1988 in India

Incumbents

• President of India – R. Venkataraman
• Prime Minister of India – Rajiv Gandhi
• Chief Justice of India – Raghunandan Swarup Pathak

  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

• April – Security & Exchange Board of India established to deal with the development and regulation of the securities market and investor protection.
• The Discount and Finance House of India, set up as a money market institution, commenced operations.
• July – The National Housing Bank established as an apex body of housing finance and to promote activities in housing development.
• August – Stock Holding Corporation of India, a depository institution, commenced operations.
• August - Floods in Punjab, Haryana
• 21 August – The 6.9 Bihar earthquake shook northern Bihar near Nepal with a maximum Mercalli intensity of VIII, killing 709–1,450.
• October – Maximum lending rate abolished. Banks free to charge customers according to their credit record.
• The National Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission is set up under the Consumer Protection Act of 1986.
• Voting age reduced from 21 to 18 years

  Births

• 4 January – Nabila Jamshed, novelist.
• 25 January – Cheteshwar Pujara, cricketer.
• 20 February – Jiah Khan, actress.
• 8 April – Saqib Saleem, model and actor
• 6 June - Ajinkya Rahane, cricketer.
• 17 June - Hitesh Navaniya,
• 2 September - Ishant Sharma, cricketer.
• 6 September – Sargun Mehta, TV actress
• 12 September – Prachi Desai, actress.
• 22 September – Sana Saeed, actress and model.
• 5 November – Virat Kohli, cricketer
• 2 December – Soniya Mehra, actress.
• 6 December - Ravindra Jadeja, cricketer.
• 24 December – Piyush Chawla, cricketer.

  Deaths

• August – Mahendra Lal Wadhwa, freedom fighter.
• 29 October – Kamaladevi Chattopadhyay, social reformer and freedom fighter.
• 24 December – Jainendra Kumar, novelist.
• 2 June – Raj Kapoor, legendary actor in Bollywood

  Full date unknown

• Majnun Gorakhpuri, writer and literary critic.