Mr Rajnath Singh, who is president of Mr Modi's Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), was named home affairs minister, while Ms Maneka Gandhi, who is the sister-in-law of opposition leader Sonia Gandhi, is the new women and child development minister.

Apart from Mr Modi, there are only 23 full-ranking cabinet ministers in the new government - five fewer than under his predecessor Manmohan Singh.

The BJP won the first parliamentary majority for any party in 30 years when the results of a marathon election were announced on May 16, meaning that he did not have to seek out new allies and give them cabinet posts.