1997 in India
Events in the year 1997 in the Republic of India. Incumbents
 President of India – Shankar Dayal Sharma until 25 July, K. R. Narayanan
 Prime minister of India –  H. D. Deve Gowda until 21 April, Inder Kumar Gujral
 Vice President of India – K. R. Narayanan until 21 August, Krishna Kant
 Chief Justice of India – Aziz Mushabber Ahmadi until 24 March, Jagdish Sharan Verma

Governors
 Andhra Pradesh – 
 until 22 August: Krishan Kant 
 22 August-24 November: Gopala Ramanujam
 starting 24 November: C. Rangarajan
 Arunachal Pradesh – Mata Prasad 
 Assam – Loknath Mishra (until 1 September), Srinivas Kumar Sinha (starting 1 September)
 Bihar – Mohammad Shafi Qureshi
 Goa – P.C. Alexander 
 Gujarat – Krishna Pal Singh 
 Haryana – Mahabir Prasad 
 Himachal Pradesh – Mahabir Prasad (until 25 July), V. S. Ramadevi (starting 25 July)
 Jammu and Kashmir – K. V. Krishna Rao 
 Karnataka – Khurshed Alam Khan 
 Kerala – Khurshid Alam Khan (until 25 January), Sukhdev Singh Kang (starting 25 January) 
 Madhya Pradesh – Mohammad Shafi Qureshi 
 Maharashtra – P.C. Alexander 
 Manipur – O.N. Shrivastava 
 Meghalaya – M.M. Jacob 
 Mizoram – P. R. Kyndiah 
 Nagaland – Om Prakash Sharma 
 Odisha – 
 until 30 January: Gopala Ramanujam 
 30 January-12 February: K. V. Raghunatha Reddy 
 13 February-13 December: Gopala Ramanujam
 starting 13 December: K. V. Raghunatha Reddy
 Punjab – Bakshi Krishan Nath Chhibber
 Rajasthan – Bali Ram Bhagat
 Sikkim – Chaudhary Randhir Singh 
 Tamil Nadu – Krishan Kant (until 24 January), M. Fathima Beevi (starting 24 January)
 Tripura – Siddheswar Prasad  
 Uttar Pradesh – Romesh Bhandari
 West Bengal – K. V. Raghunatha Reddy

Events
 National income - 15,452,939 million

January - March 
 7 February – An alliance of Sikh and Hindu nationalist parties wins a resounding victory over the Congress in state assembly elections in Punjab. 28 February – The government is strengthened by a daring, market friendly budget. 13 March – India's Missionaries of Charity chooses Sister Nirmala to succeed Mother Teresa as its leader. 19 March – The Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), a powerful party, deserts its alliance with Congress in Uttar Pradesh to form a government with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). 30 March – Congress withdraws support from the United Front, accusing Prime Minister H.D. Deve Gowda of poor leadership. April - June 
 21 April – Inder Kumar Gujral, a new leader acceptable to Congress, is sworn in as prime minister. 21 April – 1997 Raghopur Massacre took place in Bihar. 22 May – The 5.8  Jabalpur earthquake shook central India with a maximum Mercalli intensity of VIII (Severe), killing 38–56 and injuring 1,000–1,500. 7 June - Brihadeeswarar temple fire at Tamil Nadu. June - Jagmohan Dalmiya elected as the president of International Cricket Council. July - September 
 3 July – Laloo Prasad Yadav is ousted as president of the Janata Dal party. On 5 July he announces the formation of a new party called Rashtriya Janata Dal. 14 July – K.R. Narayanan is elected president, defeating T.N. Seshan. 25 July – Laloo Prasad Yadav resigns as chief minister of Bihar after a warrant for his arrest, on charges relating to an animal fodder scandal, had been issued. He names his wife, Rabri Devi, as his successor and the first woman chief minister of Bihar. 25 July – K.R. Narayanan is sworn in as India's 10th president and the first member of the Dalit caste to hold this office. 16 August – Krishan Kant is elected vice president. 5 September – Mother Teresa of Calcutta dies of heart failure in Kolkata. 9 September – 49 senior Hindu politicians and religious figures are charged with conspiracy and incitement to riot for their alleged role in the sacking of the Babri mosque at Ayodhya in 1992. October - December 
 1 October – Heavy rainfall in Bangalore. 12–18 October – Elizabeth II pays a state visit to India. 14 October - Arundhati Roy wins Booker Prize for her debut novel The God of Small Things. 21 October – Violence erupts in the Uttar Pradesh state assembly during a vote of confidence on the Hindu nationalist state government. Deputies trade blows on the floor of the assembly in the state capital of Lucknow and hurl chairs and microphones at each other. A dozen lawmakers are injured and several journalists are also hurt. The BJP's one-month-old government headed by chief minister Kalyan Singh lost key support in a hung assembly on 19 October when the Bahujan Samaj Party withdrew its support, plunging India's most populous state into a political crisis. The government wins the confidence vote after opposition members walk out in protest against the violence in the hall. Federal rule over the state is imposed the same day, but later cancelled. 20 November – Congress threatens to withdraw support for the United Front if it does not drop the regional Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) party from the government after the DMK was linked by an investigative panel to Sri Lankan separatists blamed for the killing of Rajiv Gandhi. 21 November – The 6.1  Chittagong earthquake shook the Bangladesh-India-Myanmar border region, killing 23 and injuring 200. 26 November – The United Front rejects the Congress demand to expel the DMK. 28 November – Prime Minister Inder Kumar Gujral resigns after the Congress party withdrew support from his government. 4 December – The president orders mid-term elections. 29 December – Sonia Gandhi, Italian-born widow of Rajiv Gandhi, announces her decision to join the Congress election campaign. Law
 TRAI (telecom regulator) is established. Births
9 March – Darsheel Safary, actor
6 April – Gaurav Bajaj, actor
8 April – Sayantan Das, chess player
12 April – Ulka Gupta, actress
22 April – Parvathy Soman, singer
14 May – Manushi Chhillar, model, actress (miss world 2017)
19 June – Roshan Sebastian, singer
20 June – Bhavya Gandhi, actor. 12 August - Sayyeshaa, actress. 24 August - Deepti Sharma, cricketer
14 September – Pragathi Guruprasad, singer
2 October – Lovlina Borgohain, Indian boxer and an Olympic medal winner. 4 October – Rishabh Pant, cricketer
11 October – Tathoi Deb, actor and director
12 October – Rinku Singh, cricketer
11 November – Mayank Markande, cricketer
5 December – Khaleel Ahmed, cricketer
12 December – Ravi Kumar Dahiya, Indian freestyle wrestler who won a silver medal at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics in the 57 kg category. 24 December – Neeraj Chopra, Indian army, 2021 Olympics Gold medalist in Javelin throw

Full date unknown
Alka Ajith, singer 
Shriya Sharma, actress and model

Deaths
28 January – Palani Baba, fundamentalist Islamist politician. 23 June – Acharya Tulsi, 9th Acharya of the Shwetambar Terapanth sect of Jainism (b. 1914)
5 September - Mother Teresa
9 December – K. Shivaram Karanth, writer, social activist, environmentalist, Yakshagana artist, movie maker and thinker (b. 1902). Anup Kumar, actor (b. 1932). 