Alok Ananda

Vice Admiral Alok Ananda, YSM is a serving Flag officer in the Indian Navy. He currently serves as the Commandant of Indian Naval Academy. He earlier served as the Flag Officer Commanding Eastern Fleet.

Naval career Ananda attended the Naval Academy, Goa and was commissioned into the Indian Navy on 1 July 1993. He completed his Midshipman training onboard the aircraft carrier , where he was awarded the Gold Medal for his outstanding performance. He specialised in Navigation and Direction and served as the Navigation officer of four warships. His first command was the Kumbhir-class tank landing ship . During his tenure, Ghorpad was awarded the Best Landing Ship trophy. He also served as an instructor at the National Defence Academy, Khadakwasla.

Ananda attended the Defence Services Staff College, Wellington where he was awarded the Scudder Medal for standing first overall in the staff course. He subsequently served as the Joint Director (Naval Plans) at naval headquarters. Back at sea, he served as the executive officer of the Rajput-class destroyer . During this tenure, "Ranvijay" was awarded the Best Ship Trophy. He served as an instructor at his alma maters, the Navigation and Direction school at Kochi and the DSSC.

As a Captain, Ananda served as Captain (Naval Operations) at NHQ. During his tenure as Captain (Naval Operations), he oversaw the successful conduct of Operation Raahat in Yemen. On 26 January 2016, he was awarded the Yudh Seva Medal. He then attended the National Defence College of Thailand where he was awarded prize for the Best Research Paper. Ananda subsequently served as Captain (Strategy, Concepts and Transformation), also at NHQ. In the rank of Commodore, he also served as Commodore (Naval Operations) at NHQ. During Ananda's command tenure, Satpura was adjudged the Best Ship of the Eastern Fleet for its exceptional performance and high operational tempo.

Flag rank Ananda was promoted to flag rank in November 2023 and appointed Assistant Chief of the Naval Staff (Plans and Policy) at NHQ. On 17 October 2025, he took command of the Eastern Fleet as the Flag Officer Commanding Eastern Fleet from Rear Admiral Susheel Menon. In June and July 2026, ships of the Eastern Fleet, under his command, visited Vietnam, Thailand and Singapore as part of their operational deployment to the South East Asia Region. On 29 July 2026, he relinquished command of the Eastern Fleet, handing over to Rear Admiral Vishal Bishnoi. On 1 August, he was promoted to the rank of Vice Admiral and appointed Commandant of Indian Naval Academy.

Awards and decorations Ananda was awarded the Chief of the Naval Staff commendation card and the Flag Officer Commanding-in-Chief Southern Naval Command commendation card, apart from the Yudh Seva Medal in 2016.