Article 74 (1) of the Indian Constitution states that “there shall be a Council of Ministers with the Prime Minister at the head to aid and advise the President who shall, in the exercise of his functions, act in accordance with such advice.” In fact the Council of ministers is the holder of the real powers in Indian government and the leader of the majority party in the legislature is appointed as the Prime Minister. Article 75(1) state that "the Prime Minister shall be appointed by the President and the other Ministers shall be appointed by the President on the advice of the Prime Minister." It is also stated that the total number of Ministers, including the Prime Minister, in the Council of Ministers of India shall not exceed fifteen percent of the total number of members of the House of the People. It is also laid that the Ministers shall hold office during the pleasure of the President and the Council of Ministers shall be collectively responsible to the House of the People. The Council of Ministers is collectively responsible to the legislature, especially to the Lower House.

Article 75, further states that before a Minister enters upon his office, the President shall administer to him the oaths of office and of secrecy according to the forms set out for the purpose in the Third Schedule of the constitution. A Minister who for any period of six consecutive months is not a member of either House of Parliament shall be at the expiration of that period cease to be a Minister.

The Council of Ministers in India comprises three different categories that include the Union Cabinet Ministers, Minister of state and Deputy Ministers. The Indian Constitution does not mention anything about the Cabinet Ministers except in Article 352 where Cabinet is defined as the Council consisting of Ministers of Cabinet rank. However, in India it is the Cabinet which takes all the policy decisions and advises the President. Besides them, the Minister of State has an independent charge of a ministry. The Deputy Ministers, on the other hand, act as assistants to their chiefs and look after their work int heir absence. The number of ministers may vary according to the volume and variety of work of the Central government. The salaries and allowances of Ministers shall be such as Parliament may from time to time by law determine and, until Parliament so determines, shall be as specified in the Second Schedule of the Constitution.

The main functions of the council of ministers are mainly to aid and advise the President in the exercise of his functions. The Council is, in fact, charged with the duty of administering the affairs of the Union Government. Since the ministry is the highest organ of India, it determines all the policies relating to the country’s administration. It is also saddled with the responsibility of formulating internal and foreign policies. Peace and prosperity of the country depends largely on the policy formulated by the Ministry.

The ministers are not only the head of the executive departments, but are also important members of the majority party in the legislature or at least having majority support in the legislature. The Ministry also plays a key role in determining the economic activity of the state. Currency, banking, commerce, trade, insurance and formulation and implementation of other plans are regulated and controlled by the Ministry as well. In short the Council of Ministers plays an important role in the administrative machinery of Central Government.