See also: 1945 in India, other events of 1946, 1947 in India and the Timeline of Indian history.

Events

• 10 May - Nehru elected leader of the Congress Party.
• 19 August - Violence between Muslims and Hindus in Calcutta leaves 3000 dead.
• 4 September - Street violence between Muslims and Hindus in Bombay.
• 27 November - Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru appeals to the United States and the Soviet Union to end nuclear testing and to start nuclear disarmament, stating that such an action would "save humanity from the ultimate disaster."

Full date unknown

• 1946 Cabinet Mission to India
• Tata Airlines renamed to Air India.
• Provincial Elections in India

Births

January to June

• 16 January - Kabir Bedi, actor.
• 1 February - Giri Babu, actor.

July to September

• 5 July - Mamukkoya, comedian actor.
• 5 July - Ram Vilas Paswan, politician.
• 17 July - Lalitha Lenin, poet and academic.
• 28 July - Saint Alphonsa, Sister Alphonsa Muttathupadathu, in 2008 became first woman of Indian origin to be canonized as a saint (b.1910).
• 20 August - N. R. Narayana Murthy, industrialist and software engineer.

October to December

• 11 October - Vijay P. Bhatkar, computer scientist.
• 12 October - Ashok Mankad, test cricketer (d.2008).
• 15 October - Victor Banerjee, actor.
• 9 December - Sonia Gandhi, politician.
• 14 December - Sanjay Gandhi, politician (d.1980).
• 26 December - Narendra Prasad, actor, playwright, teacher and literary critic (d.2003).
• 27 December - Vijay Arora, actor (d.2007).

Full date unknown

• Mani Damodara Chakyar, Kutiyattam and Chakyar Koothu artist.

Deaths

• 6 February - Upendranath Brahmachari, scientist and medical practitioner (b.1873).