The “Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna Award” is named after Indian field hockey player Major Dhyan Chand (1905–79), and was formerly known as the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award. Established in 1991-1992, the award is the highest sports honor awarded in India and is given each year in a pillar ceremony at the national level by India’s Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports on National Sports Day.
| Year | Recipient(s) | Discipline(s) |
| 1991–1992 | Viswanathan Anand | Chess |
| 1992–1993 | Geet Sethi | Billiards |
| 1993–1994 # | Homi Motivala | Yachting (Team event) |
| Pushpendra Kumar Garg | Yachting (Team event) | |
| 1994–1995 | Karnam Malleswari | Weightlifting |
| 1995–1996 | Nameirakpam Kunjarani | Weightlifting |
| 1996–1997 | Leander Paes | Tennis |
| 1997–1998 | Sachin Tendulkar | Cricket |
| 1998–1999 | Jyotirmoyee Sikdar | Athletics |
| 1999–2000 | Dhanraj Pillay | Hockey |
| 2000–2001 | Pullela Gopichand | Badminton |
| 2001 | Abhinav Bindra | Shooting |
| 2002 # | K. M. Beenamol | Athletics |
| Anjali Bhagwat | Shooting | |
| 2003 | Anju Bobby George | Athletics |
| 2004 | Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore | Shooting |
| 2005 | Pankaj Advani | Billiards and Snooker |
| 2006 | Manavjit Singh Sandhu | Shooting |
| 2007 | Mahendra Singh Dhoni | Cricket |
| 2008 | No award[d] | |
| 2009 # | Mary Kom | Boxing |
| Vijender Singh | Boxing | |
| Sushil Kumar | Freestyle wrestling | |
| 2010 | Saina Nehwal | Badminton |
| 2011 | Gagan Narang | Shooting |
| 2012 # | Vijay Kumar | Shooting |
| Yogeshwar Dutt | Freestyle wrestling | |
| 2013 | Ronjan Sodhi | Shooting |
| 2014 | No award | |
| 2015 | Sania Mirza | Tennis |
| 2016 # | P. V. Sindhu | Badminton |
| Dipa Karmakar | Gymnastics | |
| Jitu Rai | Shooting | |
| Sakshi Malik | Freestyle wrestling | |
| 2017 # | Devendra Jhajharia | Paralympic javelin |
| Sardara Singh | Hockey | |
| 2018 # | Saikhom Mirabai Chanu | Weightlifting |
| Virat Kohli | Cricket | |
| 2019 # | Deepa Malik | Paralympic (shot put, javelin, others) |
| Bajrang Punia | Freestyle wrestling | |
| 2020 # | Rohit Sharma | Cricket |
| Mariyappan Thangavelu | Paralympic high jump | |
| Manika Batra | Table tennis | |
| Vinesh Phogat | Freestyle wrestling | |
| Rani Rampal | Hockey | |
| 2021 # | Neeraj Chopra | Athletics |
| Ravi Kumar Dahiya | Freestyle wrestling | |
| Lovlina Borgohain | Boxing | |
| P. R. Sreejesh | Hockey | |
| Avani Lekhara | Paralympic shooting | |
| Sumit Antil | Para-athletics | |
| Pramod Bhagat | Para-badminton | |
| Krishna Nagar | Para-badminton | |
| Manish Narwal | Paralympic shooting | |
| Mithali Raj | Cricket | |
| Sunil Chhetri | Football | |
| Manpreet Singh | Hockey | |
| 2022 | Sharath Kamal | Table tennis |
| 2023 # | Chirag Shetty | Badminton |
| Satwiksairaj Rankireddy | Badminton | |
| 2024 # | Gukesh Dommaraju | Chess |
| Harmanpreet Singh | Hockey | |
| Praveen Kumar | Para-athletics | |
| Manu Bhaker | Shooting | |
