Principal Secretary to the Prime Minister of India Principal Secretary to the Prime Minister of India The Principal Secretary to the Prime Minister of India (PS to the PM; IAST: ) is the senior-most bureaucrat in, and the administrative head of, the Prime Minister's Office. The officeholder is generally a civil servant, commonly from the Indian Administrative Service and occasionally from the Indian Foreign Service. The post is considered one of the most influential in the Indian civil services, and some principal secretaries are considered more powerful and influential than senior government ministers. The Prime Minister's Secretariat (PMS)—headed by an officer of the rank of joint secretary to
Civil Service of the People's Republic of China areas such as transportation, housing, and healthcare. The ranks also serve as a rough order of precedence when dictating official protocol when multiple officials attend the same event. The current civil service ranking system has 27 different ranks (from previously of total 15 levels) and a grade ("dangci") system within each rank (at most 14 grades for each rank) to reflect seniority and performance; a combination of rank and "dangci" ultimately determine pay and benefits. The 27 ranks are sub-divisions of 11 "levels". The following is a non-exhaustive list of party and state positions corresponding to their civil service rank.