This page lists notable Indian Christians. The list includes both Indians who lived within India and its predecessor states, and those of Indian ancestry who resided in other countries.
Freedom fighters
Business
- M. G. George Muthoot, Chairman of Muthoot Group
- Joy Alukkas, Indian Entrepreneur
- Sunny Varkey, Entrepreneur and Founder of GEMS Education
- Jose Alukkas
- K. M. Mammen Mappillai, Founder of MRF
- Sabu M Jacob, managing director, Kitex Garments Limited
- Santhosh George Kulangara, Founder of Safari TV
- Noble Babu Thomas, Film Producer
- Annamma Mathew, Founder of Vanitha
- Mathai George Muthoot, Indian Businessman
- Victor Menezes, Indian Banker
- Mammen Mathew, Chief Editor, Malayala Manorama
- Ivan Menezes, CEO of Diageo
- K. M. Mathew
- Francisco D'Souza, Former CEO and Vice Chairman of Cognizant
- Gerson da Cunha, advertising professional who was also a stage and film actor, social worker, and author
- A. V. Thomas, founding owner of The A.V.T. Group of companies, a leading family-owned business group in South India based in Chennai.
- Kurien K Varghese Chief Executive Officer, VisionFund India Private Limited
Politicians, activists and Indian Civil Service
- Ajit Jogi, first Chief Minister of Chhattisgarh
- John Matthai, Minister of Railways in First Cabinet of Independent India.
- A. K. Antony, Former Indian defence minister.
- Sonia Gandhi, is an Italian Indian politician mother of politicians Rahul Gandhi, Priyanka Gandhi and wife of late husband former Prime Minister of India Rajiv Gandhi.
- George Fernandes, He was an Indian trade unionist, statesman, journalist, freethinker and former Indian defence minister.
- K. M. George (politician), Founder of Kerala Congress
- John Brittas, is an Indian politician, journalist, managing director of Kairali TV and Kairali News (Malayalam Communications Ltd.) and former Business Head of Asianet Communications. He was elected to Rajya Sabha from Kerala as CPI(M) nominee.
- Madhusudan Das, Indian lawyer and social reformer. He was the first graduate and advocate of Orissa (Present Odisha).
- Oommen Chandy, former Chief Ministers of Kerala
- A. J. John, founder leader of Travancore State Congress
- K M Mani, politician in the Kerala Congress (M)
- Baby John, Politician in Kerala
- M. M. Thomas, Christian theologian and social activist who served as Governor of Nagaland (1990âÂÂ1992).
- Y. S. Rajasekhara Reddy (1949âÂÂ2009), former Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh
- Y. S. Vivekananda Reddy, former M. P. of Kadapa and Minister of Andhra Pradesh
- Y. S. Jagan Mohan Reddy, former Chief Minisiter of Andhra Pradesh
- Thomas Chandy, Former minister, Businessman.
- Joachim Baxla, four-time MP of Alipurduar in West Bengal and Revolutionary Socialist Party politician
- Margaret Alva
- Fr. Stan Swamy, Indian Roman Catholic priest and tribal rights activist
- Francisco LuÃÂs Gomes, Goan politician
- Wilfred de Souza, Former Chief Minister of Goa
- Sojan Joseph, was born in India but settled in UK. He became Kerala's 1st MP in the UK and First Labor Party win in the Ashford defeat of the Conservative Party (UK) in over 139 years.
- Dinesh D'Souza, is an Indian American right wing political commentator, conspiracy theorist, author and filmmaker.
- Kamala Harris, is an Indian American former Vice President of the United States of America.
- Lisa Nandy, is of Bengali descent is the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport in Government of the United Kingdom, Labour MP for Wigan.
Indian Armed Forces and Indian Police Service
- General Sunith Francis Rodrigues, PVSM, VSM, (19 September 1933 - 4 March 2022) was a retired Indian army officer who was Chief of the Army Staff of the Indian Army from 1990 to 1993 and Governor of Punjab from 2004 to 2010.
- Ronald Lynsdale Pereira, (25 May 1923 â 14 October 1993) was a flag officer in the Indian Navy. He served as the ninth Chief of Naval Staff from 1979 to 1982. He is considered to be one of the architects of the modern Indian Navy.
- Lieutenant-General Francis Tiburtius Dias, PVSM, AVSM, Vrc (14 October 1934 â 16 January 2019) was a retired Indian Army officer, who was involved in the Indo-Pakistani War of 1971.
- Major General Ian Cardozo, AVSM, SM, is a former Indian Army officer. During the Indo-Pakistani War of 1971, After the fall of Dhaka, Cardozo stepped on a land mine and his leg was critically injured. Due to non-availability of morphine or pethidine, and absence of medics, his leg could not be amputated surgically. He subsequently used his khukri to amputate his own leg He was the first war-disabled officer of the Indian Army to command a battalion and a brigade.
- Admiral Oscar Stanley Dawson, PVSM, AVSM (13 November 1923 â 23 October 2011) was a four-star admiral in the Indian Navy. He served as the 11th Chief of the Naval Staff from 1 March 1982 to 30 November 1984. He was the Director of Naval Operations during the Indo-Pakistan War of 1971. After retirement, Admiral Dawson served as the Indian High Commissioner to New Zealand
- Julio Rebeiro, Padma Bhushan, Commissioner of Police Mumbai, Director General Central Reserve Police Force, Director General of Police Gujarat, Director General of Police Punjab, Indian Ambassador to Romania
- Sushil Kumar (admiral), PVSM, UYSM, AVSM, NM (died 27 November 2019) was an Indian Navy Admiral who served as Chief of Naval Staff of the Indian Navy.
- Captain Keishing Clifford Nongrum, MVC (7 March 1975 â 1 July 1999) was an Indian Army officer of 12 Jammu and Kashmir Light Infantry. He was posthumously awarded the Maha Vir Chakra, India's second-highest gallantry award, for exemplary valor in combat during operations in the Kargil War in 1999.
- Alexander Jacob IPS, retd DGP, Kerala Police
- Hormis Tharakan IPS, former chief of the Research and Analysis Wing (R&AW), retd DGP, Kerala Police
- Jacob Punnoose IPS, retd DGP, Kerala Police
Entertainment/Cinema
Science, technology and healthcare
- Thomas Anantharaman, computer statistician specializing in Bayesian inference.
- Thomas Zacharia, computational scientist.
- Mathew Kalarickal, Indian cardiologist and also known as Father of angioplasty in India.
- Verghese Kurien, Indian dairying engineer, social entrepreneur and Father of White Revolution in India.
- Brenton M Jerry, Software Developer and Information Technology consultant.
- Jacob Chandy,Indian Neurosurgeon also known as Father of neurosurgery in India.
- K. A. Abraham, interventional cardiologist and a medical writer. Chief Cardiologist at the Southern Railway Headquarters Hospital, Chennai, and Chief Medical Director of the Southern Railways
- Mammen Chandy, was involved in establishing the first bone marrow transplantation program in India at Christian Medical College, Vellore. He was awarded Padma Shri.
Sports
Arts
- Laurie Baker, Indian architect and Padma Shri awardee for Architecture, 1992.
Christian Ministries
- George Koovakad - Indian cardinal of the Syro-Malabar Catholic Church
- Baselios Joseph- Catholicos of India of the Syriac Orthodox Church
- Baselios Thomas I- 1st Catholicos of India of the Syriac Orthodox Church
- Raphael Thattil - Indian major archbishop of the Syro-Malabar Catholic Church
- Philipose Chrysostom - Padma Bushan, bishop
- Baselios Mar Thoma Paulose II - 8th Catholicos of the Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church (2010âÂÂ2021).
- Baselios Mar thoma Mathews III - 9th Catholicos of the Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church
- Puroshottam Choudhary - preacher, evangelist, writer of Christian literature
- Joseph Mar Thoma - Metropolitan of the Mar Thoma Syrian Church.
- Aurobindo Nath Mukherjee - first Indian Bishop of Calcutta and Metropolitan of India
- Lal Behari Dey - Indian journalist, writer, and Christian missionary
- Ravi Zacharias - Christian apologist,
- D. G. S. Dhinakaran - Christian evangelist.
- Valerian Gracias - First cardinal from India.
- Duraisamy Simon Lourdusamy - First Indian to head a Sacred Congregation of the Catholic Church.
- Acharya K. K. Chandy - President Emeritus- Fellowship of Reconciliation India; 1 of the 3 Founding Fathers - Christavashram, Kottayam; Founder Father- Gurukul Ecumenical Centre for Peace.
- Varghese Payyappilly Palakkappilly - Founder of the Congregation of the Sisters of the Destitute.
- Mary Celine Payyappilly - Servant of God, Professed Religious of the Congregation of the Mother of Carmel.
- Varkey Vithayathil - Catholic Cardinal and former Major Archbishop of the Syro-Malabar Church.
- Antony Padiyara - Catholic Cardinal and the First Major Archbishop of the Syro-Malabar Catholic Church.
- Joseph Parecattil - First from the Syro-Malabar church to be made a cardinal.
- Augustine Kandathil - First head of the Syro-Malabar Church and first Indian to assume powers and rule as an archbishop of the Catholic Church.
- Kuriakose Elias Chavara - First Indian to be beatified Syro-Malabar Catholic Church.
- Saint Alphonsa - first Indian Catholic to be raised to sainthood Syro-Malabar Catholic Church.
- V. C. Samuel - World-renowned Theologian, Historian, Ecumenical Leader, Professor/Dean in India and abroad, Priest, Indian Orthodox Church.
- Cyril Baselios - Former head of the Syro-Malankara Catholic Church.
- Mariam Thresia - Syro-Malabar Church.
- St. Euphrasia - Syro-Malabar Church.
- St. Joseph Vaz - Goan Oratorian priest and missionary to Sri Lanka
- Rani Maria Vattalil - Catholic religious and missionary social worker in the Franciscan Clarist Congregation
- Nidhiry Mani Kathanar - Priest of the Syro-Malabar Church
- Neiliezhü ÃÂsou (1941âÂÂ2009), Baptist preacher, theologian, Church musician, music teacher and composer from the North-Eastern state of India, Nagaland.
- Baselios Yeldo - was the Maphrian of the East of the Syriac Orthodox Church. He was the Catholicos of Jerusalem and Mosul. He is the Saint of Malankara Orthodox, Syriac Orthodox and Jacobite Orthodox Churches.
- Baselios Mar Thoma Mathews I - First Catholicos who used Mar Thoma in his title.
- Antonio Francisco Xavier Alvares - First Head of Goan Orthodox who was a Catholic Priest who joined Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church
- Devasahayam Pillai (1712âÂÂ1752), He was canonized as a saint of the church by Pope Francis on 15 May 2022, layman and martyr of the Roman Catholic Church.
- Kattumangattu Abraham Mar Koorilos -(late)The first primate and Metropolitan of the Malabar Independent Syrian Church
- Geevarghese Gregorios - (1848âÂÂ1902) First Indian to be raised to sainthood.
- Kurien Thomas - founder of the Fellowship of the Pentecostal Churches in India and Central India Theological Seminary.
- Geevarghese Dionysius of Vattasseril (Dionysius VI) (1858âÂÂ1934) Malankara Metropolitan and Saint of Malankara Orthodox Church.
- Thomas Fernando, former Catholic bishop of Roman Catholic Diocese of Tuticorin
- Francis Tiburtius Roche, former Catholic bishop of Roman Catholic Diocese of Tuticorin
- Peter Fernando, former Catholic bishop of Roman Catholic Diocese of Tuticorin
- John Banerjee, Anglican Assistant bishop of Lahore
Others in Christian ministry
Literature
Cultural leaders
See also
References