Indian rock is a genre of popular music in India that incorporates elements of Indian music and mainstream rock and is often topically India-centric. While India is known for its northern and southern classical music, the Indian rock scene has produced numerous bands and artists. There are various Non Resident Indians and People of Indian Origin who have formed bands rooted in Indian culture.

There has long been a rock movement in India, especially in cities like New Delhi, Calcutta, Bombay and later, Bangalore and Madras, where during the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s, the emerging genre in the west gained a following.

Indian rock music followed a long tradition of westernized/western music being played at night clubs and dance clubs in India, from the early 20th century onwards, primarily for an Anglo-Indian, and British clientele. Lounge acts, including swing bands, were popular in the 1950s, the decade after the British left, with rock 'n roll being followed from the mid 1950s onward by a very anglicized and westernized urban young audience, comprising both high school and college students, as well as the then very anglicized officer class of the Indian Military.

There were other major outlets for rock 'n roll (and later rock) music in India in the period from the 1950s to the 1970s. Of note were All-India Radio or AIR, the state-owned radio monopoly which had a number of weekly pop music programmes. Some were regionally broadcast, such as Friday's a Date with You in Delhi and Northern India, while others such as the 1 hour long monday evening Forces Request show were aired nationwide. All cities also had daily western pop music programmes broadcast by AIR, typically during the lunch hour. Later, in the 1970s, the new youth channel of AIR, Yuva Vani aired western top 20 pop music daily in a morning show.

Radio Ceylon too had a major following in India, as elsewhere globally, and was THE source for hearing new music acts as they broke into the scene.

India, uniquely then amongst developing markets, had a record industry in the Gramophone Company of India (an RCA/HMV/EMI subsidiary), and LPs, EPs, and 45rpm records were freely available, including those of rock and roll acts from the USA and Britain, but also of contemporary pioneering Indian rock bands. The president of the firm, Bhaskar Menon (who later became the President of Capitol Records in the United States) was the leading promoter of western pop music in India.

Later in 1970, Polydor, the German Label, began an India label distributing rock music.

Of these mid-1960s beat groups as they were then termed, the most notable were the Mystiks from Bombay, the Beat-X from Madras and the Flintstone from Calcutta who composed and played both early British Invasion influenced songs, and post Sargeant Pepper hard rock. All had successful EP and LP releases and played regularly on the Indian university and college music circuits. Also notable from this period (1964-1970) was the female R&B singer, Usha Iyer, now Usha Uthup, who had successful covers of Jambalaya and the Kingston Trio song, Greenback Dollar.

The rock 'n roll scene was also closely followed by Junior Statesman (or simply JS), a magazine started in 1965 contemporaneously with Rolling Stone magazine in the USA and NME in the UK.

In terms of reverse influence, renowned acts such as Led Zeppelin, the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, The Doors and the Byrds were notably influenced by Indian Classical Music as a way of reinforcing the psychedelia in their music. While Jazz musicians, notably John Coltrane had ventured into Indian music and spiritualism, the influence of Indian classical music on 1960s rock began in earnest with the Beatles' very public sojourn with the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi at his ashram in Rishikesh in 1966 followed by their release of the LP and Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band in 1967.

Whilst the orientalist trend of the 60s and 70s was by the 80s and 90s largely over, India itself has continued to produce bands in various styles of rock music, from soft rock and roll and rock pop, to hard rock and metal. With the arrival of MTV, tastes rapidly changed, encouraging bands to harden their style and focus more on underground styles such as death metal, alternative metal, prog rock, etc. The 1990s saw the rise of a much larger following of various harder styles for this reason. Bands that had formed in the 80s, such as Rock Machine, (who would later be known as Indus Creed), altered their style with the influx of newer techniques and influences from the west. Others formed in the 90s with harder styles influenced by the growing split between popular rock, (such as Britpop), alternative styles, (such as punk), and metal styles, (such as thrash) - the last of which many considered to be truer to the roots of rock music, and the legacy of hard rock bands from the 70s. The Indian sub-genre of fusion, which encourages a similar blend of ancient Indian musical traditions with rock music to raga rock, was also carried forward, and is perhaps the most unique Indian style of rock. Exodus- A power rock trio ruled the rock scene in India in the 80's-90's. the band featured India's first female rock singer Pearl.

The current Indian rock scene has a larger following than ever, (although it is still marginalized compared to film music), and with the advent of globalization, may soon be recognized in the international arena, as various South American and Japanese bands have become. Recent entries into the rock music scene are increasingly becoming comparable in production quality to western bands, have been compared favorably to other internationally recognized acts, as critics wake up to the Indian scene, and digital technology allows new ways of these bands to achieve distribution and sale. Some British bands of South Asian origin, such as Swami have, like their hip-hop counterparts, tried to enter the Indian market in addition to maintaining the traditional fan base of non-resident Indians in Britain, Canada and the United States, and others such as Rudra have emerged from Indian communities in other Asian countries. Progress is certain for the Indian rock scene with the advent of entities that support this genre. RSJ and Rave are the two major publications that have been supporting, encouraging and promoting Indian Rock bands.

The scene has also been transformed by the online medium, spearheaded by the launch of Gigpad in 2000, and the subsequent rise of a number of online portals promoting Indian rock. Gigpad and RSJOnline in particular succeeded in building a large community of rockers online where fans and bands discuss music, gigs etc.

India has produced many rock bands, even some that have made it into mainstream Indian music, and achieved some international recognition.

Indian rock has been influenced by some notable cultural trends, and has in turn produced influences of its own. Indian musicians have also collaborated with other musicians from across the globe from time to time. Jolly and the Oceans is one such example. The band line up included a German drummer, Hungarian bassist, German vocalist and an Indian guitarist/vocalist Hemant Kapoor. Musicians have also travelled to the west to perform and record music. Hemant Kapoor who is now known as Mindsmith lived in caribbean to study raggae and dancehall.

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