1981 in India

Incumbents

• President of India – Neelam Sanjiva Reddy
• Prime Minister of India – Indira Gandhi
• Chief Justice of India – Yeshwant Vishnu Chandrachud

  Governors

• Assam –
• Bihar –
• Gujarat –
• Haryana –
• Himachal Pradesh –
• Jammu and Kashmir –
• Karnataka –
• Kerala –
• Madhya Pradesh –
• Maharashtra –
• Manipur –
• Meghalaya –
• Nagaland –
• Odisha –
• Punjab –
• Rajasthan –
• Sikkim –
• Tamil Nadu –
• Telangana –
• Tripura –
• Uttar Pradesh –
• West Bengal –

  Events

• July – About 308 people die in Bangalore after drinking illicit liquor.
• Arasan Ganesan Polytechnic is founded in Sivakasi, Tamil Nadu. It is a Government aided co-educational technical institute.
• National Aluminium Company incorporated as a public sector enterprise of the Government of India.
• 2 July – Infosys is founded in Pune

  Births

• 3 January – Sanggai Chanu, field hockey player.
• 25 February – Anuj Sawhney, actor and model.
• 9 June – Celina Jaitley, actress.
• 17 June – Amrita Rao, model and actress.
• 19 June – Gulzar Khan, philosopher and mathematician.
• 7 July – Mahendra Singh Dhoni, cricketer.
• 27 September – Lakshmipathy Balaji, cricketer.
• 7 October – Abhijeet Sawant, singer and winner of Indian Idol
• 27 November – Vikram Pillay, field hockey player.
• 9 December – Dia Mirza, actress and model.
• 12 December – Ashok, actor.
• 12 December – Yuvraj Singh, cricketer.

  Deaths

• 3 May – Nargis, actress.
• 19 June - Dr. Subhas Mukhopadhyay, Physician created World's second IVF
• 24 September – Brahmarishi Hussain Sha, seventh head of Sri Viswa Viznana Vidya Adhyatmika Peetham and scholar.
• 28 December – David Abraham Cheulkar, actor.