India, known for its remarkable early contribution in mathematics and astronomy, made a late beginning in the modern discipline of palaeontology in the nineteenth century. The report of vertebrate fossils found in the Siwalik hills in 1835 marked the beginning of palaeontology and reports of foraminifera from Kutch followed soon after in 1840. The professionals from the newly set-up Geological Survey of India in 1856 and some of the British army personnel deputed to India made significant contributions on systematics and stratigraphic distribution of larger foraminifera. It remained at the core of foraminiferal studies for nearly 100 years. The years post-1950 witnessed expansion in several dimensions, including biostratigraphic refinement, oceanography and climate. The recognition of Indian Stages and sequence stratigraphic framework of the Indian sedimentary basins are the major achievements of skilful applications of foraminifera during this period. In the past three decades foraminiferal research has been actively pursued for the palaeoceanography of the Indian Ocean and monsoon variability in the Quaternary at higher time resolutions. The geochemical proxy data in foraminiferal carbonates are being increasingly used in climate reconstruction at different scales.