Secretary of State for India

Secretary of State for India
Royal Arms as used by His Majesty's Government
India Office
Member ofBritish Cabinet
Privy Council
SeatWestminster, London
AppointerThe British Monarch
on advice of the Prime Minister
Term lengthAt His Majesty's pleasure
Constituting instrumentGovernment of India Act
PrecursorPresident of the Board of Control
Formation2 August 1858
First holderLord Stanley
Final holderWilliam Hare, 5th Earl of Listowel
Abolished14 August 1947
DeputyUnder-Secretary of State for India

His (or Her) Majesty's Principal Secretary of State for India, known for short as the India secretary or the Indian secretary, was the secretary of state with responsibility for the India Office in Whitehall that oversaw relations and administration of the India subcontinent under the British Raj. The post was created in 1858 when the East India Company's rule in Bengal ended and India, except for the Princely States, was brought officially under the British Crown from London and the officeholder was a member of the British Cabinet.

In 1937, the India Office was reorganised which separated Burma and Aden under a new Burma Office, but the same secretary of state headed both departments and a new title was established as His Majesty's Principal Secretary of State for India and Burma. The India Office and its secretary of state were abolished in August 1947, when the United Kingdom granted independence in the Indian Independence Act, which created two new independent dominions, India and Pakistan. Burma soon achieved independence separately in early 1948.