The Department of Military Affairs (DMA) is an executive department within the Indian Ministry of Defence (MoD). It was formally created on December 31, 2019, through a government notification, becoming the fifth department in the MoD. The DMA was established alongside the post of the Chief of Defence Staff (CDS), who serves as its ex-officio Secretary.
The department was instituted to address the long-standing problem of fragmented civil-military coordination and siloed operations among the three services, which hindered effective joint planning and resource allocation. Its functions are defined under the Second Schedule to the Government of India (Allocation of Business) Rules 1961.
The DMA's core mechanism is to promote jointness among the Army, Navy, and Air Force. Its key provisions include dealing with the Armed Forces of the Union, the Territorial Army, and the Integrated Headquarters of the MoD. It is responsible for promoting jointness in procurement, training, and staffing. Crucially, the DMA facilitates the restructuring of Military Commands to optimize resource utilization, including the establishment of joint/theatre commands. It handles procurement exclusive to the Services except capital acquisitions.
The DMA connects directly to the CDS, who is designated as the Principal Military Adviser to the Defence Minister on tri-service matters. Its creation was a major structural change, as it involved the transfer of work of 23 sections and approximately 160 civilian officers and staff from the existing Department of Defence (DoD), thereby separating military-specific matters from the broader defence policy and capital acquisition functions.