Guard OPV ICGS Sangram.
He also served as the Executive Officer of INS Mysore. He has commanded Coast Guard ship C-05, Missile Vessels INS Vibhuti and INS Nashak, Missile Corvette INS Kuthar and Guided Missile Frigate INS Sahyadri (Commissioning Commanding Officer).
In Feb 2020, he took over as the Flag Officer Commanding Eastern Fleet, and led numerous operational deployments and exercises during a time of heightened maritime activity, post events at Galwan.
A graduate of the Defence Services Staff College, Wellington, Naval War College, Goa and the prestigious National Defence College, New Delhi, the Flag Officer has also excelled in key strategic and policy-oriented Staff roles.
His appointments at Naval Headquarters include Joint Director and Director of Personnel (Policy), Director Naval Plans (Perspective Planning) and Principal Director Naval Plans. On promotion to Flag Rank in Feb 2018, he served as the Assistant Chief of Naval Staff (Policy and Plans) prior to Commanding the Eastern Fleet.
For his exceptional leadership and meritorious service of very high order, he was awarded the Ati Vishisht Seva Medal in 2021. Thereafter, he served as the Deputy Commandant of the National Defence Academy and later, in Dec 2021, he was appointed as Chief of Staff, Eastern Naval Command (ENC).
In this capacity, he steered ENC's operational readiness, personnel development and infrastructure augmentation. Prior to taking over as the VCNS, he served as Deputy Chief of the Integrated Defence Staff (DCIDS) - Operations and thereafter as DCIDS (Policy, Plans and Force Development) at HQ IDS, where he played a key role in coordination of operations, enhancing integration, jointness, force development and framing policies promoting indigenisation in the three Services.
Vice Admiral Sanjay Vatsayan is married to Sarita and they have a son, an Economics graduate who has completed his MBA from Indian School of Business, and a daughter who has graduated in Humanities.