1978 in India

Incumbents

• President of India – Neelam Sanjiva Reddy
• Prime Minister of India – Morarji Desai
• Chief Justice of India – Mirza Hameedullah Beg, Yeshwant Vishnu Chandrachud

  Governors

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

  Events

• 1 January – Air India Flight 855, a Boeing 747 passenger jet, crashes into the Arabian Sea after takeoff near Bombay, killing all 213 on board.
• 16 January – Morarji Desai led government demonetizes high denomination banknotes.
• 29 March – Dr. Leo Rebello pioneers a 60 lessons distance learning course in Naturopathy to train Naturopaths to serve in India's 560,000 villages.
• 7 November – Indira Gandhi is re-elected to the Indian parliament.
• 19 December – Indira Gandhi is arrested and jailed for a week for breach of privilege and contempt of parliament.

  Births

January to June

• 13 January – Ashmit Patel, actor.
• 21 March – Rani Mukerji, actress.
• 28 March – Nafisa Joseph, model, MTV VJ, Miss India 1997.
• 16 April – Lara Dutta, actress, Miss Universe in 2000.
• 4 May – Samita Singh Virtigo patients of Deodh Madhubani Bihar
• 5 May – Sandeep Baswana, actor.
• 25 June – Aftab Shivdasani, actor.

  July to December

• 17 August – Disha Vakani, actress.
• 21 August – Bhumika Chawla, actress.
• 31 August – Jayasurya, actor.
• 16 September – Meena, actress.
• 4 October – Soha Ali Khan, actress.
• 20 October – Virender Sehwag, cricketer.
• 1 November – Manju Warrier, actress.
• 25 November – Sameer Dad, field hockey player.
• 25 November – Rakhi Sawant, actress

  Deaths

• 19 February – Pankaj Mullick, singer and composer.
• 18 November – Dhirendra Nath Ganguly, film entrepreneur, actor and director.