1991 in India

Incumbents

• President of India – R. Venkataraman
• Prime Minister of India – Chandra Shekhar Singh until 21 June, P. V. Narasimha Rao
• Chief Justice of India –
• * until 24 November – Ranganath Misra
• * 25 November-12 December – Kamal Narain Singh
• * starting 13 December – Madhukar Hiralal Kania

  Governors

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

  Events

• 6 January – The All India Federation of Anganwadi Workers and Helpers is founded in Udaipur.
• 21 May – Assassination of Rajiv Gandhi: Former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi is assassinated by a Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam suicide bomber in Sriperumbudur near Chennai in Tamil Nadu during the election campaign.
• 31 May – The Government of India constitutes the Company Law Board as an independent quasi-judicial body thus giving up direct control on matters of company law.
• 15 June – When the general election results are all compiled, the Congress Party has won a plurality of votes.
• 21 June – Indian National Congress leader P.V. Narasimha Rao becomes Prime Minister.
• 24 June – J. Jayalalithaa is sworn in as chief minister of Tamil Nadu for the first time.
• 24 July – The government of India announces its New Industrial Policy, marking the start of India's economic reforms.
• 17 October – 1991 Rudrapur bombings by Sikh separatists, who exploded two bombs, during a Ramlila Hindu celebration in Rudrapur, Uttarakhand, killing 41 people.
• 20 October – The 6.8 Uttarkashi earthquake shook northern India with a maximum Mercalli intensity of IX, killing 768–2,000 and injuring 1,383–1,800.
• 11 December – Rapid Action Force established by Union Home Ministry.

  Births

• 26 January – Vijay Shankar, cricketer
• 16 February – Mayank Agarwal, cricketer
• 24 March – Krunal Pandya, cricketer
• 27 September – Amzad Ali, cricketer
• 16 October – Shardul Thakur, cricketer
• 26 October – Amala Paul, actress
• 6 December – Karun Nair, Indian cricketer

  Deaths

• 21 February – Nutan, Bollywood actress
• 15 May – Kalindi Charan Panigrahi, poet, novelist, story writer, dramatist and essayist
• 21 May – Rajiv Gandhi, prime minister, Bharat Ratna
• 24 October – Ismat Chughtai, writer