Patel served as India's Defence Secretary between 1947 and 1953. In 1950, he was tasked with reducing the powers of the Indian Armed Forces because it was feared that the Forces might take over the country. Patel succeeded in doing so by erecting the bureaucracy as a stonewall between the Forces and the ministers. On the other hand, he succeeding in separating finances from the Forces, by pushing for the civilian government to pass a separate budget for defence in the Parliament every year. Patel continued as one of India's highest-ranking civil servants till 1958.