| Year of Award | No. of Recipient in that year | Recipient of Bharat Ratna | Field in which Bharat Ratna was given |
| 1954 | 3 | C. Rajagopalachari | Public Affairs |
| Dr. Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan | Literature & Education | ||
| Dr. C.V. Raman | Science | ||
| 1955 | 1 | Dr. Bhagwan Das | Public Affairs |
| Dr. Mokshagundam Visvesvaraya | Engineering & Public Affairs | ||
| 1957 | 1 | Dr. Jawaharlal Nehru | Public Affairs |
| 1961 | 1 | Dr. Govind Ballabh Pant | Public Affairs |
| 1966 | 1 | Lata Mangeshkar | Arts |
| 1971 | 1 | Dr. Rajendra Prasad | Public Affairs |
| 1980 | 1 | Morarji Desai | Public Affairs |
| 1983 | 1 | Dr. B.R. Ambedkar | Public Affairs |
| 1987 | 1 | Dr. K. Kamaraj | Public Affairs |
| 1990 | 1 | Dr. Bismillah Khan | Arts |
| 1997 | 1 | Dr. Amartya Sen | Literature & Education |
| 2001 | 1 | Lata Mangeshkar | Arts |
| 2009 | 1 | Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam | Science & Public Affairs |
| 2014 | 1 | Sachin Tendulkar | Sports |
| 2015 | 1 | Dr. Madan Mohan Malaviya | Public Affairs |
| 2019 | 3 | Pranab Mukherjee | Public Affairs |
| Nanaji Deshmukh | Public Affairs | ||
| Bhupen Hazarika | Arts | ||
| 2024 | 5 | Dr. M.S. Swaminathan | Science |
| Lal Krishna Advani | Public Affairs | ||
| Karpoori Thakur | Public Affairs | ||
| Chaudhary Charan Singh | Public Affairs | ||
| PV Narasimha Rao | Public Affairs |
